TY - JOUR
T1 - Religious attendance and biological functioning
T2 - A multiple specification approach
AU - Hill, Terrence D.
AU - Rote, Sunshine M.
AU - Ellison, Christopher G.
AU - Burdette, Amy M.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by Grant T32AG00270 from the National Institute on Aging.
PY - 2014/8
Y1 - 2014/8
N2 - Objective: This study explores the role of religious attendance across a wide range of biological markers. Method: The data are drawn from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project to assess continuous and categorical biomarker specifications. Results: Across specifications, higher levels of attendance are associated with lower levels of pulse rate and overall allostatic load. Depending on the specification, higher levels of attendance are also associated with lower levels of body mass, diastolic blood pressure, C-reactive protein, and Epstein-Barr virus. Attendance is unrelated to dehydroepiandrosterone, systolic blood pressure, and glycosylated hemoglobin across specifications. Discussion: The study confirms that religious attendance is associated with healthier biological functioning in later life. Additional research is needed to verify these patterns with other data sources and to test viable mediators of the association between religious attendance and biological risk.
AB - Objective: This study explores the role of religious attendance across a wide range of biological markers. Method: The data are drawn from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project to assess continuous and categorical biomarker specifications. Results: Across specifications, higher levels of attendance are associated with lower levels of pulse rate and overall allostatic load. Depending on the specification, higher levels of attendance are also associated with lower levels of body mass, diastolic blood pressure, C-reactive protein, and Epstein-Barr virus. Attendance is unrelated to dehydroepiandrosterone, systolic blood pressure, and glycosylated hemoglobin across specifications. Discussion: The study confirms that religious attendance is associated with healthier biological functioning in later life. Additional research is needed to verify these patterns with other data sources and to test viable mediators of the association between religious attendance and biological risk.
KW - allostatic load
KW - biological risk
KW - religion
KW - religious attendance
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U2 - 10.1177/0898264314529333
DO - 10.1177/0898264314529333
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84904569942
SN - 0898-2643
VL - 26
SP - 766
EP - 785
JO - Journal of Aging and Health
JF - Journal of Aging and Health
IS - 5
ER -