TY - JOUR
T1 - Existential beliefs, social satisfaction, and well-being among catholic, Jewish, and protestant older adults
AU - Cohen, Adam
AU - Hall, Daniel E.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by a Positive Psychology Young Scholars grant and grant AG00029 from the National Institute on Aging. Adam Cohen also gratefully acknowledges the support of the Spiritual Transformation Scientific Research program, sponsored by the Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science, with the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation, and a Templeton Advanced Research Program Grant through the Metanexus Foundation. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the NIA, Metanexus, or of the John Templeton Foundation.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Religiousness, spirituality, and existential beliefs are important sources of well-being yet neither their specific effects nor group variation in them is well understood. In a sample of more than 1,000 older adults, we found that certain existential beliefs or concerns (fear of God, death anxiety, belief in life after death, concerns about being mourned) are correlates of well-being in older adults and differed across religious groups. Protestants reported better well-being than Catholics and Jews. Differences in social satisfaction and existential concerns partially explained these differences, which were not explained by demographics. These results suggest the importance of studying well-being and religion in a way that appreciates the differences among religious groups and further of looking at the specific beliefs of different groups.
AB - Religiousness, spirituality, and existential beliefs are important sources of well-being yet neither their specific effects nor group variation in them is well understood. In a sample of more than 1,000 older adults, we found that certain existential beliefs or concerns (fear of God, death anxiety, belief in life after death, concerns about being mourned) are correlates of well-being in older adults and differed across religious groups. Protestants reported better well-being than Catholics and Jews. Differences in social satisfaction and existential concerns partially explained these differences, which were not explained by demographics. These results suggest the importance of studying well-being and religion in a way that appreciates the differences among religious groups and further of looking at the specific beliefs of different groups.
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U2 - 10.1080/10508610802471088
DO - 10.1080/10508610802471088
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:58149480002
SN - 1050-8619
VL - 19
SP - 39
EP - 54
JO - The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion
JF - The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion
IS - 1
ER -