THE SCOPE OF RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES ON PERSONAL AND SOCIETAL WELL-BEING- INTRODUCTION

That religious belief and behavior have far-reaching influences on per sonal and social life, in both beneficial and deleterious ways, is sel f-evident. The purpose of the present volume is to examine religious i nfluences on a variety of aspects of well-being, broadly defined to in clude both personal and societal levels of analysis. Religion and well -being are both multifaceted constructs, and the empirical relationshi ps between them prove to be highly complex. The authors in this volume examine these relationships across a diverse sampling of conceptualiz ations of well-being (coping, mental health, physical health, and subs tance abuse and recovery), social issues and problems (religion-relate d and ritualistic child abuse, prejudice and right-wing authoritariani sm, and HIV infection), and special populations (adolescents and the e lderly).