Microsoft Word - 7ReligionAndStress_Reviewed_SagrarioGutierrez.docx 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. RELIGION AND STRESS by Yi Yang 68 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 RELIGION AND STRESS by Yi Yang 70 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 72 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. RELIGION AND STRESS by Yi Yang 73 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 74 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 75 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 76 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.