RELIGION AND COMMON LIFE

Common facets of religion, unique facets of religion, and life satisfaction among older African Americans.

OBJECTIVES Common facets of religion are those aspects of religion that can be shared by people from any racial group. In contrast, unique facets of religion are available only to people in specific racial groups. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the interface among common facets of religion, unique facets of religion, and life satisfaction in a nationwide sample of older Black people. ...

Religion, Social Networks, and Life Satisfaction

Although the positive association between religiosity and life satisfaction is well documented, much theoretical and empirical controversy surrounds the question of how religion actually shapes life satisfaction. Using a new panel dataset, this study offers strong evidence for social and participatory mechanisms shaping religion’s impact on life satisfaction. Our findings suggest that religious...

Religion and End-of-Life Treatment Preferences:

We use Wisconsin Longitudinal Study data (n=2,678) to assess the effects of religious denomination and ideology on end-of-life treatment preferences in two hypothetical terminal illness scenarios: physical pain and severe cognitive impairment. We found no statistically significant differences when comparing traditionally defined religious denominational groups (i.e., conservative, moderate, and...

Placing religion and spirituality in end-of-life care.

Striving for the Sacred: Personal Goals, Life Meaning, and Religion

Religion invests human existence with meaning by establishing goals and value systems that potentially pertain to all aspects of a persons’ life. A goals approach provides a general unifying framework to capture the dynamic aspect of religion in people’s lives. Empirical research on the measurement of spirituality and religion through personal goals is described. To illustrate the application o...