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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY JOURNAL, 2010, VOL. 2 (ISSUE 1: 65-76) 

Religion and Stress in Daily Life 
 

 

Yi Yang 

Department of Communication Studies 

California State University, Los Angeles 

 

 

It is debated among researchers whether there is an 

existing relationship between religion and well-being. 

Some researchers have found that religion diminishes 

stress. However, some claim that this can be influenced by 

age, as older people have been found to be more religious 

than younger people. Therefore, age, gender, ethnicity, and 

education are controlled for by using multivariate 

regression techniques. Religiosity is predicted to diminish 

stress in daily life. In a sample of 101 surveys, result of the 

regression analysis showed significant support for the 

hypothesis that the more faithful people are the less stress 

they have; age, gender, ethnicity, and education showed to 

have no statistically significant effect on stress.  

 

 

I．
．．
．INTRODUCTION 

 
1
Currently, people in the United States 

have many goals and responsibilities. 

Many of which include education, 

careers, marriage, and child rearing. 

Nowadays, it is required that both 

parents work in order to keep up with 

costs of living and raising a family.  

Additionally, the burden must be twice 

as hard on single parents. As a result, 

people are more likely to feel stressed in 

their daily lives.  “Stress is simply a fact 

of nature, forces from the outside world 

that are affecting the individual. The 

                                                 
1
 Yi Yang is a graduate student at the 

Department of Communication Studies.  This 

paper was originally submitted to S0C 410 

Advanced Statistics, taught by Professor 

Hyojoung Kim in Summer 2009. 

individual responds to stress in ways that 

affect the individual as well as their 

environment” (Panzarino 1998).  Indi-

viduals that experience stressful life-

styles not only influence their own lives, 

but those around them.  

 It is debated among researchers 

whether there is an existing relationship 

between religion and well-being. Many 

argue that religion is positively related to 

healthy well-being. It has been found, 

for instance, that people who are more 

religiously involved tend to live longer 

than those who were not involved. In 

addition, religion allows people to have 

a social support network which 

alleviates anxiety and depression. On the 

other hand, other researchers have found 

that religion has no effect or that it can 

even aggravate stress. Some explana-

tions for differences in findings may be 



RELIGION AND STRESS by Yi Yang                                                                             66 

 

CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY JOURNAL, 2010, VOL. 2 (ISSUE 1: 65-76) 

due to individual styles of adaptation 

among people of different ages as older 

people tend to be more religious than 

younger ones (Noor 2008).  This study 

examines whether religious beliefs play 

a significant role in relieving stress.  

 

II. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS 

Key Research Hypothesis: Religious 

Beliefs 

 

Individuals that participate in religious 

activities may resort to them because it 

might help them cope or deal with stress.  

Once people depend on the Lord or 

something religious in their mind, they 

may tend to count on it and become less 

stressed. Christians get strength form 

pray like Buddhists get comfort from 

worshipping in the temple. Therefore, I 

hypothesize that religious beliefs will 

have a negative effect on stress level.  

 

Other research hypotheses: 

 

“Age” would have a negative effect on 

stress. In many cases, young people have 

experienced plenty of worries and stress 

when they are either teenagers or have 

just begun their career. Middle-aged 

persons have already gotten used to 

hardship in daily life, so they may not be 

as stressed as younger people. Most 

seniors are in retirement and enjoy their 

sunset golden times without as many 

worries as they had before. Based on 

this, I hypothesize that young people 

tend to get stressed more easily than 

older people. 

 “Gender” may be a contributing 

factor to people’s stress levels. Society 

imposes heavy expectations upon 

females which raise their stress level; 

whereas, males in the same situation can 

be easily excused from the same 

expectation. Males are expected to have 

a good career in their life; while females 

are anticipated to do both, a professional 

career and care for the family. Therefore, 

I hypothesize that women deal with 

greater levels of stress than males. 

 “Ethnicity” would also play a 

role in the level of stress. The United 

States is a diverse country with 

immigrants from all over the world. 

Minorities as newcomers to an 

unfamiliar land are required to devote 

more time to achieve the “American 

dream.” Therefore, minorities would be 

expected to endure greater stress levels 

than the majority population, as they are 

faced with more difficult situations. For 

example, language challenges, cultural 

assimilation and social-economic status. 

I hypothesize that Hispanic, Asian, and 

other races which include Native 

Americans, Black/African Americans, 

etc. would have more stress than Whites 

in the United States. 

 “Education” may have a 

negative effect on stress level. People 

with higher education might know of 

more techniques to relieve their stress 

such as meditation. Comparatively 

speaking, people with low education 

may know of fewer solutions to their 

worries and problems so they are 

hypothesized to have higher stress score 

than the persons with high education. 

III. THE DATA AND VARIABLES 

 

A total of 101 surveys were distributed 

and all were completed and returned. 

The surveys were distributed at 

hospitals, factories, schools, public 

libraries, metro stations, and churches 



RELIGION AND STRESS by Yi Yang                                                                             67 

 

CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY JOURNAL, 2010, VOL. 2 (ISSUE 1: 65-76) 

around the Los Angeles region using an 

availability sampling method. The 

survey distribution and data entry were 

conducted during November 2008 

through January 2009. The questionnaire 

consisted of two parts. The first part was 

a demographics section, including 

gender, age, ethnicity, and education 

level. Additionally, respondents needed 

to rate their level of religious faith, using 

a 5-point scale (1= not at all, 2=very 

little, 3 = somewhat, 4=much, 5 = very 

much). In the second part respondents 

were asked to answer 11 questions 

which were selected from an online 

stress test. 

 

Stress: The Dependent Variable 

 

The “Stress” component, which is 

represented as the dependent variable 

represents the stress capacity. To 

measure this variable, respondents are 

asked to indicate their stress level using 

a 9-point Lickert scale, ranging from “1” 

which equals not at all and ending at “9” 

which equals very much, for the 

following statements: 

(1) I find myself eating emotionally: 

eating unhealthy foods or eating 

when I am not hungry, as a 

response to stress or difficult 

feelings.  

(2) I don’t ever have trouble 

sleeping. 

(3) I am experiencing any digestive 

problems, such as indigestion, 

irritable bowel    syndrome, or 

ulcers. 

(4) I am suffering from burnout, or     

anxiety. 

(5) I am not getting regular exercise. 

(6) I find myself smoking and/or 

drinking to excess as a way to 

deal with stress. 

(7) I don’t often find myself with 

tension headaches. 

(8) I am having trouble maintaining 

a healthy weight or, I am gaining 

weight. 

(9) I easily get irritated lately. 

(10) I did not miss work in the last   

year due to actual illness. 

(11) I have a feeling that stress may 

be affecting my health. 

 

For each respondent, an index was 

created out of the 11 questions, to 

calculate individual stress level.  

 

Religiosity: Key Independent Variable 

 

Religiosity is defined here as the 

respondents level of religiosity. Re-

spondents are asked to rate their own 

religious level using 5-point scale with 1 

indicating “not at all”, 2 indicating “very 

little”, 3 indicating “somewhat”,  4 

indicating “much”, and 5 indicating 

“very much”. 

 

Other Control Variables 

 

Respondents were asked to provide their 

demographic information, including 

gender, age, and ethnicity, education at 

the beginning of the survey. Ethnicity 

includes Hispanic/Latino, Asian/Pacific 

Islander, Native American, Black/ 

African-American, Caucasian/White, 

and other. Since White is regarded as 

reference group, I recoded it as “0”.  

 Education: The level of 

education was asked to be identified at 

varied levels ranging from high school 

through the doctorate concentration.  



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY JOURNAL, 2010, VOL. 2 (ISSUE 1: 65-76) 

The details for the scale can be found in 

table 1. 

IV. FINDINGS 

(1) Univariate Analysis 

 

Univariate Distribution of Stress Score 

and Religious Level 

The lower score a person has, the less 

stressed he/she is. The mean for stress is 

41.29 with a standard deviation 15.25. 

There were only 6 respondents (5.9%) 

with a stress score of 11-21.There were 

twenty-three respondents (22.8%) with a 

score of 22-32, thirty-three (32.7%) with 

a score 33-43, and twenty (19.8%) with 

a score 44-54.  Nineteen reported stress 

scores in the range of 55 to 87. None of 

the respondents have a score higher than 

87. Figure 1 shows the distribution of the 

stress scores. 

As for the key independent 

variable, religious level, there are twelve 

(11.9%) respondents who claim they are 

“not at all” religious, eleven (10.9%) 

claim they are “a little”, thirty-three 

(32.7%) “somewhat”, twenty-three 

(22.8%) claim themselves as “much”, 

and twenty-two (21.8%) claim 

themselves as “very much faithful” in 

their religion. Figure 2 shows the 

distribution of religious level. 

Table 1 reports the univariate 

distribution of the respondents for each 

of the variables used in the analysis.  

There were 51 males and 50 females 

who took part in the survey. Ages ranged 

from 18 to 68, with a mean age of 32 

years old. There were 32 Hispanics 

(31.7%), 39 Asians (38.6%), and other 

(17.8%).  

About 85% are college students 

with Bachelor degrees, graduate students, 

or hold a Master’s degree. There are 

fourteen (18.9%) respondents with an 

education level below college, and there 

are only 2 (2%) with PHD. 



RELIGION AND STRESS by Yi Yang                                                                             69 

 

CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY JOURNAL, 2010, VOL. 2 (ISSUE 1: 65-76) 

Table 1.  Survey Questions and Descriptive Statistics of Variables Used in the Analysis 

Variable Survey Questions Used Response Categories Frequency Mean S. D. 

Gender • What is your gender? 1 = Male  

2 = Female 

51 

50 

(50.5%) 

(49.5%) 

1.50 0.50 

Age What is the year of your birth?    32.41 11.32 

Hispanic What is your racial background? 1= Hispanic 

0= otherwise 

32 

69 

(31.7%) 

(68.3%) 

0.32 0.47 

Asian What is your racial background? 1= Asian 

0= otherwise 

39 

62 

(38.6%) 

(61.4%) 

0.39 0.49 

Other What is your racial background? 1= Other 

0= otherwise 

18 

83 

(17.8%) 

(82.2%) 

0.18 0.39 

Religiosity Rate your level of religious faith 1= not at all 

2= a little 

3= somewhat 

4= much 

5= very much 

12 

11 

33 

23 

22 

(11.9%) 

(10.9%) 

(32.7%) 

(22.8%) 

(21.8%) 

3.32 1.26 

Education What is your Education level? 1= Some high school 

2= High School graduate 

3= Some college 

4= Current College Student 

5= Associate Degree 

6= BA/BS 

7= Some Grad School 

8=Current grad school stud 

9= Master’s Degree 

10= PHD/MD/Post doctorate 

5 

9 

11 

29 

11 

16 

1 

8 

9 

2 

(5.0%) 

(8.9%) 

(10.9%) 

(28.9%) 

(10.9%) 

(15.8%) 

(1%) 

(7.9%) 

(8.9%) 

(2%) 

4.90 2.28 

Stress Score Add up all the 11 variables    41.20 15.25 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY JOURNAL, 2010, VOL. 2 (ISSUE 1: 65-76) 

 

Figure 1. Distribution of Stress Scores 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



RELIGION AND STRESS by Yi Yang                                                                             71 

 

CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY JOURNAL, 2010, VOL. 2 (ISSUE 1: 65-76) 

Figure 2. Distribution of Religious Level       

            
  



RELIGION AND STRESS by Yi Yang                                                                             

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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY JOURNAL, 2010, VOL. 2 (ISSUE 1: 65-76) 

(2) PEARSON’S CORRELATION 

ANALYSIS 

 

Table 2 reports Pearson’s correlation 

coefficients among the variables. As 

predicted, significant negative corre-

lations were found between religious 

level and stress score (r = -.39 at the 

0.01 level, 2-tailed), and age and stress 

score (r = -.31 at the 0.01 level, 2-tailed). 

Similarly there was a negative 

correlation, though not significant, 

between gender and stress score (r = -

.03), and education and stress score (r = 

-.09).   

 The most important finding was 

the significant negative correlation 

found between religious level and stress 

score.  The analyzed coefficients 

support the hypothesis that religious 

level has a negative relationship with 

stress levels. Similarly, age has 

significant negative relationship with 

stress score. The analyzed coefficients 

support the hypothesis that younger 

people tend to get stressed more easily 

than older people.  

 As I expected, Hispanic ethnicity 

and stress score have significant positive 

correlation (r = .42 at the 0.01 level), 

which indicates the Hispanic re-

spondents hold higher stress levels than 

the non-Hispanic group. On the 

contrary, the Asian ethnicity and stress 

score have negative correlation (r = -.36 

at the 0.01 level), which is to say, Asian 

respondents are not as stressed as the 

non-Asian group. However, other 

ethnicities do not have a significant 

correlation with stress score, indicating 

that there is no significant difference in 

the level of stress between Hispanic, 

Asian, White groups and other ethnic 

groups such as Native American, 

Black/African-American, and others. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY JOURNAL, 2010, VOL. 2 (ISSUE 1: 65-76) 

Table 2.  Pearson’s Correlation Coefficients of Variables Used in the Analysis 

    
Total Stress 
Score 

Religious 
Level Gender Age Education 

Hispanic or 
not Asian or not other or not 

Total Stress Score Pearson Correlation  -.389(**) -.034 -.311(**) -.085 .419(**) -.360(**) .004 

Sig. (2-tailed)  .000 .737 .002 .398 .000 .000 .967 

N  101 101 101 101 101 101 101 

Religious Level Pearson Correlation   .207(*) .090 .008 -.155 .204(*) .109 

Sig. (2-tailed)   .038 .370 .940 .123 .040 .278 

N   101 101 101 101 101 101 

Gender Pearson Correlation    -.206(*) -.079 .049 -.135 .263(**) 

Sig. (2-tailed)    .039 .432 .624 .180 .008 

N    101 101 101 101 101 

Age Pearson Correlation     .314(**) -.230(*) .197(*) -.008 

Sig. (2-tailed)     .001 .020 .048 .940 

N     101 101 101 101 

Education Pearson Correlation      -.158 .079 -.014 

Sig. (2-tailed)      .115 .429 .890 

N      101 101 101 

Hispanic or not Pearson Correlation       -.540(**) -.317(**) 

Sig. (2-tailed)       .000 .001 

N       101 101 

Asian or not Pearson Correlation        -.369(**) 

Sig. (2-tailed)        .000 

N        101 

Other or not Pearson Correlation         

Sig. (2-tailed)         

N         

**  Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). 
*  Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).



RELIGION AND STRESS by Yi Yang                                                                             

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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY JOURNAL, 2010, VOL. 2 (ISSUE 1: 65-76) 

(3) OLS REGRESSION ANALYSIS 

 
The bivariate associations may be 

spurious because of the effects of other 

variables that may affect both the 

dependent and the key independent 

variables simultaneously. In order to 

control the effects of other variables on 

stress scores, the data was analyzed 

using multivariate regression techniques. 

Since stress is a continuous variable, 

OLS regression is used to estimate the 

effect of the independent variables on 

stress. As shown in Table 3, the 

Adjusted R Square shows that the 

model fits the data well, providing 

empirical support that the model 

successfully explains 30.4 % of the 

variance present in the dependent 

variable. In addition, the resulting F 

test is statistically significant at the .01 

level. These results indicate that at 

least one dependent variable has 

significant effect on the stress score.  
Table 3 also shows the rela-

tionship of independent variables and 

dependent variable. The regression 

coefficients of gender, education, Asian, 

and other are all statistically insignificant 

at the 0.05 level net of other variables in 

the model. These findings show that 

gender, education, whether they are 

Asian or not, whether they are Native 

American and Black American or not, all 

have no significant effects on stress. 

The most important finding is the 

regression coefficient of Religious level 

that is negative and statistically 

significant at .01 level net of other 

variables in the model. I hypothesized 

that religious level has a negative 

relationship with the degree of stress. 

The findings support my notion that the 

more faithful people are, the less stress 

they have.  

Age’s regression coefficient is 

negative and statistically significant at 

.05 level net of other variables in the 

model. I hypothesized that age would 

have a negative effect on stress. 

My hypothesis was supported in that 

the stress level will decrease as people 

get older. 

 The most interesting signifi-

cance found in OLS regressions is that 

the regression coefficient of Hispanics 

is positive and statistically significant 

at the .01 level net of other variables in 

the model. With Whites is used as the 

reference category. I hypothesized that 

minorities hold a positive effect with 

the degree of stress. The findings 

support part of my hypothesis that the 

Hispanic respondents are more 

stressful than their white counterparts. 

However, the findings do not support 

that with the Asian respondents. There 

is no significant difference in the level 

of stress between Asian and White. In 

the same way, the findings show there 

is no significant difference in the stress 

scores between the white and other 

ethnic groups such as Native 

American, Black American and other. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



RELIGION AND STRESS by Yi Yang                                                                             

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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY JOURNAL, 2010, VOL. 2 (ISSUE 1: 65-76) 

Table 3.  OLS Regression of Stress Score on Selected Variables 

 

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) 

*   Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) 

 

V. CONCLUSION 

 

The primary goal of this study was to 

investigate how religious beliefs aid 

people in dealing with stress. Overall, 

the results support the hypothesis 

which indicated that high levels of 

religious beliefs help people effective-

ly cope with stress. It was found that 

people with a higher religious level 

reported lower stress scores than 

respondents with low religious levels. 

 Age also plays an important 

role in stress scores. Younger people 

struggle with stress much more than 

older people do. As young adults learn 

to cope with increasing demands and 

pressures, the teen years often bring 

about an increase in perceived stress 

Other studies have shown that 

excessive stress during the teen years 

can have a negative impact upon both 

physical and mental health later in life. 

For example, teen stress is a risk factor 

for the development of depression. 

Sometimes depression is a serious 

condition that carries an increased risk 

of suicide (Panzarino 1998). 

 According to a 2006 national 

survey conducted by the American 

Psychological Association (APA) and 

released in partnership with the 

National Alliance for Hispanic Health 

and the National Women’s Health 

Resource Center, nearly all Americans 

experience stress. Unfortunately, stress 

is especially a major health concern for 

Hispanics with more than half 

reporting that they are worried about 

stress in their daily lives. (Snyder, 

Cervantes, Padilla 2004). 

  “Fortunately, effective stress-

management strategies can diminish 

the ill effects of stress. Strong social 

support networks among school, 

family, and religious or other group 

affiliations can help reduce the 

subjective experience of stress. Re-

cognition of the problem and helping 

teens to develop stress-management 

skills can also be valuable preventive 

measures. In severe cases, a physician 

or other health care provider can 

Independent Variables Coef. (s.e.) 

Intercept 59.77 (7.33) ** 

Religious level -3.82 (1.08) ** 

Gender -2.40 (2.77) 

Age -.30 (.12) * 

Education .31 .594 

Hispanic or not 13.26 (4.45) ** 

Asian or not .835 (4.37) 

Other or not 7.82 (5.03) 

N 104 

F-test 7.24 ** 

Adjusted R-square 0.304 



RELIGION AND STRESS by Yi Yang                                                                             

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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY JOURNAL, 2010, VOL. 2 (ISSUE 1: 65-76) 

recommend treatments or counseling 

that can reduce the long-term risks of 

teen stress” (Panzarino 1998). The 

reported evidence may have two 

limitations. First, the scope of this 

research was limited to the analyzed 

variables. As a result, extraneous vari-

ables omitted from this analysis could 

have produced different outcomes. For 

instance, income was not counted as an 

independent variable. Second, most 

(85%) of the respondents had some 

college level education or higher which 

means the sample did not contain varied 

education levels on which to make 

accurate comparisons. Lastly, the sample 

was collected based on availability 

which indicates we cannot generalize 

these findings to the American 

population. 

 

REFERENCES 

 

Noor, Noraini M. 2008. "Work and 

women's well-being: Religion and 

age as moderators." Journal of 

Religion and Health 47, no. 4: 

476-490. 

Online Stress Test (2008). Retrieved 

Nov. 12, 2008, from 

http://stress.about.com./od/selfkno

wledgesefltests/selfknowledge_self

tests_personality_test.hem 

Panzarino, Peter Jr. 1998.  “Stress.”  

Retrieved April 16, 2007.     

(http://www.medicinenet.com/stre

ss/article.htm) 

Snyder, V. N. S. D., Cervantes, 

R. C. & Padilla, A. M. (2004) 

Gender and Ethnic Differences in 

Psychosocial Stress and 

Generalized Distress Among 

Hispanics. Sex Roles 22(7-8), 441-

453. 

 

 


