HOW RELIGION INFLUENCES MORBIDITY AND HEALTH - REFLECTIONS ON NATURAL-HISTORY, SALUTOGENESIS AND HOST RESISTANCE

This paper surveys the field that has come to be known as the epidemio logy of religion. Epidemiologic study of the impact of religious invol vement, broadly defined, has become increasingly popular in recent yea rs, although the existence, meaning and implications of an apparently salutary religious effect on health have not yet been interpreted in a n epidemiologic context. This paper attempts to remedy this situation by putting the ''epidemiology'' into the epidemiology of religion thro ugh discussion of existing empirical findings in terms of several subs tantive epidemiologic concepts. After first providing an overview of k ey research findings and prior reviews of this field, the summary find ing of a protective religious effect on morbidity is examined in terms of three important epidemiologic concepts: the natural history of dis ease, salutogenesis and host resistance. In addition to describing a t heoretical basis for interpreting a religion-health association, this paper provides an enumeration of common misinterpretations of epidemio logic findings for religious involvement, as well as an outline of hyp othesized pathways, mediating factors, and salutogenic mechanisms for respective religious dimensions. It is hoped that these reflections wi ll serve both to elevate the status of religion as a construct worthy of social-epidemiologic research and to reinvigorate the field of soci al epidemiology. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.