RELIGION, WELL BEING, AND AGING IN JAPAN

日本的宗教、福祉和老龄化

• 批准号: 6146743
• 负责人: JOHN W TRAPHAGAN
• 金额: $ 5.37万
• 依托单位: CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY FULLERTON
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-09-30 至 2001-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6146743
• 关键词: Japan; age difference; aging; behavior test; behavioral /social science research tag; belief; clinical research; culture; family; gender difference; human old age (65+); human subject; interpersonal relations; interview; lifestyle; peer group; quality of life; religion

The aim of this project is to begin assessing perceptions about the relationship between religious practice and well-being among elderly people living in a cultural context distinct from that of Western societies--the focus of most research on religion, health, and aging to date. Research will be conducted in Japan, where religiousness is organized around instrumental aims or specific forms of ritual activity that are often tied to a participant's age and frequently include requests to Shinto or Buddhist deities for good health, recovery from sickness, or, among older people, a sudden death. Given that, like Americans, Japanese people appear to become progressively more religiously active as they grow older, the instrumental nature of Japanese religiosity and its connection to issues related to both health and dying should provide interesting comparative data on the intersection of religion and health for older people. It also should help use to understand the role of religious activities for those who do not participate in the Judeo-Christian traditions. Three hypothesis will be tested via ethnographic fieldwork in the form of in-depth interviews, focus-group sessions, and participant observation of religious activities. First, religious activity among older Japanese is expected to show age-effects that are, in part, a function of people's roles within kin groups. Successors to the headship of Japanese kin groups and their immediate families are more likely to show strong age-effects in relation to intensity and frequency of religious participation than other family members. Second, positive self reporting of mental and physical well-being and high levels of ritual activity are expected to correspond. However, variation is expected in relation to gender, because older Japanese women tend to be more involved in religious activities than men. Third, increased religious activity among older Japanese is, at least in part, associated with preparation for death and doing what one can to ensure a good death by praying at so-called Buddhist Sudden Death Temples. Fieldwork will be conducted over four month. For comparative purposes within Japan, research will be done in two communities, an agricultural town and a small city.

该项目的目的是开始评估人们对 宗教活动与老年人福祉之间的关系 生活在与西方文化不同的文化环境中的人们 社会--大多数关于宗教、健康和老龄化的研究的焦点， 约会研究将在日本进行，那里的宗教信仰是 围绕工具性目的或特定形式的仪式活动而组织的 通常与参与者的年龄有关， 向神道教或佛教神灵祈求身体健康，从疾病中恢复，或者， 在老年人中，突然死亡。考虑到，像美国人，日本人 随着年龄的增长，人们的宗教活动似乎越来越活跃， 日本宗教的工具性质及其与 与健康和死亡有关的问题应该会提供有趣的 关于宗教与老年人健康相互关系的比较数据 人它也应该有助于理解宗教的作用 为那些不参加犹太教和基督教的人举办的活动 传统. 三个假设将通过民族志实地考察的形式进行测试， 深入访谈，焦点小组会议，和参与者观察 宗教活动。首先，日本老年人的宗教活动 预期会显示出年龄效应，部分是人们的功能， 亲属群体中的角色。日本家族首领继承人 他们的直系亲属更有可能表现出强烈的年龄效应， 与其他宗教参与的强度和频率的关系 家庭成员第二，积极的心理和身体自我报告 幸福和高水平的仪式活动预计将相应。 然而，预计在性别方面会有差异，因为年龄较大， 日本女性比男性更热衷于宗教活动。 第三，日本老年人宗教活动的增加，至少在 部分，与死亡的准备和做什么， 通过在所谓的佛教猝死寺祈祷来确保一个好的死亡。 实地考察将持续四个多月。用于比较目的 在日本，研究将在两个社区进行，一个是农业社区， 一个小镇，一个小城。