Biological and Psychosocial Manifestations of Religion

描述(申请人提供)：虽然现代社会学对宗教的研究已有近百年的历史，但行为科学家直到最近才探索宗教/精神生活可能产生的健康后果。结果表明，宗教参与与健康和死亡率之间通常是正相关的。到目前为止，这一新兴领域的许多研究都使用了广泛的衡量标准(例如宗教参加人数)，调查了少量的区域人口，并利用了少数少数民族。 在这项纵向研究中，我们计划：1.检查宗教经验的特定表现形式(例如祈祷的维度和不同的上帝概念)，及其与生活质量和导致特定死亡的关系；在通常具有良好健康结果且日益具有多样性特征的新教群体中；2.调查这些相同的宗教经验表现形式是否与两个种族(非洲裔和[欧洲裔美国人])的生活质量和原因特定死亡率有不同的关联；3.检查这些宗教经验表现形式与应激、免疫系统功能和衰老的生化和生理指标的可能关系。 这项前瞻性研究计划作为对LLU的基督复临安息日健康研究-2的补充，该研究目前由NCI资助，从全美招募了12.5万名参与者。虽然AHS-2专注于饮食及其对癌症发病率的影响，但我们的研究涉及10,000名AHS-2参与者，将探索宗教信仰和习俗如何不仅影响死亡率，还影响生活质量。此外，这项拟议研究的500名成员，年龄在50岁至95岁之间，将居住在洛玛琳达附近，并参与该研究的临床分支，以确定可能的生物和生理调节宗教效应。这项研究应该进一步加深目前对宗教的各种表现形式如何对身心健康产生积极和消极影响的理解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Although the modern sociological study of religion is almost a hundred years old, only recently have behavioral scientists probed religious/spiritual life for its possible health outcomes. The results demonstrate a usually positive correlation between religious involvement and health and mortality. To date, much of the research in this emerging field has used broad measures (e.g. religious attendance), surveyed small, regional populations, and utilized a paucity of minority peoples. In this longitudinal study we plan: 1. To examine particular manifestations of religious experience (e.g. dimensions of prayer and contrasting concepts of God), and their associations with quality of life and cause specific mortality in a Protestant group possessing generally good health outcomes, and increasingly characterized by diversity; 2. To investigate whether these same manifestations of religious experience have different associations with quality of life and cause-specific mortality in two ethnic groups (African- and [Euro- Americans); 3. To examine the possible relationships of these manifestations of religious experience to biochemical and physiological indicators of stress, immune system function, and aging. This prospective study is planned as a complement to LLU's Adventist Health Study-2, currently funded by NCI and enrolling 125,000 participants from across the United States. Whereas AHS-2 focuses on diet and its effect on cancer incidence, our research involving 10,000 of AHS-2 participants will explore how religious beliefs and practices may affect not only mortality but also quality of life. Further, 500 members of the proposed study, ages 50-95+, will live in the Loma Linda vicinity, and participate in the study's clinical arm that will ascertain possible biological and physiological mediators of religious effect. This study should further current understanding of how various manifestations of religion positively and negatively affect physical and mental health.