Religiousness and religious coping in a secular society: The gender perspective

Dorte Hvidtjørn; Jacob Hjelmborg; Axel Skytthe; Kaare Christensen; Niels Christian Hvidt

doi:10.1007/s10943-013-9724-z

Religiousness and religious coping in a secular society

Authors:

Hvidtjørn, Dorte ;
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Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Biodemography, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, SDU
Hjelmborg, Jacob ;
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0000-0001-9630-9149
The Danish Twin Registry, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, SDU
Skytthe, Axel ;
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Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Biodemography, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, SDU
Christensen, Kaare ;
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0000-0002-5429-5292
Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Biodemography, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, SDU
Hvidt, Niels Christian
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0000-0002-6311-9784
Health, Man and Society, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, SDU

Subtitle:

The gender perspective

DOI:

10.1007/s10943-013-9724-z

Abstract:

Women are found to be more religious than men and more likely to use religious coping. Only few studies have explored religious gender differences in more secular societies. This population-based study comprised 3,000 Danish men and women (response rate 45 %) between 20 and 40 years of age. Information about demographics, religiousness and religious coping was obtained through a web-based questionnaire. We organized religiousness in the three dimensions: Cognition, Practice and Importance, and we assessed religious coping using the brief RCOPE questionnaire. We found substantial gender differences in both religiousness and religious coping. Nearly, 60 % of the women believed in some sort of spirit or in God compared to 40 % of the men. Generally, both men and women scored low on the RCOPE scale. However, for respondents reporting high levels of religiousness, the proportion of men who scored high in the RCOPE exceeded the proportion of women in using positive and especially negative coping strategies. Also, in a secular society, women are found to be more religious than men, but in a subset of the most religious respondents, men were more inclined to use religious coping. Further studies on religious coping in secular societies are required.

Type:

Journal article

Language:

English

Published in:

Journal of Religion and Health, 2014, Vol 53, Issue 5, p. 1329-41

Main Research Area:

Medical science

Publication Status:

Published

Review type:

Peer Review

Submission year:

2014

Scientific Level:

Scientific

ID:

247190909

Religiousness and religious coping in a secular society

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