Toward a sociological theory of religion and health / edited by Anthony Blasi.

• Superior document: Religion and the social order ; v. 19
• TeilnehmendeR: Blasi, Anthony J.
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Language: English
• Series: Religion and the social order ; v. 19.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (280 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Driven by funding agencies, empirical research in the social scientific study of health and medicine has grown in quantity and developed in quality. When it became evident, in what is now a tradition of inquiry, that people’s religious activities had significant health consequences, a portion of that body of work began to focus more frequently on the relationship between health and religion. The field has reached a point where book-length summaries of empirical findings, especially those pertinent to older people, can identify independent, mediating, and dependent variables of interest. Every mediating variable, even if considered as a “control” variable, represents an explanation, a small theory of some kind. However, taken in granular form, as it were, the multiple theories do not comprise mid-level theory, let alone a general theoretical framework. This volume seeks to move toward more general theoretical development.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material / A. Blasi -- Introduction: Sociological Theory On Religion And Health / Anthony J. Blasi -- 1. Religion And Mental Health: Through The Lens Of The Stress Process / Christopher G. Ellison and Andrea K. Henderson -- 2. The Role Of Divine Beliefs In Stress Processes / Scott Schieman and Alex Bierman -- 3. Transcendent Experience And Health: Concepts, Cases, And Sociological Themes / Jeff Levin -- 4. Does Religion Protect Against Psychological Distress Among Chronically Ill And Poor Women? / Barbara Kilbourne , Sherry Cummings and Robert S. Levine -- 5. Religion And Health In Japan: Past Research, New Findings, And Future Directions / Michael K. Roemer -- 6. Religion And Mental Health In China / Eric Y. Liu -- 7. Religious Involvement And Latino Immigrant Health / Ephraim Shapiro -- 8. Stress, Religious-Based Coping, And Physical Health / Neal Krause -- 9. Religious Involvement And Religious Struggles / Terrence D. Hill and Ryon J. Cobb -- 10. The Recondite Religious Life Of Health / Anthony J. Blasi -- Contributors / A. Blasi.