Are Religiosity and Spirituality Related to Self-Reported Health Expectancy? An Analysis of the European Values Survey

Abstract: Research on religiosity and health has generally focussed on the United States, and outcomes of health or mortality but not both. Using the European Values Survey 2008, we examined cross-sectional associations between four dimensions of religiosity/spirituality: attendance, private prayer, importance of religion, belief in God; and healthy life expectancy (HLE) based on self-reported health across 47 European countries (n = 65,303 individuals). Greater levels of private prayer, importance of religion and belief in God, at a country level, were associated with lower HLE at age 20, after adjustment for confounders, but only in women. The findings may explain HLE inequalities between European countries

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; In: Journal of Religion and Health (2021) ; 1-15

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Mannheim
• (who): SSOAR, GESIS – Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften e.V.
• (when): 2021
• Creator: Libby, Gillian ; Zimmer, Zachary ; Kingston, Andrew ; Haviva, Clove ; Chiu, Chi-Tsun ; Ofstedal, Mary Beth ; Saitō, Yasuhiko ; Jagger, Carol

Further information

• DOI: 10.1007/s10943-021-01348-w
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-79150-0
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:46 AM CEST