A considerable body of research cross-culturally examines the evolution of religious traditions, beliefs and behaviors. The bulk of this research, however, draws from coded qualitative ethnographies rather than from standardized methods specifically designed to measure religious beliefs and behaviors. Psychological data sets that examine religious thought and behavior in controlled conditions t...

In a recent article entitled, Requests "for inappropriate" treatment based on religious beliefs, Orr and Genesen claim that futile treatment should be provided to patients who request it if their request is based on a religious belief. I claim that this implies that we should also accede to requests for harmful or cost-ineffective treatments based on religious beliefs. This special treatment of...

This study explored how religious fundamentalism related to irrational beliefs and primitive defense mechanisms. We also explored how the personality factors of openness to experience and neuroticism moderated these relations. Participants (N = 120) were recruited in an urban area from a Northeastern university, a psychotherapy center, and through Internet advertising. The results demonstrated ...

This study examined the relationship between multiple dimensions of religious involvement and transitions of tobacco smoking abstinence, persistence, cessation and relapse over 9-10 years of follow-up in a national sample of adults in the United States. Using data provided at baseline and follow-up, participants were categorized as non-smokers, persistent smokers, ex-smokers, and relapsed smoke...

Background and objectives : Relatively little is known about the relationship between religion and abstinence. The aim of this study was to examine the correlation between religious beliefs and behaviors and the intention of premarital sexual abstinence among Iranian youths. Methods: The current study was a cross-sectional one carried out among youths of five universities in Shiraz, Iran. 577 p...

BACKGROUND Relapse among patients in substance abuse treatment has generated interest in identifying attitudinal factors that sustain recovery. OBJECTIVE To assess the relationship of attitudes toward approaches to motivation for treatment and Twelve Step beliefs. METHODS Dually diagnosed patients (N = 100) completed a survey assessing treatment attitudes, motivation, and Twelve Step belief...

Recent research has indicated a negative relation between the propensity for analytic reasoning and religious beliefs and practices. Here, we propose conflict detection as a mechanism underlying this relation, on the basis of the hypothesis that more-analytic people are less religious, in part, because they are more sensitive to conflicts between immaterial religious beliefs and beliefs about t...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the possible interaction between religious beliefs and psychiatric disorders among Black Americans. METHODS In this study, we used data of 5181 adult Black Americans who had participated in National Survey of American Life (NSAL) from February 2001 to June 2003. Variables such as socio-demographics, religious beliefs, and psychiatric disorders were entered in a Cox regre...

Several authors have argued that religious beliefs are a way of communicating commitment and loyalty to other group members. The advantage of commitment signals is that they can promote intragroup cooperation by overcoming the free-rider problems that plague most cooperative pursuits. In this article, the author tests this idea using a database on 19th century utopian communes. The economic suc...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE General health is not simply determined by whether or not an individual is sick, but is dependent on physical, mental and social factors too. One such important factor is an individual's religious inclination. The present study aims to explore the correlation between religious beliefs and quality of life in the students at Jahrom University of Medical Sciences. METHOD T...