Religiousness, social support and reasons for living in African American and European American older adults: An exploratory study

Abstract

Objectives: This study examined the relationship between religiousness, perceived social support, and reasons for living among European American (n = 37; M age = 67.7 years) and African American (n = 35; M age = 71.1 years) older adults, where ethnicity was predicted to behave as a moderator.

Method: Community-dwelling participants completed the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality, the Multidimensional Measure of Perceived Social Support, and the Reasons for Living Inventory.

Results: As expected, high religiousness was associated with more reasons for living. Ethnicity alone did not meaningfully account for variance differences in reasons for living, but significant interactions indicated that the relationship between religiousness and reasons for living was stronger for African Americans, whereas the relationship between social support and reasons for living was stronger for European Americans.

Conclusion: The present findings may be valuable for understanding potentially modifiable pathways to suicide resilience in diverse populations of older adults.

Keywords:

• suicide
• aging
• prevention
• ethnicity
• religion
• support