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IJERPH
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Religion and Public Health: Social Scientific Investigations
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Religion and Public Health: Social Scientific Investigations

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Care Sciences & Services".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (2 December 2019) | Viewed by 8119

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. John Bartkowski

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Sociology and Demography, University of Texas at San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249-0655, USA
Interests: culture; family; gender; program evaluation; qualitative methodology; religion; social inequality; social welfare social policy
Prof. Dr. Xiaohe Xu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Sociology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
Interests: health; sociology of marriage and family; comparative family studies; adolescents; advanced statistical methods; statistical research design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Amy M. Burdette

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Sociology, College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, Florida State University, 600 W. College Avenue, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
Interests: health; religion; gender

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to issue this call for papers on the subject of religion and public health. Social scientific studies are solicited for a Special Issue in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH). The Special Issue title is “Religion and Public Health: Social Scientific Investigations”.

Individual religiosity, faith-based organizations, and community-level religious ecologies have been shown to exhibit a robust relationship with public health. Religion is related to infant and adult mortality. The prevention and treatment of various diseases can be hastened by accounting for religiosity and religious coping behaviors. Extant research also reveals the complexity of the religion–health relationship, such that faith can sometimes facilitate wellness and other times undermine it. Despite such mounting evidence, scholarship examining religious influences on public health still lags behind that focused on other social correlates. Data gaps are one obstacle to advancing the field. In addition, some researchers have a lack of familiarity with this core social institution. Given religion's persistent public presence across the world, this Special Issue aims to advance current scholarship on religion and public health across various locales and faith traditions while also charting methodologically novel avenues of exploration.

This Special Issue is open to all researchers who focus on the relationship between religion and public health. Papers examining religious influences on public health are especially welcome, but those exploring how health may affect religious participation and spirituality are also solicited. Studies utilizing novel methodological approaches are particularly encouraged. Papers featuring analyses of empirical data (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods) will be prioritized. The following topics provide guidance for possible submissions, but papers outside these domains are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. John Bartkowski
Prof. Dr. Xiaohe Xu
Prof. Dr. Amy M. Burdette
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • denominational variations in health
  • health consequences of religious ecology (community-level religion)
  • religion, drug prevention, and/or drug treatment
  • spirituality and health
  • religious differences in healthcare access and utilization
  • evaluations of congregational health promotion initiatives
  • effects of health and well-being on religious participation and commitment
  • religious networks in disease prevention and/or treatment 
  • faith-based organizations and the pursuit of public health
  • religious experiences and psychological well-being
  • religion, health, and the life course
  • the positive and negative health effects of religious belief and belonging
  • global perspectives on religion and health
  • health outcomes among members of marginalized faith communities
  • religion and social support for the chronically ill
  • gender-specific effects of religion on health
  • family religiosity and personal well-being
  • religion and mental health
  • religious responses to health disparities
  • distinctive effects of religious measures on health outcomes
  • religion, maternal health, and child well-being

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 311 KiB  
Article
Buddhism and Depressive Symptoms among Married Women in Urban Thailand
by Ting Xu, Xiaohe Xu, Thankam Sunil and Bangon Sirisunyaluck
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(3), 761; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17030761 - 25 Jan 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3825
Abstract
A growing body of research has documented salutary associations between religious involvement and poor mental health outcomes, such as depressive symptoms and psychological distress. However, little scholarly attention has been given to the association between Buddhism, a non-Western religious faith, and depressive symptomatology [...] Read more.
A growing body of research has documented salutary associations between religious involvement and poor mental health outcomes, such as depressive symptoms and psychological distress. However, little scholarly attention has been given to the association between Buddhism, a non-Western religious faith, and depressive symptomatology in Thailand. Using random survey data collected from urban Thailand, this study examines the association between religious involvement and depressive symptoms among married women in Bangkok. Findings from multiple linear regression models reveal that (1) Buddhist respondents report significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms than their non-Buddhist counterparts, (2) the frequency of participation in religious activities is significantly and inversely associated with the level of depressive symptoms, and (3) the inverse association between religious participation and depressive symptoms is more salient for Buddhists who frequently practice their faith (i.e., significant interaction effect). Research limitations and directions for future research are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and Public Health: Social Scientific Investigations)
17 pages, 537 KiB  
Article
Who Is Happier in China? Exploring Determinant Factors Using Religion as a Moderator
by Yingying Sun and Yue Zhang
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(22), 4308; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224308 - 6 Nov 2019
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3427
Abstract
The relationship between religion and happiness has been seriously understudied in non-Western and non-Islamic societies. Taking religious identity and religious practice as strata, the 2015 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) data were used to examine the predicting power of health, politics, and social [...] Read more.
The relationship between religion and happiness has been seriously understudied in non-Western and non-Islamic societies. Taking religious identity and religious practice as strata, the 2015 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) data were used to examine the predicting power of health, politics, and social relationships with regard to happiness in four different groups, as follows: People with a religious identity and practice, people with no religious identity but with a practice, people with a religious identity but no practice, and people with neither a religious identity nor practice. Multiple regression analyses were conducted using the Ordinary Least Squares method. The results demonstrate the influence of the independent variables in the four groups, thus confirming the expectation that different religious practices, as well as identities, play a vital role in moderating the degree of happiness. Physical and mental health are significant predictors of happiness regardless of different religious situations, with the effect of mental health here found to be greater in magnitude on happiness than that of physical health. Political participation was not found to be related to happiness, but having a left-wing political attitude did emerge as strongly predicting happiness. The results concerning social relationships further consolidate the hypothesis that religious practice should be taken into consideration separately from religious identity. This study indicates the importance of further investigating religious practice as an independent factor in religious studies in the context of Chinese society. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and Public Health: Social Scientific Investigations)
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