Religious Involvement and Telomere Length in Women Family Caregivers

Harold George Koenig · Bruce Nelson · Sally Fontamillas Shaw · Salil Saxena · Harvey Jay Cohen

88 citations0/0 files storedThe Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease

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Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology Nursing care and research Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence

Abstract

Telomere length (TL) is an indicator of cellular aging associated with longevity and psychosocial stress. We examine here the relationship between religious involvement and TL in 251 stressed female family caregivers recruited into a 2-site study. Religious involvement, perceived stress, caregiver burden, depressive symptoms, and social support were measured and correlated with TL in whole blood leukocytes. Results indicated a U-shaped relationship between religiosity and TL. Those scoring in the lowest 10% on religiosity tended to have the longest telomeres (5743 bp ± 367 vs. 5595 ± 383, p = 0.069). However, among the 90% of caregivers who were at least somewhat religious, religiosity was significantly and positively related to TL after controlling for covariates (B = 1.74, SE = 0.82, p = 0.034). Whereas nonreligious caregivers have relatively long telomeres, we found a positive relationship between religiosity and TL among those who are at least somewhat religious.

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References

1977The CES-D Scale 1998Patterns of Positive and Negative Religious Coping with Major Life Stressors 1987A Brief Measure of Social Support: Practical and Theoretical Implications 1972A Validated Intrinsic Religious Motivation Scale 2006Religious Beliefs and Practices Are Associated With Better Mental Health in Family Caregivers of Patients With Dementia: Findings From the REACH Study 2008Pessimism correlates with leukocyte telomere shortness and elevated interleukin-6 in post-menopausal women 2014Religious involvement is associated with greater purpose, optimism, generosity and gratitude in persons with major depression and chronic medical illness 2015Belief into Action Scale: A Brief but Comprehensive Measure of Religious Commitment

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2017Processes Linking Religious Involvement and Telomere Length 2020Commentary on “Does Spirituality or Religion Positively Affect Mental Health?”2016Religiosity and telomere length: One step forward, one step back 2019How Spirituality May Mitigate Against Stress and Related Mental Disorders: a Review and Preliminary Neurobiological Evidence

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