Czech and Slovak Members of Religious Institutes: Their Health in Comparison to the General Population

Dana Jaksicova, Lukas Novak, Vit Husek, Peter Tavel and Klara Malinakova
Additional contact information
Dana Jaksicova: Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacky University in Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Lukas Novak: Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacky University in Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Vit Husek: Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacky University in Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Peter Tavel: Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacky University in Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
Klara Malinakova: Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacky University in Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 19, 1-12

Abstract: This study examines the general health of consecrated persons (CP) in the Czech Republic (CZ) and in Slovakia (SK) compared to control samples of the Czech population. The sample of 293 CP participants (age: M = 47.52, SD = 9.57, females: 78.88%, 180 Czechs, 213 Slovaks) was compared with two control samples, one of which was nationally representative. Comparing CP with the general population, we measured the frequency of recent health complaints, the occurrence of chronic illnesses, general health and the individual chronotype. Compared to the representative sample, CP had a higher chance of suffering from pelvis minor pain and obesity but a lower chance of diabetes. Furthermore, CP had higher odds of having worse general health. Comparing “larks” with “night owls” among CP, the “night owls” had a significantly higher chance of suffering from worse general health. “Night owl” CP also seem to suffer more from backache and depression/anxiety and to have more problems with falling asleep. Compared to the overall society, CP in CZ and SK tend to have similar or worse general health. The results differ from the findings in the US, pointing to the positive health effects of the spiritual experience and structured daily routine of CP. Thus, this study shows the importance of more detailed research on the way of life of Czech and Slovak CP to determine the factors with the most negative health effects.

Keywords: spirituality; consecrated person; health; religious institutes; Czech; Slovak (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/19/9944/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/19/9944/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:19:p:9944-:d:640271

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().