ABSTRACT
Research indicates that greater involvement in religion is associated with better health. However, a bewildering number of explanations have been offered to explain this relationship. The purpose of this chapter is to present some preliminary thoughts about how to resolve this challenge. These insights come from ongoing work with data from the Landmark Spirituality and Health Survey, which is one of the largest studies on religion and health to date. Three promising aspects of religious life have emerged from this work: (1) the role that religion plays in offsetting the effects of stress on health; (2) the ways in which social relationships that arise in religious institutions benefit health independent of the stress process; and (3) spiritual struggles. Spiritual struggles are difficulties that a person may encounter with their faith including difficulties with God, spiritual doubts, and conflicts with other people over religious and/or spiritual matters. These three facets of religion will be linked to a higher-order construct that reflects the need to find meaning in life through religiousness/spirituality. Ultimately, the goal is to provide greater unity to the literature on religion and health.
