Spirituality Mind Body Institute, Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, USA.
Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York City, USA.
Psychol Med. 2019 Oct;49(14):2379-2388. doi: 10.1017/S0033291718003276. Epub 2018 Nov 13.
Previous research has shown prospectively that religiosity/spirituality protects against depression, but these findings are commonly critiqued on two grounds, namely: (1) apparent religiosity/spirituality reflects merely an original absence of depression or elevated mood and (2) religiosity/spirituality too often is measured as a global construct. The current study investigates the relationship between depression and religiosity/spirituality by examining its multidimensional structural integrity.
Confirmatory factor analyses with a previously observed cross-cultural factor structure of religiosity/spirituality variables were conducted on an independent sample, diagnostic and familial risk subgroups from this sample, and a subsample of the original cross-cultural sample. Linear regressions onto a previous diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) 5 years prior to assess the potential attenuating impact of a previous depression was explored.
Across familial risk groups and clinical subgroups, each of the previously validated religiosity/spirituality domains was confirmed, namely: religious/spiritual commitment, contemplative practice, sense of interconnectedness, the experience of love, and altruistic engagement. Previous MDD diagnosis was associated with a lower religious/spiritual commitment among high-risk individuals, higher contemplation among low-risk individuals, and lower importance of religion or spirituality regardless of risk group.
Structural integrity was found across familial risk groups and diagnostic history for a multidimensional structure of religiosity/spirituality. Differential associations between a previous diagnosis of MDD and level of religiosity/spirituality across domains suggest a complex and interactive relation between depression, familial risk, and religiosity/spirituality. Accounting for an empirically valid, multidimensional understanding of religiosity/spirituality may advance research on mechanisms underlying the relationship between religiosity/spirituality and mental health.
先前的研究前瞻性地表明，宗教信仰/灵性可以预防抑郁，但这些发现通常受到两种批评，即：（1）明显的宗教信仰/灵性仅反映了最初没有抑郁或情绪高涨；（2）宗教信仰/灵性通常被衡量为一个整体结构。本研究通过检查宗教信仰/灵性变量的多维结构完整性来研究抑郁与宗教信仰/灵性之间的关系。
对来自该样本的诊断和家族风险亚组以及原始跨文化样本的亚组进行了验证性因子分析，使用了先前观察到的宗教信仰/灵性变量的跨文化因素结构。线性回归到 5 年前的主要抑郁障碍（MDD）诊断，以评估先前的抑郁对其的潜在影响。
在家族风险组和临床亚组中，每个先前验证过的宗教信仰/灵性领域都得到了确认，即：宗教/精神承诺、沉思实践、相互联系感、爱的体验和利他主义参与。高风险个体中先前的 MDD 诊断与宗教/精神承诺较低有关，低风险个体中沉思较多，而不论风险组如何，宗教或灵性的重要性都较低。
在家族风险组和诊断史中，宗教信仰/灵性的多维结构都具有结构完整性。先前 MDD 诊断与宗教信仰/灵性各领域水平之间的差异关联表明抑郁、家族风险和宗教信仰/灵性之间存在复杂而相互作用的关系。考虑到宗教信仰/灵性的多维理解，这种理解具有实证有效性，可能会促进对宗教信仰/灵性与心理健康之间关系的机制的研究。
