TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2002//
TI  - Religion, death of a loved one, and hypertension among older adults in Japan
JO  - Journals of gerontology. Series B: psychological sciences and social sciences
A1  - Krause, Neal
A1  - Liang, Jersey
A1  - Shaw, Benjamin A.
A1  - Sugisawa, Hidehiro
A1  - Kim, Hye-Kyung
A1  - Sugihara, Yoko
SP  - S96
EP  - S107
VL  - 57
IS  - 2
N2  - OBJECTIVE: To see whether three dimensions of religion (private religious practices, religious coping, and belief in the afterlife) buffer the effect of the death of a significant other on change in self-reported hypertension over time. METHODS: Interviews were conducted with a nationally representative sample of people aged 60 and older in Japan at two points in time, 1996 and 1999. Complete data were available on 1,723 older Japanese. Respondents were asked a series of questions about their religious beliefs and practices, whether a family member or close friend had died in the past year, and whether they had hypertension. RESULTS: The data suggest that older adults in Japan who experienced the death of a loved one but who believed in a good afterlife were less likely to report they had hypertension at the follow-up interview than elderly people in Japan who lost a close other but did not believe in a good afterlife. DISCUSSION: The results suggest how one overlooked dimension of religion (i.e., religious beliefs) may bolster the health of older people in the face of adversity.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1079-5014
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -