Religious involvement, stress, and mental health: Findings from the 1995 Detroit Area Study

Although interest in the links between religion and mental health has incre ased sharply in recent years, researchers remain far from a consensus regar ding which aspects of religious involvement are germane to mental health, w hich mental health outcomes may be influenced by religious factors, and whi ch mechanisms and/or models may account for these observed relationships. T his article extends the literature in this area by elaborating a set of dir ect, mediating, and moderating links between multiple dimensions Of religio us involvement and psychological distress and well-being. Relevant hypothes es are then tested using data from the 1995 Detroit Area Study. Among our k ey findings: the frequency of church attendance bears a positive associatio n with well-being and an inverse association with distress; the frequency o f prayer has a slight inverse link with well-being and a weak positive asso ciation with distress; belief in eternal life is positively associated with well-being but unrelated to distress, in general, the net effects of these religious variables are not mediated by the risk of social stressors or by access to social or psychological resources, other religious variables, in cluding measures of church-based social support, are unrelated to distress or well-being; and there is limited evidence of stress-buffering effects, b ut not stress-exacerbating effects, of religious involvement. The limitatio ns of the study are discussed, and several implications and promising direc tions for further research oil religion and health/well-being are identifie d.