| [OBJECTIVES:] To investigate: 1) the effects of various aspects of religiosity (church-attendance, religious denomination and subjective religiosity) on the course of depression and mortality, in a community-dwelling sample of older adults with a chronic disease; 2) the mechanisms that provide additional explanations (psychological/social) of how religiosity affects mood and mortality in chronically ill older adults. [METHODS:] The study will use data from a national survey among older adults, 55-85 years of age (the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, see section 6.1). [RESULTS:] A negative longitudinal relationship between church-attendance and depressive symptoms was found in chronically ill older adults. Social and psychological mechanisms could not explain this association. This longitudinal relationship was not found in older adults with no chronic physical diseases. |
