Sunshine Rote

Religious Attendance and Loneliness in Later Life

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Studies show that loneliness is a major risk factor for health issues in later life. Although research suggests that religious involvement can protect against loneliness, explanations for this general pattern are underdeveloped and undertested. In this paper, we propose and test a theoretical model, which suggests that social integration and social support are key mechanisms that link religious attendance and loneliness. DESIGN AND METHODS To formally test our theoretical model, we use data from the National Social Life Health and Aging Project (2005/2006), a large national probability sample of older adults aged 57-85 years. RESULTS We find that religious attendance is associated with higher levels of social integration and social support and that social integration and social support are associated with lower levels of loneliness. A series of mediation tests confirm our theoretical model. IMPLICATIONS Taken together, our results suggest that involvement in religious institutions may protect against loneliness in later life by integrating older adults into larger and more supportive social networks. Future research should test whether these processes are valid across theoretically relevant subgroups.

Religion and Alcohol Use among College Students: Exploring the Role of Domain-Specific Religious Salience

A growing body of work examines links between religious involvement and alcohol use patterns. Most studies in this vein have relied upon generic measures of religion such as affiliation, service attendance, or overall salience. This study contributes to the literature by developing refined measures of domain-specific religious salience, and exploring their links with the frequency of alcohol use in a diverse sample of college students. Results confirm the importance of domain-specific religious salience in shaping alcohol choices, but at the same time, also show that overall levels of such salience in this sample are relatively low, indicating that other influences (e.g., peers, parents) are also important. The effects of other religious variables (e.g., religious tradition, attendance, prayer) on drinking frequency are largely indirect, serving primarily to heighten the salience of religious convictions in the domain of alcohol behavior. Implications, study limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

Religious Attendance and Biological Functioning A Multiple Specification Approach

Objective: This study explores the role of religious attendance across a wide range of biological markers. Method: The data are drawn from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project to assess continuous and categorical biomarker specifications. Results: Across specifications, higher levels of attendance are associated with lower levels of pulse rate and overall allostatic load. Depending on the specification, higher levels of attendance are also associated with lower levels of body mass, diastolic blood pressure, C-reactive protein, and Epstein–Barr virus. Attendance is unrelated to dehydroepiandrosterone, systolic blood pressure, and glycosylated hemoglobin across specifications. Discussion: The study confirms that religious attendance is associated with healthier biological functioning in later life. Additional research is needed to verify these patterns with other data sources and to test viable mediators of the association between religious attendance and biological risk.

Coping with racial discrimination: Assessing the vulnerability of African Americans and the mediated moderation of psychosocial resources.

Research demonstrates that the mental health of African Americans is negatively affected by discrimination, but few studies have investigated the effects of racial discrimination specifically and whether these effects vary by poverty and education levels. Using a sample of 3,372 African Americans from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL), we find a positive relationship between racial discrimination and depressive symptoms, with both lifetime and daily racial discrimination being more salient for depressive symptoms among impoverished African Americans than those living above 200% of the poverty line. Evaluating mediated moderation models, we also find that the conditional effects of socioeconomic status are mediated by poor African Americans’ having fewer psychosocial resources. Namely, lower levels of mastery are influential in accounting for poor African Americans’ greater vulnerability to both daily and lifetime discrimination. The findings highlight the importance of examining specific reasons for discrimination as well as mediated moderation in future research.

Health of Elderly Mexican American Adults and Family Caregiver Distress

Using newly available data on family caregivers from a large epidemiological study of elderly Mexican-origin adults (Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly [HEPESE], 2010/2011), we identify which types of impairment (functional, psychological, and cognitive) in the elderly individual are associated with family caregiver depressive symptoms. Results from ordinary least squares regressions using 626 caregiver–care recipient dyads demonstrate that more severe mobility limitations (Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment), social disability (instrumental activities of daily living), neuropsychiatric disturbances related to cognitive decline (Neuropsychiatric Inventory), and depressive symptoms in the elderly subject are positively associated with caregiver psychological distress. Perceived social stress partially accounts for these associations. We also identify certain segments of this caregiver population that are especially vulnerable to burden when caring for a family member with high levels of impairment, namely female and low-income caregivers. These vulnerabilities should be the focus of intervention efforts to reduce stress and improve the emotional and psychological well-being of Mexican-origin caregivers.

Nativity status and sources of care assistance among elderly Mexican-Origin Adults

Much like other racial/ethnic groups, Latinos are facing challenges to provide needed care to aging adults. Older Latinos underutilize nursing homes and home health care services and primarily rely on their families for assistance. While this general trend has been established, little attention has been paid to nativity differentials in patterns of caregiving for this segment of the aging population. The analyses are based on the latest wave (Wave 7) of the Hispanic Established Population for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly or H-EPESE (2010/2011) a sample of older Mexican-origin adults and their family caregivers living in the southwestern U.S. We examine 629 child caregiver/parent care recipient dyads using bivariate statistics and multinomial logistic regression analyses. The results reveal that while grown children of Mexican-origin elders play a critical role in providing instrumental and financial supports to their aging parents, the burden that the children of foreign-born parents bear is greater. Despite higher rates of disability, Mexican-born elders are more dependent on a child for help and far less likely to call upon other family members, relatives and community based-providers for help than the U.S. born. Given the recent and future growth of older Latinos, intervention strategies will need to focus on nativity status and acculturative processes in the context of caregiving and caregiver burden.

Gender Differences in Alcohol and Drug Use Among Hispanic Adults: The Influence of Family Processes and Acculturation

We examines the influence of family processes and acculturation for gender differences in alcohol and drug use among a sample representative of the Hispanic population in Miami-Dade County, Florida (N = 734). We found that (a) increases in age at marriage and acculturation were associated with greater substance use, (b) the associations between age at marriage, acculturation, and substance use were found to be greater for Hispanic women than men, and (c) with each additional child born, Hispanic women are increasingly less likely to use substances than Hispanic men. Data reveal that family processes and acculturation jointly impact substance use.

Migration and Health

Most migration takes place within countries, but the number of international migrants, typically from less developed to more developed countries has been on the rise in recent decades. The impact of migration on health is a complex phenomenon. There are health issues associated with the point of origin, point of destination, the journey itself, and return migration. Most research has focused on the health of voluntary immigrants to Western societies and, despite increasing evidence that immigrants are relatively healthy, has often emphasized their health problems rather than any health advantages they may have. Below, the authors review research on migration and health paying particular attention to the health of immigrants at different stages in the migratory process.

Processes Linking Religious Involvement and Telomere Length

ABSTRACT Although numerous studies suggest that religious involvement is associated with better health and longer life expectancies, it is unclear whether these general patterns extend to cellular aging. The mechanisms linking indicators of religious involvement with indicators of cellular aging are also undefined. We employed longitudinal data from the 2004 and 2008 Health and Retirement Study, a national probability sample of Americans aged 50 and older, to test whether average telomere length varied according to level of religious attendance. We also tested several potential mechanisms. Our results showed that respondents who attended religious services more frequently in 2004 also exhibited fewer stressful events, lower rates of smoking, fewer symptoms of depression, and lower levels of C-reactive protein in 2008. Respondents who increased their level of attendance from 2004 to 2008 also exhibited lower rates of smoking in 2008. Although religious attendance was not directly associated with telomere length, our mediation analyses revealed significant indirect effects through depression and smoking, but not stressful events or C-reactive protein. We conclude that religious attendance may promote telomere length indirectly by reducing symptoms of depression and the risk of smoking. There was no evidence to support stressful events or C-reactive protein as mechanisms of religious attendance.

Religious Participation and Biological Functioning in Mexico

Objective:Although several studies suggest that religious involvement tends to favor healthy biological functioning, most of this work has been conducted in the United States. This study explores the association between religious participation and biological functioning in Mexico. Method: The data are drawn from two waves of the Mexican Health and Aging Study (2003-2012) to assess continuous and categorical biomarker specifications. Results: Across specifications, religious participation in 2003 is associated with lower levels of waist-to-hip ratio, total cholesterol, pulse rate, and overall allostatic load in 2012. Respondents who increased their participation over the study period also exhibit a concurrent reduction in pulse rate. Depending on the specification, participation is also associated with lower levels of diastolic blood pressure and C-reactive protein. Participation is generally unrelated to body mass index, glycosylated hemoglobin, and systolic blood pressure. Discussion: Our results confirm that religious participation is associated with healthier biological functioning in Mexico.