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christian counseling today
Vol. 21 no. 2
Religion and Mental Health
Across Different Ethnic Groups
Robinson, J.A., Bolton, J.M., Rasic, D., &
Sareen, J. (2012). Exploring the relationship
between religious service attendance, mental
disorders, and suicidality among different
ethnic groups: Results form a nationally
representative survey.
Depression and Anxiety
,
29, 983-990. Doi: 10.1002/da.21978.
Jennifer Robinson and her colleagues
explored the relationship between eth-
nicity and differences in religiosity and
various mental health concerns. The
findings are from a nationally repre-
sentative survey of more than 20,000
adults in the United States that came
from the National Institute of Mental
Health’s Collaborative Psychiatric
Epidemiological Survey. Participants
were non-institutionalized adults
who provided information through
face-to-face interviews with trained
lay interviewers. Religiosity was mea-
sured by frequency of religious service
attendance.
Attending religious services once a
week was the most common response
at a range of between 31-38% of the
different ethnicities in the sample.
Attending less than once a year was
the least frequently reported (between
10-19% of the different ethnicities).
Asian-American, Hispanic, and African-
Americans attended services more
frequently than non-Hispanic, white
participants.
Looking at data from the entire
sample, religious service attendance was
associated with differences in men-
tal health: “Compared to those who
attend services at least once per week,
suicidal ideation, anxiety disorder, and
substance use disorders were associ-
ated with attending religious services
less frequently” (p. 985). As the authors
looked at specific ethnicities, infrequent
religious service attendance was cor-
related with substance use disorder in
white and African-American partici-
pants, and infrequent religious service
attendance was also associated with
anxiety and suicidal ideation among
white and Hispanic participants. Among
Asian-Americans, attending services less
than once a year was associated with
mood disorders (compared to those who
attend more frequently).
One area that was not assessed in
this study was social support, which is
often associated with religiosity and may
be an important protective factor found
in religious communities. However, this
study does provide important infor-
mation that had been missing in the
literature on religiosity by drawing on
such a large sample with distinct ethnic
differences, especially, as the researchers
note, a large subset of Asian-Americans,
who are often neglected in this line of
research.
Spirituality and Recovery from
Serious Mental Illness
Harris, J.I., Nienow, T., Choi, A., Engdahl, B.,
Nguyen, X.V., & Thuras, P. (2015). Client report
of spirituality in recovery from serious mental
illness.
Psychology of Religion and Spirituality
,
7 (2), 142-149. Doi: 10.1037/a0038538.
Irene Harris and colleagues conducted
a study about the interest in spirituality
and spiritually integrated care among
people diagnosed with serious mental
illness. Participants were 91 adults from
the Midwest who were receiving outpa-
tient services for serious mental health
concerns, such as psychotic spectrum
disorders (e.g., bipolar disorder, schizo-
phrenia, etc.).
Many demographic variables were
not collected to protect anonymity.
However, this was a sample in which
most identified as Christian (79%), as
well as Jewish (1%), Buddhist (1%),
Agnostic (7%), Atheist (2%), and Other
(10%). On a scale of interest in spiritu-
ality that ranged from one to 10 with 10
as the highest level of interest, 84% of
the sample rated their interest at five or
higher (with 46% of the sample rating
their interest as a 10).
The results of the study were that
most participants expressed an interest
in discussing their spirituality with their
mental healthcare provider. On a similar
one to 10 scale, nearly one-quarter rated
as a 10 their desire to have their mental
healthcare provider ask them about their
spirituality, and 74% of the sample rated
their desire at a five or higher.
As the researchers note, these find-
ings are consistent with prior research
in which clients often express interest in
spirituality and see it as relevant to their
recoveries and wish to have it discussed
and incorporated in what could be
referred to as spiritually integrated care.
Religious Coping, Optimism
and Psychiatric Disability
Warren, P., Van Eck, K., Townley, G., & Kloos,
B. (2015). Relationships among religious
coping, optimism, and outcomes for persons
with psychiatric disabilities.
Psychology of
Religion and Spirituality
, 7 (2), 91-99. Doi:
10.1037/a0038346.
This is a study of religious belief as a
coping resource for people with psychi-
atric disabilities. Peter Warren and his
colleagues collected data from 533 par-
ticipants in South Carolina who had psy-
chiatric disabilities and lived in housing
through the South Carolina Department
of Mental Health. Psychiatric dis-
abilities included psychotic disorders
(e.g., schizoaffective disorder), affec-
tive disorders (e.g., major depression),
and anxiety disorders (e.g., generalized
anxiety disorder). Participants took part
«
Mark A . Yarhouse , Psy.D.
research digest
The Church, Mental Health and Suicide