RELIGION CONDITIONS

by Vesah Lanee R. Garcia

Can SPIRITUALITY promote a healthier PHYSICAL LIFE for your family?

• Recent medical studies indicate that spiritual people are less prone to self-destructive behaviors (suicide, smoking, and drug and alcohol abuse, for example), and have less stress and a greater total life satisfaction.

Spirituality and Physical Health

Doctors and scientists once avoided the study of spirituality in connection to medicine, but more recent findings have made some take a second look. Studies show that religion and faith can help to promote good health and fight disease by:

• offering additional social supports, such as religious outreach groups• improving coping skills through prayer and a

philosophy that all things have a purpose

Although research on kids hasn't been done, many studies focusing on adults point to the positive effects of spirituality on medical outcome:

• In a 7-year study of senior citizens, religious involvement was associated with less physical disability and less depression. Death rates were lower than expected before an important religious holiday, which suggested to researchers that faith might have postponed death in these cases.

• Elderly people who regularly attended religious services had healthier immune systems than those who didn't. They were also more likely to have consistently lower blood pressure.

• Patients undergoing open-heart surgery who received strength and comfort from their religion were three times more likely to survive than those who had no religious ties.

Spirituality and Mental Health

Religious and spiritual beliefs are the important parts of how many people deal with life's joys and hardships. Faith can give people a sense of purpose and guidelines for living.

When families face tough situations, including health problems, their religious beliefs and practices can help them fight feelings of helplessness, restore meaning and order to life situations, and help them regain a sense of control. For some families, spirituality can be a powerful and important source of strength.

Medical studies have confirmed that spirituality can have a profound effect on mental states.

In a study of men who were hospitalized, nearly half rated religion as helpful in coping with their illness.

A second study showed that the more religious patients were, the more quickly they recovered from some disorders.

A third study revealed that high levels of hope and optimism, key factors in fighting depression, were found among those who strictly practiced their religion.

Couples with higher levels of religiosity tend to enjoy greater marital satisfaction, fidelity, and stability with less likelihood of domestic violence. They also tend to have a higher quality of relationship with their children.

RELIGIOUS PRACTICES& FAMILY STABILITY

Marital Commitme

nt

Couples who are more religious tend to exhibit greater marital commitment than couples who are less religious.

Domestic Violence

On average, there is less likelihood of domestic violence among couples who attend church regularly than among those who do not, especially among couples whose partners have similar religious beliefs and practices.

Marital Satisfactio

nMarital satisfaction is related to

participation in religious holiday rituals. Husbands and wives who participate in religious holiday rituals tend to report higher levels of marital satisfaction than peers who do not.

Marital Fidelity

Frequency of church attendance is related to marital fidelity. Married individuals who attended religious services often were less likely to be unfaithful to their spouses than peers who attended less frequently.

Community

ReligiosityThe presence of communities of worship in

an area is associated with the incidence of divorce. Controlling for other selected factors associated with the likelihood of divorce, counties with higher concentrations of various religious denominations had a lower incidence of divorce.

Paternal Relationsh

ipAdolescents’ religiosity was related to their

relationships with their fathers. Adolescents who said that religion was important in their lives tended to indicate better quality relationships with their fathers than peers who did not consider religion as being important.

Maternal Relationsh

ipThe importance of religion to mothers is

related to their relationships with their children. According to mothers’ reports, regardless of the frequency of their church attendance, those who considered religion to be very important in their lives tended to report a higher quality of relationship with their children than those who did not consider religion to be important.

Cohabitation

Adolescents’ religiosity was associated with their likelihood of cohabitating. Youths who consider religion to be important in their lives and those who attend church regularly were less likely to cohabitate. This is especially true for young women. Females who attend religious services several times a week have a cohabitation rate only 14 percent as great as those who never attend.

Conflict Resolution

Couples who pray together tend to reconcile conflict more easily. Spouses who prayed had decreased negativity, contempt, hostility, and emotional reactivity toward their partner during conflict.

HOW FAMILY and RELIGION influence teen and YOUNG ADULT

OUTCOMES

Coming from an intact family and being involved in religion are associated with a variety of positive outcomes for teens. Youth do better in school, are less likely to abuse alcohol or be sexually active, and are also more likely to have expectations of marrying in the future.

Academic Progress

Teens who frequently attend religious services do better in school. Youths who frequently attended religious services made, on average, greater academic progress than youths who attended less frequently.

Teen Substance Use and

DelinquencyTeens who receive more parental monitoring

have lower rates of substance abuse and delinquency. Adolescents who reported receiving more parental monitoring had, on average, lower rates of alcohol misuse, illicit drug use, and delinquency throughout their teenage years compared to youths who received less parental monitoring.

Teen Sexual Activity

Teens in intact families are less likely to transition into sexual activity. Even after accounting for a set of parental involvement variables, adolescents living with two biological parents were significantly less likely to transition into sexual activity when compared to adolescents from all other family structures.

Educational Attainment

Young adults from intact families have higher levels of educational attainment. Individuals from intact families completed, on average, more years of schooling and were also more likely to graduate from high school, attend college, and complete college, compared to peers raised in blended or single parent families.

Earnings and Occupational Attainment

Young adults from intact families report, on average, higher earnings and occupational success. Compared to individuals from intact families, those from single-parent families or stepfamilies without any changes in their family situation during late adolescence (between age14 and 18) had, on ave., lower levels of educational attainment, lower annual earnings, and less prestigious occupations at age 26.

Wealth

Children and youth who attend religious services report higher wealth accumulation later in life. Religious services attendance in childhood or in young adulthood was positively associated with net worth (the value of total assets minus the value of total liabilities).

Religious Involvement

Young adults from intact families are less likely to report declines in religious involvement. Compared to youth from non-intact families, those from intact families were less likely to report a decrease in their religious service attendance. Additionally, they were less likely to report a decline in the importance of religion in their lives and a change to “no religious affiliation.

Family Values

Young adults who attended religious services and pray with their family together frequently, as teens, are more likely to hold traditional family values compared to peers with less frequent attendance.

Muslim Teachings on Family Life

• The family is at the heart of the Muslim community and the place where children grow up to be good Muslims and understand the importance of Islam as a way of life.• Parents and children have important responsibilities within the family.• The family is the way in which Muslim life is best protected.• Marriage is the key to the family and all Muslims are expected to marry.

Interfaith Marriage

Good-quality marriage preparation is essential in helping couples work through the questions and challenges that will arise after they tie the knot.

“It is recommended that the parish minister preparing the engaged couple spend time exploring the influence and impact of the differing faith traditions on their future life together,” advises the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

“The church makes clear … that their marriages will be more challenging from the perspective of faith,” Hater writes. “… Special challenges exist as well when it comes to raising children in the Catholic faith.”

If children are raised in another faith, he notes, “the Catholic parent must show children good example, affirm the core beliefs of both parents’ religious traditions, make them aware of Catholic beliefs and practices and support the children in the faith they practice.”

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