Does the association between religiosity, spirituality and self-rated health change with religious affiliations? Evidence from an Indian large-scale survey

ABSTRACT

The rapid growth of the elderly in India has raised research questions about their quality of life, health, and social support. The current study aims to understand the factors influencing older adults’ self-rated health (SRH), focusing on religiosity and spirituality in India. The present study used data from India’s Longitudinal Ageing Study’s first wave (LASI), 2017–18. The levels of poor SRH decreased with an increasing degree of religious and spiritual participation. In the present study, religious attendance was a significant predictor of SRH among Christians, Muslims, and Hindus. Spirituality was found to be a significant predictor of SRH only among Hindus. Besides [prayer, participation in religious services and mediation], age, sex, place of residence, level of education, daily living activities, and chronic illness status were significant predictors of SRH. The current study also showed that older people have a significantly high incidence of poor SRH, regardless of their spiritual and religious backgrounds. There is a need to focus on elderly-friendly health and social care policies and programs considering socio-cultural aspects to minimize the burden of poor SRH.

KEYWORDS:

• Religion
• religiosity
• spirituality
• SRH
• elderly
• LASI

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The agencies that conducted the field survey for the data collection collected prior consent (written and verbal) from the respondent. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) extended the necessary guidance and ethical approval for conducting the LASI survey.

Data availability statement

The study uses secondary data, which is available on reasonable request through https://www.iipsindia.ac.in/content/lasi-wave-i

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15528030.2023.2168328