God-Mediated Control and Change in Self-Rated Health

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to see if feelings of God-mediated control are associated with change in self-rated health over time. In the process, an effort was made to see if a sense of meaning in life and optimism mediated the relationship between God-mediated control and change in health. The following hypothesized relationships were contained in the conceptual model that was developed to evaluate these issues: (a) People who go to church more often tend to have stronger God-mediated control beliefs than individuals who do not attend worship services as often; (b) people with a strong sense of God-mediated control are more likely to find a sense of meaning in life and be more optimistic than individuals who do not have a strong sense of God-mediated control; (c) people who are optimistic and who have a strong sense of meaning in life will rate their health more favorably over time than individuals who are not optimistic, as well as individuals who have not found a sense of meaning in life. Data from a longitudinal nationwide survey of older adults provided support for each of these hypotheses.

Notes

^aThis item is scored in the following manner: 1 (never), 2 (less than once a year), 3 (about once or twice a year), 4 (several times a year), 5 (about once a month), 6 (2–3 times a month), 7 (nearly every week), 8 (every week), 9 (several times a week).

^bThese items are scored in the following manner: 1 (disagree strongly), 2 (disagree), 3 (agree), 4 (agree strongly).

^cThis item is scored in the following manner: 1 (poor), 2 (fair), 3 (good), 4 (excellent).

^dThis item is scored in the following manner: 1 (not at all satisfied), 2 (not very satisfied), 3 (somewhat satisfied), 4 (very satisfied), 5 (completely satisfied).

^eThis item is scored in the following manner: 1 (worse), 2 (about the same), 3 (better).

^aFactor loadings are from the completely standardized solution. The first-listed item for each latent construct was fixed at 1.0 in the unstandardized solution.

^bMeasurement error terms are from the completely standardized solution. All factor loadings and measurement error terms are significant at the .001 level.

^cItem content is paraphrased for the purpose of identification. See Table 1 for the complete text of each indicator.

^dThe factor loadings and measurement error terms were constrained to be equivalent in the unstandardized solution for the identical Wave 5 and Wave 6 self-rated health measures.

^aStandardized regression coefficient. These estimates reflect direct effects only.

^bMetric (unstandardized) coefficient.

*p < .05.

**p < .01.

***p < .001.

^aAll coefficients in the table are standardized coefficients.

*p < .05.

**p < .01.

***p < .001.