Background

A substantial body of evidence shows that individuals with higher levels of religious attendance are more likely to avoid risky health behaviors and adopt beneficial health behaviors. Yet, less is known about the extent to which these patterns vary across national context.

Purpose

The current study aims to examine how religious attendance is associated with health behavior cross-nationally. More importantly, it assesses the ways that country-level religiosity moderates this association. In this endeavor, the current study focuses on five health behaviors—smoking, drinking, eating fruit, eating vegetables, and participating in physical activity.

Methods

The current study uses multilevel modeling with data from the seventh round of the European Social Survey (2014).

Results

The multilevel analyses demonstrate that religious attendance is negatively associated with drinking and smoking whereas it is positively associated with eating fruit, eating vegetables, and participating in physical activity cross-nationally. In addition, religious context moderates these associations in a way that lends support to the moral communities thesis. Specifically, the negative association between religious attendance and smoking behavior is stronger in countries with higher levels of religiosity. In a similar vein, the positive association between religious attendance and participating in physical activity is stronger in countries with higher levels of religiosity. However, the positive association between religious attendance and eating fruit is weaker in countries with higher levels of religiosity, which runs counter to the moral communities thesis.

Conclusions and Implications

The results in the study suggest that religious attendance has beneficial effects on health behavior. By analyzing a large, cross-national dataset, the current study lays a firmer basis for the generalization that religious attendance may discourage negative health behavior and promote positive health behavior. In addition, the current study elaborates on this pattern by documenting the moderating role of national religious context. The findings in the study implicate the importance of considering national context in research on religious involvement and health behavior.

中文翻译：

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跨国视角下的宗教出勤与健康行为：宗教背景的作用

背景

大量证据表明，宗教出勤率较高的个人更有可能避免危险的健康行为并采取有益的健康行为。然而，人们对这些模式在不同国家背景下的差异程度知之甚少。

目的

目前的研究旨在研究宗教出席如何与跨国健康行为相关联。更重要的是，它评估了国家层面的宗教信仰缓和这种关联的方式。在这项努力中，目前的研究重点关注五种健康行为——吸烟、饮酒、吃水果、吃蔬菜和参加体育活动。

方法

目前的研究使用来自第七轮欧洲社会调查（2014 年）的数据进行多层次建模。

结果

多层次分析表明，宗教出席与饮酒和吸烟呈负相关，而与跨国吃水果、吃蔬菜和参加体育活动呈正相关。此外，宗教背景以支持道德共同体论点的方式调节这些关联。具体而言，宗教参与度与吸烟行为之间的负相关关系在宗教信仰程度较高的国家更为强烈。同样，在宗教信仰程度较高的国家，参加宗教活动与参加体育活动之间的正相关关系更强。然而，在宗教信仰程度较高的国家，参加宗教活动和吃水果之间的正相关关系较弱，

结论和启示

研究结果表明，参加宗教活动对健康行为有益。通过分析一个大型的跨国数据集，目前的研究为宗教参与可能会阻止负面健康行为并促进积极健康行为的概括奠定了更坚实的基础。此外，目前的研究通过记录国家宗教背景的调节作用来详细阐述这种模式。研究结果暗示了在宗教参与和健康行为研究中考虑国家背景的重要性。