This study aimed to investigate the relationship between different aspects of religiosity and general health. Using randomized cluster sampling, a number of 130 students from Alghadir- the Technical and vocational university in Zanjan-were selected as sample. This study was a descriptive - correlation research. The Religiosity Scale was used to measure the level of religiosity. This scale was developed based on multidimensional religiosity theory of Glark and Stark; it evaluates four dimensions of religiosity such as emotions, consequences, beliefs, and rituals. The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) was used for assessing the general health; it consists of four physical subscales: anxiety, having nightmares, social dysfunction, and depression. The correlation between the scores of the two questionnaires was analyzed. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between the scores of general health and overall religiosity (p=0.01,r=-0.42). The belief, experience, and ritual dimensions of religiosity had a significant correlation with several measures of general health. The consequence dimension of religiosity had no relationship with any of the subscales of general health.
Abbotts, J., Williams, R., Sweeting, H., & West, P. (2004). Is going to church good or bad for you? Denomination, attendance and mental health of children in West Scotland. Social Science & Medicine, 58, 645–656.
Ball, J., Armistead, B., & Austin, B. (2004). The relationship between religiosity and adjustment among African-American, female, urban adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 26, 431–446.
Dezutter, J., & Soenens, B., Hutsebaut, D (2006). Religiosity and mental health: A further exploration of the relative importance of religious behaviors vs. religious attitudes. Personality and Individual Differences 40, p.807-818.
Fitchett, G. Rybarczy, K. B. D. DeMarco, G. A. and Nicholas, J. J. (1999). The role of religion in medical rehabilitation outcomes: A longitudinal study. Rehabilitation Psychology, 44, 335353.
Goldberg, D. P. and Hillier, V. F. (1979). A scaled version of the General Health Questionnaire. Psychological Medicine, 9, 139145.
Hallhami, B. B. and Arghle, M. (1997). The psychology of religious behavior, belief, and experience. London: Routledge
Inayatullah, S. (2005). Spirituality as the fourth bottom line, Futures. 37,573579.
Kézdy, A., Martos, T., Boland, V., & Horváth-Szabó, K. (2010). Religious doubts and mental health in adolescence and young adulthood: The association with religious attitudes
Kim, Y., Seidlitz, L., Ro, Y., Evinger, J. S., and Duberstein, P. R.( 2004 ). Spirituality and affect: a function of changes in religious affiliation.Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 861870.
Koenig, H. G. (1998). International Journal of Psychiatry, 13, 213224.
Lindner, M.G., & Moore, K.A. (2002). Predictors of religiosity among youth aged 17-22: A longitudinal study of the national survey of children. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 41, 613-620.
Maltby, John., & Day, Liza (2000). Depressive symptoms and religious orientation: Examining the relationship between religiosity and depression within the context of other correlates of depression. Personality and Individual Differences, 28, p.383-393.
World Health Organization. (2007). Mental health: strengthening mental health promotion. www. who.org.
Copyright: © 2013 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
