The Role of Religion in Buffering the Impact of Stressful Life Events on Depressive Symptoms in Patients with Depressive Episodes or Adjustment Disorder

Louisa Lorenz, Anne Doherty and Patricia Casey
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Louisa Lorenz: Department of Psychology, Division Psychopathology and Clinical Intervention, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
Anne Doherty: Liaison Psychiatry, University Hospital, H91 YR71 Galway, Ireland
Patricia Casey: Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Eccles St., D07 R2WY Dublin, Ireland

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 7, 1-13

Abstract: Most studies into the role of religiousness in relation to depression severity have mainly found an inverse relationship between greater religiousness and lower levels of depressive symptoms. There is reason to assume that religiousness has a buffering effect on the relationship between stressful life events and depressive symptoms. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of religiousness in moderating the impact of stressors on depressive symptoms. n = 348 patients with either a depressive episode or adjustment disorder were assessed at referral to the liaison psychiatry services in three Dublin hospitals and n = 132 patients were followed up six months later. We assessed depressive symptoms, life events, social support, and religiosity, and used hierarchical and multiple linear regression for data analysis. The interaction of organised religious activity and the amount of life events was significant ( β = −0.19, p = 0.001) in the cross-sectional prediction of depressive symptoms while non-organised religious activity ( β = −0.23, p = 0.001) and intrinsic religiousness ( β = −0.15, p = 0.033) interacted significantly with life events in the longitudinal analysis. This study demonstrated that various dimensions of religiousness buffered the impact of life events on outcome.

Keywords: religiousness; organised religious practice; non-organised religious practice; intrinsic religiousness; social support (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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