Explicating the Pathways Among Memorable Message Themes About Religion and Spirituality, Positive Role Models for Aging, and Successful Aging

ABSTRACT

Grounded in the communicative ecology model of successful aging (CEMSA), this study asked older adults to report on a memorable message about religion or spirituality. The message themes were tested as directly predicting perceptions of the message source as a positive role model for aging and indirectly predicting successful aging. Messages with an ethical actions theme, personal relationship with God theme, and eternal damnation theme were directly associated with perceptions of the source as a positive role model. Further, messages with an eternal damnation theme were indirectly associated with successful aging, via perceptions of the source as a positive role model and aging efficacy. Findings address how religious memorable messages and role models for aging might operate in the CEMSA.

KEYWORDS:

• Communicative ecology model of successful aging
• memorable messages
• positive role models
• religion
• spirituality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The missing data on the demographic variables (e.g., participant sex and ethnicity) are largely due to the fact that the demographic questions appeared at the end of the survey. Some participants did not complete the full survey after starting the survey and providing responses on the earlier questions. The partial responses from these participants were retained in the data set.

2. Participants who indicated that their religious affiliation was Roman Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Mormon/Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Episcopalian, another Christian denomination not listed in the response options, or non-denominational Christian were coded as Christian, designated as a 1 in the religious affiliation covariate. Participants who indicated that their religious affiliation was Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, agnostic, another affiliation not listed in the response options, or no affiliation were coded as not Christian, designated as a 0 in the religious affiliation covariate.