Chong Ho Yu & Beverly Rasimas Azusa Pacific University AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES, SPIRITUALITY, AND MENTAL HEALTH AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS Chong Ho Yu & Beverly Rasimas Azusa Pacific University
Objective Examine the relationship between spirituality/religiosity and mental health. Spirituality is individualistic whereas religiosity entails involvement with a particular religious institution. If there is a relationship, it is unclear to tell which one is the cause and which one is the effect. Are Christians tend to be more mentally healthy? Are mentally healthy people tend to be Christians? It could be bi-directional.
Literature review Several studies found that those who attended church services regularly experienced feelings of overall well-being (George, et al 2004, Fredrickson, 2013). Less religious people are likely to experience depression or psychiatric disorders (Bonneli, Dew, Koenig, Rosmarin, Vasegh, 2012). In a study 82% of religious participants reported having a stronger sense of a support system.
Data source A survey administered by the health center of a Southwestern Christian university N = 438 Mean age = 20.23 Gender: 316 females (72.31%) 120 males (27.45%) 1 transgender (0.02%)
Faith status of students Four levels: I continue to attend church and have faith in Christ (religious?) I have not attended church for over one year but I maintain my faith in Christ (spiritual?) I still attend church but have serious doubts of my faith in Christ I am not attending church and have abandoned my faith in Christ.
Mental well-being measures Measures of mental health in multiple dimensions
Mental well-being measures
Mental well-being measures
Mental well-being measures Due to data sparsity, the responses are converted to 1 (yes) or 0 (no) It is inappropriate to sum or average them into a composite score by treating all “1”s are equal, because some issues are more severe than others e.g. bipolar and suicide attempt are worse than loneliness and insomnia.
Item response theory Calibrate the student level of psychological problems by taking both item and student attributes into account simultaneously. Output the theta score for each student Center at 0 Above 0: more issues in mental health Below 0: fewer or no issues in mental health
Correlation between theta and composite score Pearson’s r = .9862 95% CI: .9833, .9866 P < .0001 However, the scatterplot shows that some students are “off.”
Item-person map Higher items: more severe conditions, difficult to have it e.g. panic attacks, depression Lower items: less severe conditions, easy to have it e.g. felt very lonely, felt very sad. Higher persons: have more severe mental issues. Lower persons: have less severe mental issues.
Item characteristic curve Y-axis: Probability, X-axis: Theta When theta is 0, the student is average on mental-wellbeing. The probability of ever-felt things were hopeless is 0.5. When the theta is 0 (average), the probability of ever intentionally cut, burned, bruised, or otherwise injure yourself is almost 0.
results Those students who attend church AND have Christian faith have substantively fewer mental health issues. Theta = Below 0 (average)
results Those students who attend church but doubt their faith, and those who do not attend church and gave up their faith have equal amount of problems in mental wellbeing. Theta = 1.1
results Those students who do not attend church but keep their Christian faith are doing a bit better than the two previous groups in mental wellbeing, but not as good as the first group. Theta = 0.4
Results ANOVA and multiple comparison F (3, 413)= 9.67 P < .0001
Results Logistic regression Chi-square = 28.23 P < .0001
Conclusion There is a strong association between Christian faith and mental wellbeing. Attending church and keeping faith least mental health issues Not attending church and keeping faith less mental health issues Attending church and doubting faith more mental health issues Not attending church and giving up faith more mental health issues