535 Research Consortium Scholar Lecture: Religiosity and Health Behavior—What Does Research Tell Us?

Research indicates there seem to be a relationship among religiosity, health status and participation in certain risky health behaviors. This presentation will provide an overview of research relative to religiosity and health behavior, with a focus on the research conducted by 2010 Research Consortium Scholar Lecturer Dr. Michael Young. This includes a discussion of challenges involved in conducting research in this area. For example, researchers have attempted to measure religiosity, e.g. strength of one’s religious beliefs/commitment/convictions in a number of different ways. Scores of instruments exist that attempt to measure some aspect of religiosity, yet researchers who have studied religiosity and health behavior have typically involved only a single measurement item (religious affiliation or frequency of attendance at worship services). Dr. Young will discuss his research, including the use and development of innovative measures of religiosity, some of the controversy surrounding his work, and specific projects involving religiosity and death anxiety, religiosity and sexual behavior (sexual behavior among college students, sexual satisfaction, hooking-up), religiosity and use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, and his current project (Hiding The Word). This project involves the development and validation of a unique measure of religiosity, and an examination its influence on health behavior, and health behavior changes, over time.