Em uma história forjada por lutas pela libertação e contra a dominação de estrangeiros e colonizadores, a cultura latino-americana é repleta de um sentimento religioso que pode ser expresso nas mais diversas formas de relação do homem com o sagrado. Independente das raízes religiosas - catolicismo, judaísmo, protestantismo, candomblé, santeria ou qualquer outra denominação - é evidente em toda a América Latina uma religiosidade que transcende as barreiras de idioma e espaço geográfico. Nosso continente se une culturalmente por meio de um sentimento religioso expresso nas mais variadas manifestações originárias do catolicismo e imposta por portugueses e espanhóis, mas que encontrou em toda a América Latina um ambiente favorável e acolhedor, no qual se desenvolveu significativamente. Ao longo de todos esses séculos, a consolidação dessas devoções, principalmente a devoção mariana solidificou-se, tornando as barreiras geográficas, históricas ou de comunicação, conseqüente de idiomas diferentes, insuficientes para impedir a integração cultural baseada na fé e na religiosidade popular. Segundo Kossoy (2002), desde seu surgimento e ao longo de sua trajetória, até nossos dias, a fotografia tem sido aceita e utilizada como prova definitiva, testemunho da verdade do fato ou dos fatos. Com base na afirmação do autor, esse trabalho será conduzido pensando a fotografia como forma de registro documental e contribuição para o processo de comunicação e memória, pois, muito mais que nos textos sagrados ou nas análises acadêmicas, é nas imagens das celebrações devocionais, nas caminhadas dos peregrinos ou nos olhares carregados de fé e aflição que se revela a verdadeira devoção do povo latino-americano. O fio condutor dessa pesquisa baseia-se na abordagem de fragmentos das realidades presentes nos templos e demais locais sagrados, estabelecendo uma narrativa visual, tendo na fotografia a forma de comunicação e o registro documental, objetivando a interpretação da realidade, a partir do ponto de vista do autor, respeitando, contudo o momento histórico e as particularidades das manifestações religiosas. / In a history forged by struggles for liberation and against the domination of foreigners and settlers, the Latin American culture is full of a religious sentiment that can be expressed in various forms of mans relationship with the sacred. Regardless of the religious roots - Catholicism, Judaism, Protestantism, Candomble, Santeria or any other denomination - is evident throughout Latin America a religiosity that transcends language barriers and geographical space. Our continent is united culturally by a religious sentiment expressed in various manifestations originating from Catholicism and imposed by Portuguese and Spanish, but found throughout Latin America a supportive and welcoming environment in which developed significantly. Throughout all these centuries, the consolidation of these devotions, especially Marian devotion solidified, making the geographical, historical or communication barriers, resulting in different languages, insufficient to prevent cultural integration based on faith and popular religiosity. According Kossoy (2002), since its inception and throughout its history, to this day, photography has been accepted and used as definitive proof, witness to the truth the fact or facts. Based on the authors statement, this work will be conducted considering photography as a form of documentary record and contribution to the communication and memory process, therefore, much more than in the sacred texts or in academic analysis, it is the images of devotional celebrations in walks of pilgrims or the looks laden with faith and distress that reveals the true devotion of the Latin American people. The thread of this research is based on the approach of the present realities fragments in temples and other holy sites, establishing a visual narrative, and the picture the way of communication and the documentary record, in order to interpret reality from the point of views of the author, subject, however the historical moment and the peculiarities of religious manifestations.

This study investigated the spiritual and religious experience of members of the Sikh community with a focus on how such an experience affects their sense of wellbeing. Consequently, the central aim of this study is to explore how Sikhs use religion and spirituality with coping. This was examined by exploring how Sikhs deal with stressful events and how these impacted on their wellbeing. The thesis was comprised of two parts. Study one comprised of the thematic analysis of questionnaires. 56 UK based Sikh participants (23 males and 33 females; age range 17-62) took part. The findings from study one speculated that the older age group appeared more accepting of their religion and spirituality suggesting maybe they are less occupied by a quest to explore their life through religion and spirituality than the 20-30 year old age group. Consequently, study two looked more closely at participants aged between 20-30 year olds to further explore their lived experience. In line with the IPA methodology, a small well-defined opportunity sample of six people (4 males and 2 females) in the Sikh faith, who have been practicing their religion for at least 2-3 years and between the ages of 20-30 were invited to participate in the interviews. Four superordinate themes were found which represented an overall story. The themes were namely, religious and spiritual struggles; religion and spirituality assisting with the development of self and identity; spiritual striving and aids to well-being: religious/spiritual coping. It is hoped that findings from this research will help to inform our understanding of how Sikh client's religious and spiritual beliefs influences their wellbeing as well as incorporating this knowledge into the therapy process to make good clinical judgements. This study will enhance research in counselling psychology with regards to religion and spirituality and mental health specifically with regards to young Sikh's.

This study examines race differences and the relationship between religiosity/ spirituality and social support on quality of life (QOL) among people living with HIV/AIDS in Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX. The data were obtained from the Project VOICES research study conducted by the Center of Psychosocial Health Research at University of North Texas in 2003. This study explores the hypotheses that religiosity/spirituality and social support positively influences quality of life among people living with HIV/AIDS. The current study uses a diverse, gender-balanced sample consisting of African Americans (n = 156), aged 20-68, 47% male, 52% female and 1% transgendered) and Non-African Americans (n = 131), aged 19-65, 50% male, 46% female and 3% transgendered) (Caucasian, Latino, & others) to evaluate the relationship among variables of interest. Multiple regression analyses revealed that social support was a significant factor explaining quality of life (QOL) for African Americans when controlling for medical variables but did not for non-African Americans. Religiosity/spirituality was not found to be significant in this study. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Em uma história forjada por lutas pela libertação e contra a dominação de estrangeiros e colonizadores, a cultura latino-americana é repleta de um sentimento religioso que pode ser expresso nas mais diversas formas de relação do homem com o sagrado. Independente das raízes religiosas - catolicismo, judaísmo, protestantismo, candomblé, santeria ou qualquer outra denominação - é evidente em toda a América Latina uma religiosidade que transcende as barreiras de idioma e espaço geográfico. Nosso continente se une culturalmente por meio de um sentimento religioso expresso nas mais variadas manifestações originárias do catolicismo e imposta por portugueses e espanhóis, mas que encontrou em toda a América Latina um ambiente favorável e acolhedor, no qual se desenvolveu significativamente. Ao longo de todos esses séculos, a consolidação dessas devoções, principalmente a devoção mariana solidificou-se, tornando as barreiras geográficas, históricas ou de comunicação, conseqüente de idiomas diferentes, insuficientes para impedir a integração cultural baseada na fé e na religiosidade popular. Segundo Kossoy (2002), desde seu surgimento e ao longo de sua trajetória, até nossos dias, a fotografia tem sido aceita e utilizada como prova definitiva, testemunho da verdade do fato ou dos fatos. Com base na afirmação do autor, esse trabalho será conduzido pensando a fotografia como forma de registro documental e contribuição para o processo de comunicação e memória, pois, muito mais que nos textos sagrados ou nas análises acadêmicas, é nas imagens das celebrações devocionais, nas caminhadas dos peregrinos ou nos olhares carregados de fé e aflição que se revela a verdadeira devoção do povo latino-americano. O fio condutor dessa pesquisa baseia-se na abordagem de fragmentos das realidades presentes nos templos e demais locais sagrados, estabelecendo uma narrativa visual, tendo na fotografia a forma de comunicação e o registro documental, objetivando a interpretação da realidade, a partir do ponto de vista do autor, respeitando, contudo o momento histórico e as particularidades das manifestações religiosas. / In a history forged by struggles for liberation and against the domination of foreigners and settlers, the Latin American culture is full of a religious sentiment that can be expressed in various forms of mans relationship with the sacred. Regardless of the religious roots - Catholicism, Judaism, Protestantism, Candomble, Santeria or any other denomination - is evident throughout Latin America a religiosity that transcends language barriers and geographical space. Our continent is united culturally by a religious sentiment expressed in various manifestations originating from Catholicism and imposed by Portuguese and Spanish, but found throughout Latin America a supportive and welcoming environment in which developed significantly. Throughout all these centuries, the consolidation of these devotions, especially Marian devotion solidified, making the geographical, historical or communication barriers, resulting in different languages, insufficient to prevent cultural integration based on faith and popular religiosity. According Kossoy (2002), since its inception and throughout its history, to this day, photography has been accepted and used as definitive proof, witness to the truth the fact or facts. Based on the authors statement, this work will be conducted considering photography as a form of documentary record and contribution to the communication and memory process, therefore, much more than in the sacred texts or in academic analysis, it is the images of devotional celebrations in walks of pilgrims or the looks laden with faith and distress that reveals the true devotion of the Latin American people. The thread of this research is based on the approach of the present realities fragments in temples and other holy sites, establishing a visual narrative, and the picture the way of communication and the documentary record, in order to interpret reality from the point of views of the author, subject, however the historical moment and the peculiarities of religious manifestations.

This study examines single mothers compared to coupled mothers and the differences in their public and private practices of religiosity. Data come from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. The study explores the influence of marital status between single and coupled mothers by using regression models to control for income, age, education, and race. Findings suggest that, while there are differences in single and coupled mothers in both their public and private practices of religiosity, the cause of these differences is being driven by other social factors rather than marital status alone. Income, age, education, and race account for most of the differences between single and coupled mother’s religious practices.

<p>The first of the two essays in this dissertation uses primary data from Bangladesh to explore the role of microloan repayment frequency (weekly vs. bi-weekly, assigned randomly) on loan repayment performance of microfinance borrowers after controlling for their inherently distinct time preferences. The findings show that the borrowers’ individual time preference is an important determinant of their repayment behavior. Specifically, the repayment performance of present-biased borrowers improves significantly when they happen to be assigned to the weekly repayment schedule instead of the bi-weekly schedule. Also, irrespective of time preference, borrowers are found to invest more in new businesses under a more flexible (i.e., bi-weekly) repayment schedule. Overall, our findings suggest that instead of a "one size fits all" approach, by offering loans with a weekly (bi-weekly) repayment schedule matched to the present-biased (time-consistent) borrowers, the MFIs might be able to minimize their transaction costs while ensuring high repayment rates. This would also benefit the borrowers by enabling them to venture into new business investments. </p> Using primary data from Bangladesh, the second essay seeks to examine two aspects of religiosity that might affect the microfinance borrowers’ repayment performance. First, whether individual religiosity influences repayment behavior. Second, whether the impact of religiosity changes with borrowers’ age, and level of community religiosity. The results show religiosity to be a significant determinant of a borrower’s repayment behavior, as individuals with higher religiosity are found to be better borrowers. Also, the positive impact of religiosity is stronger for older borrowers, and for borrowers who live in comparatively less religious community. These findings indicate that MFIs can take into consideration the degree of individual and community religiosity to decide on the intensity of supervision required for borrowers. Borrowers with higher level of religiosity can possibly go on with minimal level of supervision as they are less likely to default. This reduced supervision would reduce travel costs incurred by MFI staff, making operations more cost-effective. This will also help free up loan officers’ and borrowers’ time. Thus, MFIs and borrowers can take advantage of this and invest time to other productive activities. The MFIs can also make better use of the freed-up staff to increase coverage.

<p>Religious faith has been identified as a protective factor against negative psychological outcomes and is associated with a range of positive mental and physical health outcomes. While religion is thought to confer psychological benefits to believers in part by enhancing emotion regulation abilities and providing faith-based regulatory methods such as religious coping, these associations have not been examined empirically. This may be due to a lack of measures that are appropriate for use in repeated measures contexts, which are needed for accurate assessment of dynamic constructs such as emotions and regulation. This study employed generalizability theory in a sample (N = 146) collected in daily dairy format over 21 days to determine the reliability of commonly used measures of religiosity and religious coping at the daily level. Once reliability was established, varying time scales were used in a multilevel modeling framework to examine the associations among intrinsic religiosity, religious coping, positive and negative affect, and difficulties in emotion regulation. Positive religious coping (PRC) measured at baseline, same day, and a 1-day lag was associated with higher levels of daily positive affect, though PRC was also associated with negative affect when measured on the same day. Negative religious coping (NRC) measured at baseline predicted lower levels of daily positive affect and was associated with higher levels of negative affect when measured on the same day and a 1-day lag. NRC was also associated with higher levels of difficulties in emotion regulation at all measurement periods, though PRC and intrinsic religiosity were not significantly associated with emotion regulation difficulties. While not associated with daily positive or negative affect, intrinsic religiosity was found to enhance the effect of positive affect inertia. These results did not support the conceptualization that religiosity broadly promotes adaptive emotion regulation, but rather that intrinsic religiosity may increase positive affect by amplifying the effects of positive affect inertia. Additional work is needed with increased measurement occasions to fully understand the temporal associations among these constructs.</p>

The development of obesity from adolescence to adulthood is not well understood, nor does the research support a multidimensional approach for this understanding. Studies have described primarily cross-sectional bivariate relationships between combinations of obesity, religiosity, depression, and social support, but it is still not known whether there is a relationship between adolescent religiosity, depression, and social support in the development of adult obesity or whether depression and social support mediate the religiosity-obesity relationship. The dynamic, multidimensional, functional model of wellness presented by Hawks was the basis for the spiritual, social, emotional, and physical interactions proposed in this study. The research questions sought to identify the relationship that exists between adolescent religiosity, depression, and social support and adult obesity and considered depression and social support as potential mediators of the religiosity-obesity relationship. This quantitative study employed multiple linear regression while using the prospective nature of the Add Health data set to gain a longitudinal understanding of the religiosity-obesity relationship. Adolescent male religiosity significantly predicted adult obesity, but female religiosity did not. Neither depression nor social support mediated the religiosity-obesity relationship. Social change implications include a rationale for developing sex-based multidimensional approaches, including spiritual approaches, for supporting adolescents in their transition to adulthood. Support for acknowledging the differences between sexes for multiple health interactions is provided and indicated for healthcare providers. Finally, health educators are presented with much-needed support for the concept of the multidimensionality of wellness.

The relationship between perfectionism and religiosity is clarified when the adaptive and maladaptive dimensions of both constructs are compared. Literature in both areas implicates the idea of a rigid and inflexible personality style as a possible mediator in the relationship. This investigation examined the relationship of perfectionism and religiosity, using adaptive and maladaptive dimensions, as mediated by psychological inflexibility. Measures of perfectionism, religiosity, and psychological inflexibility were given to 376 undergraduate college students in an anonymous online survey. Adaptive perfectionism was found to be significantly correlated with adaptive religiosity. Maladaptive perfectionism was found to be significantly correlated with maladaptive religiosity. Psychological inflexibility was found to be significantly correlated with the maladaptive dimensions of both perfectionism and religiosity. It was also shown to mediate the relationship between maladaptive religiosity and maladaptive perfectionism using the test of mediation proposed by Baron and Kenny. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Physical activity is known to offer health benefits. Additionally, research has linked religious involvement with health. Psychophysiological reactivity has links to coronary heart disease. This study examines the relationship between physical activity and religiosity in light of psychophysiological reactivity. The sample included 75 subjects, with a mean age of 71. 7 (SD = 6.11 ), with no history of cardiac incident. Religiosity was measured with the Religious Orientation Scale (ROS). Physical activity was assessed utilizing the Typical Week Physical Activity Scale. Psychophysiological reactivity was measured by blood pressure, heart rate, and self-report anger ratings in response to interpersonal challenge. Regression predicting reactivity, including ROS, total metabolic equivalence (MET) minutes, and interaction of the two resulted in significant prediction of systolic blood pressure change, F (3, 74) = 3.33, p = .024. Analyses suggest relationships between reactivity and religiosity are not mediated by physical activity. Indicating ROS may operate more influentially over prohibited than proactive behaviors.