Leaving my religion: Understanding the relationship between religious disaffiliation,health, and well-being

Religious disaffiliation—leaving the religious tradition in which one was raised for no religious affiliation in adulthood—has become more common in recent years, though few studies have examined its consequences for the health and well-being of individuals. We use an innovative approach, comparing the health and subjective well-being of religious disaffiliates to those who remain affiliated using pooled General Social Survey samples from 1973 through 2012. We find that religious disaffiliates experience poorer health and lower well-being than those consistently affiliated and those who are consistently unaffiliated. We also demonstrate that the disadvantage for those who leave religious traditions is completely mediated by the frequency of church attendance, as disaffiliates attend church less often. Our results point to the importance of the social processes surrounding religious disaffiliation and emphasize the role of dynamics in the relationship between religious affiliation and health.     

In-home firearm access among US adolescents and the role of religious subculture: Results from a nationally representative study

Religious participation is linked to numerous positive safety outcomes for adolescents. Scant attention, however, has been paid to associations between religious participation and safety risks among adolescents. Using data from Add Health (N = 18,449), a nationally representative school-based sample of US adolescents, this study examines the relationship between adolescents' religious affiliation and easy access to firearms at home. Regression analyses adjust for complex sampling design and compare easy firearm access at home among conservative Protestant adolescents to adolescent firearm access in other religious traditions. Conservative Protestant adolescents have a substantially greater likelihood of easy access to a gun at home compared to adolescents of all other major religious traditions in the United States. Recognizing differences in adolescent firearm access between subcultural groups can help public health interventions more effectively identify and address the needs of vulnerable populations. The paper's conclusion considers suggestions for effective policy and programmatic initiatives.     

Revisiting the relationship between perceived discrimination and health: Evidence from sibling models with multiple health measures

Perceived discrimination (PD) is known to be significantly related to health outcomes. This link, however, warrants further scrutiny due to the possibility of unobserved family-level confounding. Using the Add Health and sibling fixed-effect approach, we examine whether the relationship between PD and health is confounded by family background characteristics such as genetics, family environment, and childhood social context (school and neighborhood effects). While the naive OLS models exhibit significant associations between PD and both physical and psychological health outcomes, our preferred sibling fixed-effect estimates reveal that the observed associations between PD and physical health outcomes are confounded by shared family background. In contrast, the observed associations for psychological health, self-reported health, and some of health behavior outcomes are robust to adjustment for sibling fixed-effects. Furthermore, we find similar overall patterns in the link between PD and health across races/ethnicities.     

Misconceived equity? Health care resources,contextual poverty,and child health disparities in Peru

Although many studies have examined determinants of child health, fewer have explored factors explaining regional disparities in child health outcomes. In the Peruvian context, we examined the relationship between regional disparities in child malnutrition and local variation in health resources (health care resources and the socioeconomic environment). Using the Peruvian 2007–2008 Continuous Demographic and Health Survey (N = 8020) and governmental administrative data, our analyses show that 1) only selected types of health care resources (medical professionals and outpatient visits) are related to child nutritional status, 2) local poverty predicts nutritional status net of household characteristics, and, most importantly, 3) a significant portion of regional differences in child malnutrition are explained by local poverty, whereas health care resources are not associated with regional disparities. These findings suggest that the local socioeconomic environment is a key determinant of both child health outcomes and regional disparities in these outcomes.     

The differential impact of discrimination on health among Black and White women

Despite a large body of research examining the impact of discrimination on health, the ways in which perceived discrimination may lead to disparate health outcomes through a sense of self and system consciousness is less understood. The current paper is concerned with both mental and physical health consequences of discrimination, as well as mediating pathways among African American and White women. Indirect effects analyses examine mediating paths from discrimination to health outcomes via structural awareness and self-esteem, using data from the Women's Life Path Study (N = 237). Our findings suggest that discrimination is both directly and indirectly associated with health outcomes for both Black and White women, mediated by individual (self-esteem) and group-level (structural awareness) processes. Evidence from this study indicates that discrimination is associated with heightened structural awareness, as well as lower self-esteem – both of which are related to poorer health. Discrimination negatively affected health across three domains, although the mechanisms varied somewhat for Black and White women. Broad implications of this research for interdisciplinary scholarship on the effects of discrimination on health and health disparities are discussed.     

Blessed assurance: Religion, anxiety, and tranquility among US adults

A growing body of research investigates the possible relationships between religion and mental health. After developing a series of arguments linking various aspects of religion with anxiety and tranquility, we test relevant hypotheses using data from the 1996 General Social Survey. Results show that frequency of religious attendance and the belief in an afterlife are inversely associated with feelings of anxiety and positively associated with feelings of tranquility. However, frequency of prayer has no direct association with either outcome. Strong beliefs in the pervasiveness of sin are positively linked with anxiety but unrelated to tranquility. Finally, belief in an afterlife and frequency of prayer buffer the adverse effects of poor health and financial decline on anxiety. Implications of these findings are discussed along with study limitations and promising directions for future research.     

瑜伽运动对女大学生身心健康的影响

运用文献资料法、调查法、实验法和数理统计法对定期参加瑜伽运动的高校女大学生进行调查研究,提取其实验前后身体形态、身体机能、身体素质、心理健康四个方面的多项数据,探讨了瑜伽运动对高校女大学生身心健康的影响。研究结果表明：瑜伽运动可以改善高校女大学生身体形态、提高肺活量、降低安静时心率、改善身体机能,并能提高身体柔韧性和平衡能力,使其整体心理健康水平呈显著性提高。瑜伽运动是提高女大学生身体健康水平的有效手段之一,是新兴的有待进一步开发的重要课程资源。     

基于优秀传统文化的大学生心理健康文化调适路径

大学生心理健康教育作为新常态下高校思想政治教育工作的重要内容，其发展与传统文化之间具有十分密切的关系。文化对于处于文化实体中的个体而言具有表征、构建、唤起和指导之功能，心理健康的文化调适是通过文化的各项功能对心理健康进行调适的过程。传统文化不仅为大学生心理健康的文化调适提供丰富教育资源，优秀传统文化也可以通过文化调适为媒介，通过唤起民族精神，培养高尚情操，指导生活实践，校园文化建设等方式为大学生心理健康提供重要保障。     

Socially organized sentiments: Exploring the link between religious density and protest mobilization, 1960–1995

Extensive research has shown individual religiosity to have an impact upon U.S. protest participation. But very little work has examined the role of religious density in a community on the likelihood of protest mobilization. Our research links the religious density across 62 counties in New York State to various protest mobilization issues during the period of 1960–1995. In this research, we develop a theory of socially organized sentiments to examine religious influences on overall protest event mobilizations in local communities, a specific example of a more general theory that can link community structure to multiple forms of civic engagement. The impact of various religious traditions is assessed by using measures for the density of religious population per congregation of three religious traditions—Mainline Protestantism, Evangelical Protestantism and Catholicism. The analysis also assesses the likelihood of mobilization concerning four specific issues—African-American civil rights, gender, anti-nuclear/peace, and anti-poverty movements.     

宁波市大学生精神卫生知识知晓率及对精神疾病的态度

目的了解和描述不同性别、专业、年级的大学生对精神卫生知识的知晓率和对精神疾病态度的差异,并分析其原因。方法采用随机抽样的方法,选取三所不同类别高校的367名大学生作为调查对象,以卫生部颁布的《精神卫生宣传教育：核心信息和知识要点》为主要内容的精神卫生知识问卷和精神疾病态度问卷作为调查工具。结果调查对象对精神卫生知识的正确回答率最高是98.9%,最低为6%,其中女生和大三的学生得分较高。在对精神疾病态度的调查中,文史类得分高于理工类、医科类和其他类专业。结论大学生对精神卫生知识的知晓率和对精神疾病的容忍度不甚理想,尤其是医科类学生。     

Examining fear and stress as mediators between disorder perceptions and personal health, depression, and anxiety

Research examining the effect of neighborhoods on personal health has often focused on neighborhood disorder, or visual cues in neighborhoods perceived as personally threatening or noxious. Neighborhood disorderliness is thought to elevate individuals’ fear of crime, thereby negatively impacting personal and mental health. Unfortunately, the pathways between disorder, fear of crime, and health have yet to be established. This study examines the pathways between neighborhood disorder, fear of crime, and three health outcomes. Using the Community, Crime and Health Survey, this study employs structural equation modeling to examine how general (being afraid of walking alone) and offense-specific fear of crime (being afraid of specific crimes) mediate the relationship between individuals’ disorder perceptions and self-rated health, depression and anxiety. Results show that fear of crime does mediate the relationship between disorder perceptions, self-rated health and depression, though the mediating pathways are weak. This study suggests that the disorder-fear of crime-health nexus should be re-examined theoretically.     

大学生心理健康教育五级网络建设的实践与思考

大学生心理健康教育是高等教育中不可或缺的重要环节。加强大学生心理健康教育工作，适应新时代、新形势、新特点积极探索新的教育模式是新形势下加强和改进大学生思想政治教育工作的重要有益尝试和重要方法。推动大学生心理健康教育五级网络建设，建立运行机制、发现存在问题，寻找应对策略，对于规范和促进大学生心理健康教育工作，维护大学生的身心健康发展，构建和谐校园具有重要意义。     

Sexual intercourse,romantic relationship inauthenticity,and adolescent mental health

Numerous studies indicate sexual intercourse, especially when it occurs early in adolescence, increases youths' risk of mental health problems. However, no research has examined whether the association between sexual intercourse and mental health varies by romantic relationship inauthenticity, or the level of incongruence between thoughts/feelings and actions within romantic relationships. Using data from a subset of romantically-involved Add Health respondents, we measured sexual involvement in romantic relationships and applied sequence analysis to reports of ideal and actual romantic relationship to measure inauthenticity within adolescent romances. Regressions of depression symptoms indicate that the magnitude of the positive associations between sexual intercourse and girls' mental health is most pronounced in relationships characterized by high levels of relationship inauthenticity and that there is no association between sexual intercourse and girls' depression at low levels of relationship inauthenticity. Having sexual intercourse is positively associated with depression symptoms among boys, but relationship inauthenticity does not alter this association. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on adolescent sexuality and programs aimed at enhancing youth sexuality development.     

Religious intermarriage in the United States: trends, patterns, and predictors

The reciprocal connection between religion and family life makes the topic of religious intermarriage of particular importance in the sociology of religion. Spousal influences are key for motivating religious switching and other religious commitments. Religious intermarriage has also been shown to influence a host of other outcomes, including spousal conflict, domestic violence, divorce, and fertility. Using data from the 1973–1994 GSS, I estimate log-multiplicative models examining patterns of association between spouses’ religious affiliations across two broad cohorts. Two-step and FIML Heckman’s selection models are used to determine how education, migration, cohort, and denominational origins influence the probability of intermarriage and the distance of intermarriage if it occurs. Religious intermarriage increases across cohorts, but declines in homogamy are limited to liberal religious groups. Catholics and members of conservative sects are less likely to intermarry compared to others. The relative ordering of distances between religious groups was unchanged across cohorts. Educational attainment increases the likelihood of intermarriage, and marriages in which the woman has more education are more likely to be heterogamous. However, educational factors have no impact on the distance of intermarriage if it occurs. Geographically stable rural Southerners are least likely to intermarry and if they do, choose a more similar spouse.     

Measurement of social health in a general population survey

This paper describes an attempt to define and measure the social health of individuals in terms of the degree to which they are functioning members of their community. Data were taken from questionnaires completed by 6928 adults in an area-probability sample of Alameda County, California households. Components of the social health index are employability, marital satisfaction, sociability, and community involvement. This index was associated with psychological well-being and other psychological measures, with the physical health spectrum, and with subjective evaluations of own health. Physically and psychologically healthy people are presumably better equipped than others to qualify for secure jobs, to maintain satisfactory marriages, and to become involved with others informally or in organized contexts. At the same time, socially healthy people may, as a consequence of their social health, be more likely to enjoy good physical health and psychological well-being than people who are dissatisfied with their marriages, socially isolated, and/or relatively unemployable.     

The effects of parental marital discord and divorce on the religious and spiritual lives of young adults

A growing literature reveals that parental divorce and marital discord can have undesirable effects on the mental health and social well-being of children, some of which extend well into adulthood. Our study augments this body of work by focusing on the interplay of divorce and discord in shaping the religious and spiritual lives of young adults. Several discrete subgroups of young adults are identified in terms of parental marital status and degree of parents’ marital conflict, and multiple religious and spiritual outcomes are considered. Data are taken from the National Survey on the Moral and Spiritual Lives of Young Adults from Divorced and Intact Families, a nationwide US telephone survey of approximately 1500 young adults ages 18-35 conducted in 2001. Findings confirm that persons raised by parents in intact, happy, low-conflict marriages tend to score higher on most religious and spiritual outcomes. However, offspring from divorced families and those from intact high-conflict families differ on some outcomes, but not others. Indicators of traditional institutional religious practices and beliefs appear more vulnerable to the effects of parental divorce and discord than personal spiritual beliefs and practices. Overall, findings reveal a rich but complex set of relationships between family background and religious and spiritual lives among young adults.     

Extracurricular activities and teens’ alcohol use: The role of religious and secular sponsorship

Much research has found that more religious youth are less likely to engage in riskier health-related behaviors. However, very little research has examined the role that religion may play in shaping the health-related behaviors of secular youth. There is reason to think that more and less religious youth may gain some health-related benefits from involvement with religious organizations through activities such as basketball and volunteering. Using two waves of data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, this study finds that involvement in religion-supported secular activities is associated with less alcohol use for all involved teens. The number of friends who belong to a religious youth group, in part, explains the relationship. Conversely, network overlap between parents and teens, the number of friends who drink or use drugs, and having an adult confidant from a religious group are not mechanisms that mediate the relationship.     

Same-sex cohabiting elders versus different-sex cohabiting and married elders: Effects of relationship status and sex of partner on economic and health outcomes

In this article, I use pooled data from the 2008–2010 American Community Surveys to examine outcomes for different-sex married, different-sex cohabiting, and same-sex cohabiting elders across several key economic and health indicators, as well as other demographic characteristics. The findings suggest that elders in same-sex cohabiting partnerships differ from those in different-sex marriages and different-sex cohabiting relationships in terms of both financial and health outcomes, and that women in same-sex cohabiting partnerships fare worse than men or women in other couple types. The results indicate that financial implications related to the sex of one’s partner might be more predictive of economic and health outcomes in old age, rather than solely access to legal marriage. Nonetheless, findings suggest that individuals in same-sex cohabiting partnerships might experience worse outcomes in old age as a result of cumulative effects across the life course from both the sex of their partner (in the case of female couples) as well as their lack of access to benefits associated with marriage. Accordingly, these findings demonstrate that persons in same-sex cohabiting partnerships require unique policy considerations to address health and economic concerns in old age.     

“健康第一”观念下提高心理健康教育效果的研究——以广东省清远职业技术学院为例

本文采用文献资料调研及问卷调查等研究方法入手,以广东省清远职业技术学院为例,分析大学生心理健康状况,提出体育教学实行项目化课程管理,实施良好的心理和品质教育,在"健康第一"观念下充分发挥培养学生身心全面健康发展的有效途径,从而有效地提高心理健康教育效果。     

体育运动对增进大学生心理健康状况的研究

本文针对目前大学生心理健康水平较低的状况,根据体育运动对改善和调节大学生心理障碍进行了初步的探索。旨在通过体育运动形式,有效的促进大学生心理健康发展,为素质人才的培养,提供一定的途径。