Religious Faith and Depressive Symptoms Among American Undergraduate Students: No Association

 

Erin M. Killiany, Eric A. Storch, Erica A. Bravata, and Jason B. Storch

University of Florida

 

Numerous studies have linked high levels of religious faith to lower levels of depressive symptoms in community and clinical samples (e.g., Koenig, 1998; Miller & Gur, 2002; Miller, Weissman, Gur, & Greenwald, 2002; Storch, Storch, Okun & Welsh, 2002). Religious faith is thought to protect against depression through cognitive (e.g., prayer or reading stress reducing religious scripture) and behavioral techniques (e.g., religious attendance) that assist the individual in coping with life stressors (Miller, Davies, & Greenwald, 2000). In light of the numerous stressors college students’ experience (e.g., relationship conflict, academic demands, financial demands), it follows that religious faith might be one psychosocial variable that buffers against associated distress in the form of depressive symptoms. Therefore, we decided to explore the relationship between religious faith and depressive symptoms in a sample of American undergraduate college students. Based on previous empirical findings, we expected to find a negative association between religious faith and depressive symptoms.

Questionnaire packets were administered to 220 undergraduate college students (168 women) at a large public university in the Southeastern United States. The mean age of the sample was 20:3 years (SD = 2:2 years). The ethnic distribution was as follows: Caucasian (75.2%), Hispanic (11.1%), African-American (7.5%), Asian (3.5%), and Other (2.6%). Religious faith was measured through the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire - Short Form (Plante, Vallaeys, Sherman, & Wallston, 2002; M = 12.4, SD = 5.1), a 5-item Likert-type scale anchored by (1) = strongly disagree and (4) = strongly agree. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, 1967; M = 11.0, SD = 8.2), a 21-item self-report inventory measuring symptoms of depression.

Analysis indicated that religious faith was not correlated with depressive symptoms (r = -.10). Separate analyses were conducted for men and women to examine if gender moderated the relations between religious faith and depressive symptoms. Results were similar in men and women, with no significant correlation between self-reported rates of religious faith and depressive symptoms (Men, r = -.11, Women, r = -.11).

Thus, among this sample of American undergraduate students, religious faith was not correlated with self-reported depressive symptoms. These findings are contrary to what we expected given that past studies have found religion to buffer against depression (e.g., Koening, 1998; Storch et al., 2002). One possible explanation for discrepant findings may be that religion does not act as a significant protective factor in college-age students, perhaps due to alternate interests or sources of support that aids in coping with distress (Symister & Friend, 2003). There are several limitations of this study. First, the use of only college students limits the generalizability of these findings. Second, students may have responded in a biased manner. Third, levels of depressive symptoms were relatively low in this sample, which may have attenuated the present relations. Finally, we cannot make casual conclusions based on the correlational nature of our design.

 

References

Beck, A.T. (1967). Depression: Causes and treatments. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Koenig, H.G. (1998). Handbook of religion and mental health. San Diego: Academic Press.

Miller, L., Davies, M., & Greenwald, S. (2000). Religiosity and substance use and abuse among adolescents in the National Comorbidity Survey. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 1190-1197.

Miller, L., & Gur, M. (2002). Religiosity, depression, and physical maturation in adolescent girls. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 206-214.

Miller, L., Weissman, M., Gur, M., & Greenwald, S. (2002). Adult religiousness and history of childhood depression: Eleven-year follow-up study. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 190, 86-93.

Plante, T.G., Vallaeys, C.L., Sherman, A.C., & Wallston, K.A. (2002). The Development of a brief version of the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire. Pastoral Psychology, 50, 359-368.

Storch, E.A., Storch, J.B., Welsh, E., & Okun, A. (2002). Religiosity and depression in intercollegiate athletes. College Student Journal, 36, 526-531.

Symister, P., & Friend, R. (2003). The Influence of social support and problematic support on optimism and depression in chronic illness: A prospective study evaluating self-esteem as a mediator. Health Psychology, 22, 123-129.