Approaching Religiosity⁄Spirituality and Health from the Eudaimonic Perspective

Religiosity ⁄spirituality (RS) has been linked to positive health outcomes across a large number of studies, with these effects seen most strongly among disadvantaged groups such as minorities, women, and those of lower socioeconomic status (SES). Given that disadvantaged groups typically have worse health outcomes and not better, it is not clear why the effects of RS are stronger for disadvantaged groups. A key difficulty in understanding the relationship between RS and health lies in the theoretical perspectives used in research. Health and well-being is typically assessed from the hedonic perspective which emphasizes pleasure and happiness as important outcomes and assumes that difficult life situations contribute to negative health. The eudaimonic perspective, on the other hand, emphasizes meaning and relationships, and assumes that difficult life situations can contribute to increased meaning in life and stronger relationships. The eudaimonic perspective provides a better framework for understanding why RS leads to better health for disadvantaged groups for three reasons. First, having meaning in life and strong relationships are related to positive health outcomes and buffer the negative effects of stress. Second, in addition to being more religious, disadvantaged groups report lower hedonic well-being and report higher eudaimonic well-being. Third, low SES religious individuals have better than expected health outcomes and low SES materialistic individuals have worse than expected health outcomes. Overall, the eudaimonic perspective better accounts for the research findings in RS and health and provides a strong foundation for future research in this area. Approaching Religiosity ⁄Spirituality and Health from the Eudaimonic Perspective Opinion polls indicate that religiosity ⁄spirituality (RS) is an important issue in the lives of people in America as well as across the world (Micklethwait & Woolridge, 2009). In a recent Gallup survey, 86% of Americans reported believing in God, and 65% indicated that religion was an important part of their daily lives (Gallup News Service, 2009). About 42% of Americans reported attending church each week; however, 30% reported being spiritual but not religious, and this percentage has been rising over the years. Religiosity also differs by country, socioeconomic status (SES), gender, age, and ethnicity. In a 2009 Gallup survey of 114 countries, 84% of people reported that religion was an important part of their daily lives (Gallup News Service, 2010). Religiosity differed by the per-capita income of the country such that countries with the lowest income (less than $2000 per year) reported the highest religiosity with 95% of respondents stating that religion was very important, whereas countries with the highest income (more than $25,000 per year) reported the lowest religiosity, with 47% of respondents stating that religion was very important. The United States was an exception to the high income group with 65% stating that religion was very important. However, the worldwide religiosity ⁄income relationship is also evident between states in the United States, with