Life Course Religious Attendance and Cognitive Health at Midlife: Exploring Gendered Contingencies

I'm certainly not going to take up religion for supposed cognitive benefits. This earlier research suggests the opposite.

Life-Course Religious Attendance and Cognitive Functioning in Later Life 

 Our key findings demonstrate that older adults who attended religious services for more of their life course tend to exhibit poorer working memory and mental status.

But  have the smarter people self selected out of religion? I self selected out 50 years ago.

 The latest here:

Life Course Religious Attendance and Cognitive Health at Midlife: Exploring Gendered Contingencies

Laura Upenieks https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1200-2471 laura_upenieks@baylor.edu and Xi ZhuView all authors and affiliations

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https://doi.org/10.1177/01640275231188998

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Abstract

A growing body of literature suggests that religious attendance might mitigate processes of cognitive decline associated with aging. However, few studies have made adequate linkages with the life course perspective. We draw from over 35 years of prospective panel data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (1979–2015) to assess the associations of cumulative exposures to religious attendance over the life course (childhood and midlife) for self-rated cognitive health and working memory (as assessed by the Serial 7s task). Our results suggest that midlife adults who attended religious services consistently between childhood and adulthood had higher self-rated cognitive health and better working memory. Women were also found to receive stronger benefits to self-rated cognitive health from consistent religious practice between childhood and adulthood. This pattern of findings allows for greater reflection into the neural enrichment and neural depletion arguments proposed to explain the religion/cognitive health link in previous research.

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Discovering Grace at the Table? Prayers at Mealtime, Marital Status, and Life Satisfaction in Later Life

I'm not married and I'm certainly not going to take up religion for supposed psychological benefits. This earlier research suggests the opposite.

Life-Course Religious Attendance and Cognitive Functioning in Later Life 

 Our key findings demonstrate that older adults who attended religious services for more of their life course tend to exhibit poorer working memory and mental status.

But  have the smarter people self selected out of religion?

 The latest here:

Discovering Grace at the Table? Prayers at Mealtime, Marital Status, and Life Satisfaction in Later Life

Jong Hyun Jung, Christopher G. Ellison

First Published January 21, 2021 Research Article 

https://doi.org/10.1177/0164027521989092

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Abstract

This study examines the effects of prayers at mealtime on change in life satisfaction among older U.S. adults. In addition, it assesses the ways that marital status conditions these psychological effects of prayers at mealtime. Using two waves of longitudinal data from the Religion, Aging, and Health Survey (2001–2004), a representative sampling of adults aged 65 and older, the analyses reveal that the frequency of prayers at mealtime is associated with an increase in life satisfaction over time. Further, the positive effects of prayers at mealtime on change in life satisfaction are greater for nonmarried older adults than their married counterparts. The findings in the study reinforce claims of the beneficial effects of religion on mental well-being in later life. Moreover, they elaborate on the resource substitution thesis by showing that religion provides greater psychological benefits for older adults who do not have alternative resources for well-being—a marital partner.

Keywords religion, subjective well-being, marriage, resource substitution, longitudinal analysis

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Life-Course Religious Attendance and Cognitive Functioning in Later Life

But  have the smarter people self selected out of religion? I don't care, I won't be back except for weddings and funerals. 

Life-Course Religious Attendance and Cognitive Functioning in Later Life

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Terrence D. Hill, Dawn C. Carr, Amy M. Burdette, ...

First Published April 8, 2020 Research Article

https://doi.org/10.1177/0164027520917059

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Abstract

Although several studies suggest that religious attendance is associated with better cognitive functioning in later life, researchers have generally failed to connect with any established life-course perspectives or theories of cognitive aging. Building on previous work, we examine the effects of life-course religious attendance on a range of cognitive functioning outcomes. We employ data from the religious life histories module of the 2016 Health and Retirement Study, a subsample of 516 adults aged 65 and older. Our key findings demonstrate that older adults who attended religious services for more of their life course tend to exhibit poorer working memory and mental status and better self-rated memory than older adults who attended less often. We contribute to previous research by reconceptualizing religious attendance as a cumulative life-course exposure, exploring the effects of religious attendance net of secular social engagement, and examining a wider range of cognitive functioning outcomes.

Keywords religion, memory, mental status, cognitive health

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Dimensions of Religious Involvement Represent Positive Pathways in Cognitive Aging

Well I have no religious involvement and I'm sure my cognitive abilities are not compromised. 

Dimensions of Religious Involvement Represent Positive Pathways in Cognitive Aging 

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A. Zarina Kraal, Neika Sharifian, Afsara B. Zaheed, ...

First Published July 14, 2019 Research Article

https://doi.org/10.1177/0164027519862745

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Abstract

Older Black and Hispanic adults report more religious involvement, and religious involvement has been linked to better cognition. This study examined which aspects of religious involvement are associated with better longitudinal episodic memory and whether religious involvement offsets racial and ethnic inequalities in episodic memory. Using Health and Retirement Study data (N = 16,069), latent growth curves estimated independent indirect pathways between race and ethnicity and 6-year memory trajectories through religious attendance, private prayer, and religious belief, controlling for nonreligious social participation, depressive symptoms, chronic health diseases, age, education, and wealth. Negative direct effects of Black race and Hispanic ethnicity on memory were partially offset by positive indirect pathways through more private prayer and religious attendance. While results were significant for memory intercept and not subsequent memory change, religious attendance and private prayer were independently associated with better cognitive health among diverse older adults. Findings may inform culturally relevant intervention development to promote successful aging and reduce older adults’ cognitive morbidity.

Keywords memory, minority and diverse populations, structural equation model, successful aging

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“I Should Be Closer To God Because of This”—A Case Study of Embodied Narratives and Spiritual Reconstruction in Spinal Cord Injury and Stroke Rehabilitation

Well they could write up a case study on me and it would come to the complete opposite conclusion. A statement from my parents that 'God doesn't give you anything more than you can handle'. A God that is that evil tipped me completely into atheism and I relied on my own internal strengths to get where I am today.

“I Should Be Closer To God Because of This”—A Case Study of Embodied Narratives and Spiritual Reconstruction in Spinal Cord Injury and Stroke Rehabilitation

DOI:

10.1080/23312521.2014.990551

Robert Mundle^a*

pages 30-49

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• Published online: 12 Mar 2015

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Abstract

This instrumental case study demonstrates the need for patients to be able to draw upon their own spiritual and religious vocabularies in order to reconstruct narrative self-continuity in the wake of debilitating illness. Through the presentation of case material taken from a series of semi-structured interviews with a 77-year-old female Roman Catholic patient who suffered a crisis of faith following a spinal cord injury and a stroke, the author illustrates key aspects of life history and religious beliefs and practices—such as lives of the saints, devotions, mystical experiences, sacred time, sacred symbols, and sacred space—to engage narrative ethics around typologies and therapeutic plots supplied by others. Narrative analysis of such discursive resources from the perspective of spiritual health can help inter-professional healthcare teams understand more fully patient needs and holistic best practices within rehabilitation environments.

Does Spirituality and Religion Guard Against Depression?

I doubt I've been depressed a day in my life. My parents comments during my hospital stay, ' God doesn't give you anything more than you can handle', pretty much completely tipped me into atheism. And I would never consider myself spiritual.

Does Spirituality and Religion Guard Against Depression?

This line will make Amy happy or mad depending on how clinicians listen to her insights on Kundalini yoga mediatation.
A 2005 study suggests that a daily meditation practice can increase cortical thickness, which is in line with Miller’s findings regarding depression.

Religious Experiences Shrink Part of the Brain

And I thought meditation was good for us.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=religious-experiences-shrink-part-of-brain&WT.mc_id=SA_CAT_MB_20110601
selected paragraphs.

The authors offer the hypothesis that the greater hippocampal atrophy in selected religious groups might be related to stress. They argue that some individuals in the religious minority, or those who struggle with their beliefs, experience higher levels of stress. This causes a release of stress hormones that are known to depress the volume of the hippocampus over time. This might also explain the fact that both non-religious as well as some religious individuals have smaller hippocampal volumes.

This is an interesting hypothesis. Many studies have shown positive effects of religion and spirituality on mental health, but there are also plenty of examples of negative impacts. There is evidence that members of religious groups who are persecuted or in the minority might have markedly greater stress and anxiety as they try to navigate their own society. Other times, a person might perceive God to be punishing them and therefore have significant stress in the face of their religious struggle. Others experience religious struggle because of conflicting ideas with their religious tradition or their family. Even very positive, life-changing experiences might be difficult to incorporate into the individual’s prevailing religious belief system and this can also lead to stress and anxiety. Perceived religious transgressions can cause emotional and psychological anguish. This “religious” and “spiritual pain” can be difficult to distinguish from pure physical pain. And all of these phenomena can have potentially negative effects on the brain.

Thus, Owen and her colleagues certainly pose a plausible hypothesis. They also cite some of the limitations of their findings, such as the small sample size. More importantly, the causal relationship between brain findings and religion is difficult to clearly establish. Is it possible, for example, that those people with smaller hippocampal volumes are more likely to have specific religious attributes, drawing the causal arrow in the other direction? Further, it might be that the factors leading up to the life-changing events are important and not just the experience itself. Since brain atrophy reflects everything that happens to a person up to that point, one cannot definitively conclude that the most intense experience was in fact the thing that resulted in brain atrophy. So there are many potential factors that could lead to the reported results. (It is also somewhat problematic that stress itself did not correlate with hippocampal volumes since this was one of the potential hypotheses proposed by the authors and thus, appears to undercut the conclusions.) One might ask whether it is possible that people who are more religious suffer greater inherent stress, but that their religion actually helps to protect them somewhat. Religion is frequently cited as an important coping mechanism for dealing with stress.