TY - JOUR
T1 - Worship attendance and the disability process in community-dwelling older adults
AU - Fitchett, George
AU - Benjamins, Maureen R.
AU - Skarupski, Kimberly A.
AU - Mendes De Leon, Carlos F.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health (AG11101 and AG10161 to D.A.E. and K08 AG020145 to G.F.) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at the National Institutes of Health (ES10902 to C.F.M.L.) Acknowledgments The authors thank the residents of Morgan Park, Washington Heights, Beverly, and Mount Greenwood who participated in the study. They also thank Ms Ann Marie Lane for community development and oversight of project coordination; Ms Michelle Bos, Ms Holly Hadden, Mr Flavio LaMorticella, and Ms Jennifer Tarpey for coordination of the study; Mr Todd Beck for analytic programming; and the staff of the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging. G. Fitchett, C.F. Mendes de Leon, and M.R. Benjamins planned the study. C.F. Mendes de Leon and G. Fitchett supervised the data analysis. G. Fitchett, C.F. Mendes de Leon, and K.A. Skarupski prepared initial draft of the paper. G. Fitchett, C.F. Mendes de Leon, M.R. Benjamins, and K.A. Skarupski gave revisions to the paper.
PY - 2013/3
Y1 - 2013/3
N2 - Objectives. We examined the contribution of religious involvement to age-related declines in health by examining the association of worship attendance with measures of different stages in the disability continuum.Method. Participants included 5,863 Black and White older adults from the Chicago Health and Aging Project. Worship attendance was coded in 3 levels: very frequent (several times a week or more), frequent (several times a month), and infrequent (several times a year or less). Measures of disability included self-reported instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) and activities of daily living (ADL) disability as well as observed physical function.Results. In multiple regression models adjusted for demographic factors, compared with those with infrequent worship attendance, those with frequent or very frequent attendance had lower levels of IADL and ADL disability and higher levels of physical performance at baseline. These associations remained significant in models that adjusted for health and cognitive status. There was no association between frequency of worship attendance and change in disability or physical function over time.Discussion. These results suggest that more frequent worship attendance does not contribute to slowing the progress of disability in late life. Future research is needed to better understand the development of the differences in disability associated with worship attendance observed at baseline.
AB - Objectives. We examined the contribution of religious involvement to age-related declines in health by examining the association of worship attendance with measures of different stages in the disability continuum.Method. Participants included 5,863 Black and White older adults from the Chicago Health and Aging Project. Worship attendance was coded in 3 levels: very frequent (several times a week or more), frequent (several times a month), and infrequent (several times a year or less). Measures of disability included self-reported instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) and activities of daily living (ADL) disability as well as observed physical function.Results. In multiple regression models adjusted for demographic factors, compared with those with infrequent worship attendance, those with frequent or very frequent attendance had lower levels of IADL and ADL disability and higher levels of physical performance at baseline. These associations remained significant in models that adjusted for health and cognitive status. There was no association between frequency of worship attendance and change in disability or physical function over time.Discussion. These results suggest that more frequent worship attendance does not contribute to slowing the progress of disability in late life. Future research is needed to better understand the development of the differences in disability associated with worship attendance observed at baseline.
KW - ADL
KW - Disability
KW - IADL
KW - Religion
KW - Worship attendance
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U2 - 10.1093/geronb/gbs165
DO - 10.1093/geronb/gbs165
M3 - Article
C2 - 23325504
AN - SCOPUS:84874380047
SN - 1079-5014
VL - 68
SP - 235
EP - 245
JO - Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
JF - Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
IS - 2
ER -