The moderating role of gender in the relationship between religiosity and mental health in a sample of black American college students

Abstract

In the current study gender was tested as a moderator of the relationship between religiosity and mental health among 218 black American college students. It was hypothesised that black women would be higher in religious engagement than black men, and that gender would moderate the relationship between religiosity and mental health. Contrary to hypotheses, no significant gender differences in religious engagement were found. However, moderated multiple regression analyses revealed that increases in religious engagement were predictive of lower anxiety and depression for black women, but higher anxiety for black men. Implications for addressing religion when counselling black college students are discussed.

Keywords:

• gender
• religiosity
• mental health
• anxiety
• depression
• black American

Notes

1. Depending on the usage of authors cited, we use the terms black, black American and African American interchangeably to describe individuals who are of African descent living in the United States. Given that the sample identified in multiple ways (e.g., African American, African, West Indian, biracial), usage of the term black or black American was the pan-ethnic/racial term adopted.