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Research has demonstrated that many factors affect levels of religiosity in American religion. This study extends the research on the relationship between cohort membership and public religious participation and individual personal involvement. Most of the research pertaining to the effects of cohort on religiosity has been devoted to comparisons between the Depression Era and Baby Boom Cohorts. This study extends research in this area by including Generation X to the extent possible. Using the General Social Surveys, this analysis employs an age/period/cohort analytical framework to examine religious involvement. Sociodemographic variables that are associated with religiosity are included in the analysis. Directions for future research on variations in religiosity measures are discussed.

A problem that has interested the writer is the effect of religion upon mental health. Are very religious people more or less healthy than not-so religious people? Could there be no relationship between degree of religiosity and mental well-being? Some of the reviewed literature seemed to show that religion may reduce anxiety (Cole & Spurgeon, 1960, Cooley & Hutton, 1965), other studies showed no relationship between them (Bradbury, 1967, Glass, 1955), while some experiments indicated that religious individuals showed poor mental health (Dunn, 1965, Rokeach, 1960). The study presented herein is an attempt to further delineate the effect of religion upon mental stability or, more specifically, anxiety. Religion may involve many dimensions rather than just one specific aspect. For the aforementioned reason, the present study considered the ideological, intellectual, experiential, ritualistic, and consequential aspects of religion. The relationship of anxiety to these variables was studied. Finally, the writer attempted to observe the effect of religious affiliation upon anxiety. The purpose of the present study was to (1) consider the empirical relationship of religiosity to anxiety among the low, medium, and high religious groups, and to (2) determine if different religious affiliations have a significant or non-significant relationship to anxiety scores. A questionnaire developed by Falkner and Jong (1963) was employed to measure religiosity. The Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale was used to gauge anxiety.

This study is concerned with identifying the effects of religious participation in the therapeutic treatment of the mentally ill.

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to examine the effects on religious participation and activity in a country that a separation between a state and a state church has. To do this I have compared Sweden and Norway. Norway still has a state church whereas Sweden does not as of January 1 2000. I decided to examine these two countries due to their similar backgrounds, geographical location and political systems. What I found when examining Sweden was that the separation did effect the religious participation compared to Norway. But Sweden has seen a decrease in church activities for a long time; the decrease would have taken place even without the separation, since Norway also had experiences this decrease over time. So my conclusion is, if Sweden had continued to have a state church, there would have been a similar decrease. However, it would probably have been smaller, then what have taken place after the separation. The different religious activities I have looked at, baptism, confirmation and marriage, have had different development over the years and have been affected differently by the separation. The decrease in religious activity in Sweden is not only caused by the separation between state and church, it is also a reaction against a changing society. The separation in Sweden lead to a larger decrease compared to Norway. Both the decrease in religious activity in Sweden and the separation was instead a reaction to a changing society, the role that the Swedish church once played has been replaced by other factors. One of the foundations to the political elements in Sweden has with this decrease and ultimately the separation been lost and if this also will have any effect on the involvement in secular organization, voting rates or political participation is too early to tell.</p>

Research shows that religious people have higher levels of self-control. Scientists also hypothesize that individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are less likely to participate in religious services which require long periods of attention and self discipline. However, little research has investigated the potential relationship between ADHD and religious participation. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), this study finds (1) mothers’ prayer frequency is marginally related to children’s ADHD symptoms and diagnosis although other religious indicators are not significantly related, (2) childhood religious involvement and affiliation are not significantly related to ADHD symptoms and diagnosis, and (3) childhood ADHD is not significantly related to adult religious involvement and affiliation.

Counselor education programs are charged with the responsibility to train students to be effective counselors. Despite relative consistency in academic and clinical experiences, some students are less effective than others. It was the intent of this research to investigate possible relationships which may exist between students' background and experiences and their levels of demonstrated counselor effectiveness as measured by the Counselor Rating Form - Short Version (CRF-S) and the Supervisor Rated-Counselor Interaction Analysis (SR-CIA). It was hypothesized that counselor effectiveness would be negatively correlated with prior teaching experience and level of religious participation. Data was collected using a demographic survey from masters level counseling students participating in their practicum semester. Counseling tapes from each of the participants were collected towards the end of the semester. These tapes were then rated by doctoral students using the CRF-S and the SR-CIA. The total sample size was 28. Regression analysis was used to investigate the hypotheses. Three models were constructed. The dependent variables used were scores from the CRF-S, the SR-CIA and a third comprised of a normalized composite of CRF-S and SR-CIA termed COMPOSITE. Each model used, as the independent variables, years of teaching experience, and hours of religious participation. Results from regression analysis suggested that a negative correlation existed between counseling effectiveness and years of teaching experience and a positive correlation between counselor effectiveness and hours of religious participation. Statistically significant results were not achieved for any of the models tested. Further investigation was conducted using effect size analysis. Small to medium effect sizes were achieved, however, suggesting that the models were detecting a negative correlation between counselor effectiveness and years of teaching experience, and a positive correlation between hours of religious participation and counselor effectiveness.

No description available.

Participamos de diferentes comunidades de discursos em nossa vida cotidiana, os quais se fazem presente nos processos dialógicos de significação de nossas vivências. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho objetivou compreender 1) quais os sentidos que os jovens que freqüentam a comunidade de discurso da Assembléia de Deus (AD) e da Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (IURD) dão para as suas participações nas respectivas igrejas, procurando identificar seus núcleos; 2) como, a partir dos sentidos de suas participações religiosas, estes adolescentes estão construindo suas autonarrativas e 3) a construção dos sentidos dados aos relacionamentos afetivo-sexuais (ficar, namorar, ter relações sexuais antes do casamento) por jovens da AD e da IURD. Para tal, tendo o construcionismo social como quadro de referência teórica, entrevistamos 24 adolescentes, com idade entre 13 e 18 anos, ambos os sexos, 11 membros da AD e 13 da IURD. Os resultados mostraram que os sentidos dados a participação religiosa pelos entrevistados são: ter um espaço de sociabilidade, ter um status diferenciado dos demais jovens (busca de auto imagem positiva), ter projetos de vida realizáveis, realizar ações que beneficiam o outro e saber que caminho percorrer na busca da felicidade. São estes aspectos que os jovens buscam com suas participações religiosas e que os levam a construírem autonarrativas progressivas e estáveis, após o ingresso na igreja. Em relação aos relacionamentos afetivo-sexuais, percebeu-se que enquanto o adolescente da AD dialoga com diferentes comunidades de discurso, construindo um posicionamento próprio frente ao ficar e ao namorar, o adolescente da IURD dialoga basicamente com os repertórios interpretativos e vozes dessa igreja, parecendo não haver um espaço de reflexão e análise. Tais resultados nos levam a questionar a ausência de políticas públicas e de locais institucionais que ofereçam aos jovens espaços para a reflexão sobre suas vidas. Espaços que sejam ocupados pro profissionais críticos que ao utilizarem seus instrumentais possam proporcionar ressignificações e mudanças nas narrativas destes jovens. / In our daily lives we take part in different discourse communities, which are present in the dialogical processes that shape the meaning of our life experiences. Accordingly, this work aimed at understanding 1) the meanings attributed to their church experience by youths who participate in the discourse community of the Assembly of God (AG) and the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG); 2) how these adolescents are building their own selfnarratives from the meanings of their religious participation; 3) the construction of meanings attributed by these youths to their sexual-affective relationships (casual, serious dating, pre-marital sex). In order to attain these goals, and having the social constructionism as theoretical framework, 24 adolescents of both genders, between 13 and 18 years old, were interviewed; 11 of these were AG members and 13 were UCKG's. Results showed that the meanings of religious participation of those interviewed were: a way to have a social life; a way to attain a differentiated social status (as positive self-image reinforcement); a possibility to have fulfilling life projects; a way of practicing good deeds; and to be able to distinguish the path to happiness in life. These are the youths' aspirations in their religious lives and which direct them towards progressive and stable selfnarratives after joining their churches. With respect to sexual-affective relationships, it was observed that, while AG adolescent interact with different discourse communities, thereby building his own opinions about dating, the UCKG youth basically restricts his interpretations to those put forward by the church, without the possibility of having a space for reflexion and analysis. The aforementioned results brought to light the argument about the absence of public politics and institutions who offer the adolescents spaces for reflexion about their lives. Spaces where critical professional utilize successfully their techniques in order to provide new meanings and ways to change these youths' narratives.

The researcher had two objectives: first, explore how social involvement changes by age among Greek elderly, and second, examine the relationship between social involvement and depression by age among study participants, controlled for education, marital status, and gender. The researcher used data from the 2004 Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) database subjecting a sample of 2,898 elderly aged 50 or older to analysis in terms of the study questions. Approximately 43% of the participants (n = 1,244) were males and 57% were females (n = 1,654). Study results showed Greek elderly participated more in religious activities and less in non-religious activities with increasing age. The study results showed the level of education did not have an effect on the level of religious or non-religious participation. Marital status could influence Greeks’ tendency to participate in religious activities, however, it did not have an effect on non-religious participation. Women are more likely to participate in religious activities than the men. The gender of the participants did not have an effect on non-religious participation. Older Greek elderly were more likely to be depressed than the younger elderly. Participation in religious activities was not shown to relate to decreasing the risk of depressive symptoms; while participation in non-religious activities increased it. Further elaboration showed that caring for family increased the risk of depressive symptoms. Participation in other non-religious activities did not show significant relationships to depressive symptoms. The study findings imply those caring for others are in need of social and mental health support services; and the quality of available social activities need significant improvement.