The Institute for Global Health and Development
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Item Religion and mental health among older adults: ethnic differences in Malaysia(Taylor and Francis Group, 2020-08-03) Tan, Min Min; Su, Tin Tin; Ting, Rachel Sing-Kiat; Allotey, Pascale; Reidpath, DanielObjectives Religion and spirituality gain importance as a person ages. Research has shown that religion has a salutary effect on mental health, and it is associated with health differently across ethnic groups. The current study examined ethnic differences in the association between religion and mental health among older adults in a predominantly Muslim population and multicultural setting. Methods Data of 7068 participants (4418 Malays, 2080 Chinese and 570 Indians) aged ≥55 years that were collected as part of the community health survey conducted in 2013 in the South East Asia Community Observatory (SEACO) were analyzed using bivariate and multiple regressions. Analyses were stratified by ethnicity. Results The importance of having an enriched religious/spiritual life was associated with higher scores of depression, anxiety and stress among Chinese and higher score of depression among Malays, while belief in a higher power was associated with better mental health among Malays, Chinese and Indians. Conclusion The current study showed that there were ethnic variations in the associations between religion and mental health, and the associations depended on the religious variable included in the analysis. The findings of this study showed that religion could be another potential channel to improve mental health among older adults by accommodating and understanding their religious beliefs.Item Religiousness and Quality of Life Among Older Adults of Different Ethnic Groups in Malaysia: A Five-Year Follow-up Study(Springer, 2021-07-29) Tan, Min Min; Reidpath, Daniel; Ting, Rachel Sing-Kiat; Allotey, Pascale; Su, Tin TinResearch has shown that religion is associated with a better quality of life (QoL). This study aims to examine ethnic differences in the association between religion and the QoL of older adults in a predominantly Muslim population within a multicultural setting. Two-wave data of 3,810 participants consisting of mostly Muslims and older adults aged ≥ 55 years were collected as part of the community health surveys conducted in 2013 and 2018 in the South East Asia Community Observatory (SEACO). Both cross-sectional analyses of baseline data and prospective analyses of longitudinal data were conducted. The associations between religiosity and quality of life were mainly positive in the cross-sectional analysis. In the two-wave analysis, religious importance was negatively associated with QoL among the Malays (B = − 1.103, SE B = 0.029, p < .001) and the Chinese (B = − 0.160, SE B = 0.043, p < .001), and a belief in a higher power control was associated with better QoL among the Malays (B = 0.051, SE B = 0.022, p < .005) and poorer QoL domains among the Indians (physical health: B = − 5.412, SE B = 1.382, p < .001; psychological: B = − 3.325, SE B = 1.42, p < .001; social relationship: B = − 5.548, SE B = 1.616, p < .001; environment: B = − 2.586, SE B = 1.288; p < .05). Our study's mixed results suggest that religiosity is positively associated with quality of life in cross-sectional analyses. However, in longitudinal analyses, the results are different. Conclusions with regard to causality based on cross-sectional analyses may be misleading. Health promotion programs should continue to examine the effect of religiousness on health outcomes over time among aging populations across different ethnic groups.