Citation

Willis KD, Nelson T, Moreno O. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019; 16(19): e16193645.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, 806 West Franklin Street Box 842018, Richmond, VA 23284, USA. oamoreno@vcu.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph16193645

PMID

31569371

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the direct and indirect relationships among death anxiety, religious doubt, and depressive symptoms in older adults. This study also investigates race as a moderator for these relationships. This study used data from the Religion, Aging, and Health Survey. Participants identified as Christian, identified as Black or White, lived in a non-institutionalized household within the U.S., were retired, and spoke English. Using PROCESS, results revealed that religious doubt partially mediated the relationship between death anxiety and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, moderated mediation models revealed that race moderated the relationship between religious doubt and depressive symptoms. Specifically, there was significant, positive relationship between religious doubt and depressive symptoms for participants who identified as Black but not White.

RESULTS highlight how religious doubt can influence depressive outcomes among the geriatric communities of color. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.

Language: en

Keywords

aging; death anxiety; depression; race; religious doubt