Absent Relations of Religious Coping to Telomere Length in African American and White Women and Men

ABSTRACT

Objectives

This study investigated whether race and sex moderated the relations of religious coping to telomere length (TL), a biomarker of cellular aging implicated in race-related health disparities.

Methods

Participant data were drawn from the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) study, which included 252 socioeconomically diverse African American and White men and women aged (30–64 years old). Cross-sectional multivariable regression analyses examined interactive associations of religious coping, race, and sex to TL, adjusting for other sociodemographic characteristics.

Results

Religious coping was unrelated to TL in this sample (p’s > .05). There were no notable race or sex differences. Post hoc exploratory analyses similarly found that neither secular social support coping use nor substance use coping was associated with TL.

Conclusion

There was no evidence to support that religious coping use provided protective effects to TL in this sample of African American and White women and men. Nevertheless, future studies should use more comprehensive assessments of religious coping and intersectional identities to provide an in-depth examination of religiosity/spirituality as a potential culturally salient protective factor in cellular aging among African Americans in the context of specific chronic stressors such as discrimination.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest to disclose.

Research Data & Replication

The HANDLS sample is relatively small and drawn from a vulnerable population residing in specific census tracts in Baltimore City, Maryland, US. Therefore, maintaining confidentiality – especially in the context of a longitudinal study – is paramount. Participants’ identities are at risk under these conditions. Therefore, interested investigators should consult the HANDLS website at https://handls.nih.gov — specifically, the instructions for collaborators at https://handls.nih.gov/06Coll-dataDoc.htm.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/0361073X.2023.2219187

Additional information

Funding

We would like to acknowledge our funding sources: Health Policy Research Scholars Program, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program ZIAG000513, and R01AG034161. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, the decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation or the National Institute on Aging.