@article {9299, title = {Religious Attendance and Body Mass: An Examination of Variations by Race and Gender.}, journal = {Journal of Religion and Health}, volume = {57}, year = {2018}, month = {12/2018}, pages = {2140-2152}, abstract = {Studies of the association between religious attendance and body mass have yielded mixed results. In this paper, we consider intersectional variations by race and gender to advance our understanding of these inconsistencies. We use data from the 2006-2008 Health and Retirement Study to examine the association between religious attendance and three indicators of body mass: overall body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to-height ratio (n~=~11,457). For White women, attendance is either protective or unrelated to body mass. For Black women, attendance is consistently associated with increased body mass. We find that religious attendance is not associated with body mass among the men.}, keywords = {BMI, Gender Differences, Racial/ethnic differences, Religion}, issn = {1573-6571}, doi = {10.1007/s10943-017-0490-1}, author = {Godbolt, Dawn and Preeti Vaghela and Amy M. Burdette and Terrence D. Hill} } @article {9098, title = {Processes linking religious involvement and telomere length.}, journal = {Biodemography and Social Biology}, volume = {63}, year = {2017}, month = {2017}, pages = {167-188}, abstract = {

Although numerous studies suggest that religious involvement is associated with better health and longer life expectancies, it is unclear whether these general patterns extend to cellular aging. The mechanisms linking indicators of religious involvement with indicators of cellular aging are also undefined. We employed longitudinal data from the 2004 and 2008 Health and Retirement Study, a national probability sample of Americans aged 50 and older, to test whether average telomere length varied according to level of religious attendance. We also tested several potential mechanisms. Our results showed that respondents who attended religious services more frequently in 2004 also exhibited fewer stressful events, lower rates of smoking, fewer symptoms of depression, and lower levels of C-reactive protein in 2008. Respondents who increased their level of attendance from 2004 to 2008 also exhibited lower rates of smoking in 2008. Although religious attendance was not directly associated with telomere length, our mediation analyses revealed significant indirect effects through depression and smoking, but not stressful events or C-reactive protein. We conclude that religious attendance may promote telomere length indirectly by reducing symptoms of depression and the risk of smoking. There was no evidence to support stressful events or C-reactive protein as mechanisms of religious attendance.

}, keywords = {Religion, Telomeres}, issn = {1948-5573}, doi = {10.1080/19485565.2017.1311204}, author = {Terrence D. Hill and Preeti Vaghela and Christopher G. Ellison and Rote, Sunshine} } @mastersthesis {8726, title = {Racial differences in the manifestation of mental illness among older adults}, volume = {Ph.D.}, year = {2016}, pages = {99}, school = {The Florida State University}, type = {Dissertation}, abstract = {This dissertation seeks to increase understanding about why older African Americans have equal or lower rates of mental illness than whites; despite the general tendency that disadvantaged individuals have worse mental health than advantaged individuals. To explain the unexpected finding from a methodological standpoint, this study uses the 2008 and 2012 Waves of the Health and Retirement Study and examines racial differences in the factor structures of mental illness focusing on symptoms included in the CES-D (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression) and the BAI (Beck Anxiety Inventory). To understand the implications of these racial differences in the stress process, this study also examines how discrimination, as a type of stressor, manifests into different mental health outcomes (somatic or mood-based symptoms) between older African Americans and whites. The analysis employs structural equation modeling and finds that modeling CES-D and BAI items as mood-based and somatic constructs of general distress has better model fit than modeling these items than as separate constructs of depression and anxiety (Chapter 2). In regard to racial differences in the factor structure of these models, the analysis finds that the factor structure of the somatic model differs between the racial groups whereas the factor structure of the mood-based model does not differ. When examining how discrimination manifests into different mental health outcomes, the analysis shows that discrimination is related to increased mood-based symptoms among whites and unrelated to mood-based symptoms among African Americans (Chapter 3). Additionally, everyday discrimination and lifetime discrimination are related to increased somatic symptoms among whites. Among African Americans, physical disability and financial status based discrimination are related to increased somatic symptoms, and lifetime discrimination and ancestry-based discrimination are related to decreased somatic symptoms. The findings from this dissertation suggest that current measures of mental illness (e.g., CES-D, BAI, etc.) may not measure the same constructs across racial groups and that modeling mental illness as mood-based and somatic constructs may give better insights into the prevalence of mental illness among older adults. Further, this study sheds light on the potential effects of discrimination on an alternative and more culturally specific expression of mental illness symptoms (somatic symptoms). This study also extends the literature on discrimination and mental health by illustrating how different forms of discrimination impact different mental health outcomes.}, keywords = {Depressive symptoms, Mental Illness, Older Adults, Racial/ethnic differences}, isbn = {9781339818276}, url = {http://proxy.lib.umich.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1806940543?accountid=14667}, author = {Preeti Vaghela} }