Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.5673/sip.49.1.4
“May God Give Us Health”: Correlation Between Religiosity and Health in Croatia
Branko Ančić
orcid.org/0000-0003-1438-2647
; Institut za društvena istraživanja u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Dinka Marinović Jerolimov
orcid.org/0000-0002-6511-3124
; Institut za Društvena istraživanja u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
Interdisciplinary research carried out in the last few decades has shown a correlation between religiosity and health. Religion and its system of values and life philosophy considerably affects health which is increasingly observed from the culturological aspect. In this sociology is a relevant discipline which reflects on the issue. In the 1960s there was a significant increase in the number of empirical studies which concentrated on religiosity and health. Those were mostly American (especially epidemiological) studies which examined
church practices, religious involvement, religious affiliation, prayers, the importance of religious beliefs, which even led to the development of the epidemiology of religion. The findings often (but not always) showed positive effects of religiosity on health. In Croatia the correlation between religiosity and health, especially from the sociological viewpoint, has not yet been explored. We have therefore tried, using some indicators from the 2004 research Social and Religious Changes in Croatia which was carried out on a representative sample of adult population, to verify the hypothesis about the connection of religiosity and health in the Croatian society. Indicators of religiosity were religious self-identification, frequency of going to church and frequency of personal prayers. Indicators of health were ir/responsible behaviour with regard to one’s health, self-estimates of health problems and self-estimates of general personal state of health. We have used ordinal and logistic regression
analysis to test the hypothesis. We have established a connection between religiosity and health. However, a small number and few types of indicators and a very low proportion of variance explained do not allow a valid conclusion about the nature of the correlation.
Is it positive, negative or both? Because of the complexity of the topic and the fact that it is still unexplored, a theoretical (sociological) foundation for future research is necessary as well as the developing of a more sophisticated system of variables/indicators. If we want to
better understand and explain the connection between reliogiosity and health, interdisciplinary approach is another necessity.
Ključne riječi
religiosity; health; ir/responsible behaviour with regard to health; self-estimate of health problems; self-estimate of general personal state of health; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
71644
URI
Datum izdavanja:
1.4.2011.
Posjeta: 3.786 *