Prati Gabriele
Department of Psychology, University of Bologna (Italy), Piazza Aldo Moro, 90, 47521 Cesena (FC), Italy.
Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2024 Jul-Sep;24(3):100491. doi: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2024.100491. Epub 2024 Aug 9.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the within-person and between-person effects of religious variables on mental health and vice versa.
Using a large sample of adults residing in Germany from the GESIS Panel study ( = 8146), the random intercept cross-lagged panel model was used. Data on six dimensions of religion (i.e., membership in a religious community; attendance at a place of worship; frequency of prayers; importance of religion in life; and participation in a religious organization) and three indicators of mental health (i.e., depression symptoms, happiness, and life satisfaction) were collected.
The findings revealed that there is almost no evidence of lagged effects of religion on mental health and limited evidence regarding the role of mental health in influencing the dimensions of religion. Moreover, at the between-person level, there was some evidence of significant covariance between the trait-like components, indicating stable, trait-like differences between persons on religion and mental health.
The beneficial effect of religion on mental health may have been exaggerated in previous research.
背景/目的：本研究旨在调查宗教变量对心理健康的个体内效应和个体间效应，反之亦然。
使用来自德国社会经济面板研究（GESIS Panel study）的大量成年样本（n = 8146），采用随机截距交叉滞后面板模型。收集了宗教六个维度的数据（即宗教团体成员身份、参加礼拜场所的情况、祈祷频率、宗教在生活中的重要性以及参与宗教组织的情况）和心理健康的三个指标（即抑郁症状、幸福感和生活满意度）。
研究结果显示，几乎没有证据表明宗教对心理健康有滞后效应，关于心理健康在影响宗教维度方面的作用的证据也有限。此外，在个体间层面，有一些证据表明特质类成分之间存在显著协方差，表明个体在宗教和心理健康方面存在稳定的特质类差异。
宗教对心理健康的有益影响在先前的研究中可能被夸大了。
