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Religion and Mental Health Among Israeli Jews: Findings from the SHARE-Israel Study

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  • Jeff Levin

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of religiousness on mental health indicators in a population sample of Israeli Jews aged 50 or older. Data are from the Israel sample of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE-Israel), collected from 2005 to 2006. Of the 1,287 Jewish respondents, 473 (36.8 %) were native-born Israelis and 814 (63.2 %) were diaspora-born. Religious measures included past-month synagogue activities, current prayer, and having received a religious education. Mental health outcomes included single-item measures of lifetime depression and life satisfaction, along with the CES-D and EURO-D depression scales, the CASP-12 quality of life scale, and the LOT-R optimism scale. Participation in synagogue activities was found to be significantly associated with less depression, better quality of life, and more optimism, even after adjusting for effects of the other religious measures, for sociodemographic covariates, for the possibly confounding effect of age-related activity limitation, and for nativity. Findings for prayer were less consistent, including inverse associations with mental health, perhaps reflecting prayer’s use as a coping response. Finally, religious education was associated with greater optimism. These results underscore a modest contribution of religious participation to well-being among middle-aged and older adults, extending this research to the Israeli and Jewish populations. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2013

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  • Jeff Levin, 2013. "Religion and Mental Health Among Israeli Jews: Findings from the SHARE-Israel Study," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(3), pages 769-784, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:113:y:2013:i:3:p:769-784
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-012-0113-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Karin Amit & Howard Litwin, 2010. "The Subjective Well-Being of Immigrants Aged 50 and Older in Israel," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 98(1), pages 89-104, August.
    2. Simha Landau & Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi & Shlomit Levy, 1998. "The Personal and the Political: Israelis' Perception of Well-Being in Times of War and Peace," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 329-365, July.
    3. Williams, David R. & Larson, David B. & Buckler, Robert E. & Heckmann, Richard C. & Pyle, Caroline M., 1991. "Religion and psychological distress in a community sample," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 32(11), pages 1257-1262, January.
    4. Karin Amit, 2010. "Determinants of Life Satisfaction Among Immigrants from Western Countries and from the FSU in Israel," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 96(3), pages 515-534, May.
    5. Dov Shmotkin, 1990. "Subjective well-being as a function of age and gender: A multivariate look for differentiated trends," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 201-230, November.
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    1. Apitchaya Chaiwutikornwanich, 2015. "Belief in the Afterlife, Death Anxiety, and Life Satisfaction of Buddhists and Christians in Thailand: Comparisons Between Different Religiosity," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 124(3), pages 1015-1032, December.
    2. Siow Li Lai & Nai Peng Tey, 2021. "The Quality of Life of Older Adults in a Multiethnic Metropolitan: An Analysis of CASP-19," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, June.
    3. Adam B. Cohen & Kathryn A. Johnson, 2017. "The Relation between Religion and Well-Being," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 12(3), pages 533-547, September.
    4. Lore Van Herreweghe & Wim Van Lancker, 2019. "Is religiousness really helpful to reduce depressive symptoms at old age? A longitudinal study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, July.

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