Does the intensity of religiosity and spirituality in later life improve mental well-being? Evidence from India

ABSTRACT

The present study has investigated the multidimensional aspects of religion, spirituality, and mental well-being among Indian older adults in later life. After controlling for socioeconomic and health factors, it was found that those who practiced spirituality almost daily were 20% less likely to be depressed compared to their counterparts. Similarly, the adjusted likelihood of reported low cognitive functional health was less for those who almost daily practiced spirituality (OR = 0.82; p = <0.001) and religiosity (OR = 0.55; p = <0.001) compared to those who never practiced. However, religiosity and spirituality had significant effect on mental well-being. Further research is needed to elucidate these findings.

KEYWORDS:

• Religiosity
• spirituality
• depression
• Self-rated health
• life satisfaction
• cognitive functional health

Data availability statement

The present research utilized secondary data, Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) Wave-1, which is available on specific request through https://www.iipsindia.ac.in/content/LASI-data

Acknowledgments

We are thankful to the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) for helping us with the survey data, and we are grateful to the LASI research as well as the field team for their data collection. The authors are also thankful to all anonymous reviewers for giving important observations.

Disclosure statement

This is the first research attempted to deal with the association between spirituality and religiosity and the mental health of the older person in India.

Additional information

Funding

The present research did not receive any grant from any funding agency, commercial entity, or not-for-profit organization.