Intrinsically versus Extrinsically Defined Spirituality and Immune Functioning

Eighty-eight healthy men and women (ages 29-63) had a blood draw and completed the Lifestyle Assessment Questionnaire (LAQ) and a version of Kelly's repertory grid in order to investigate the relationship between spirituality and immune functioning. As expected, spirituality was associated with...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Doster, Joseph A. (Author) ; Goven, Arthur J. (Author) ; Harvey, Michelle B. (Author) ; Moorefield, Renee (Author) ; Riley, Celeste A. (Author) ; Toledo, J. Raphael (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge 2002
In: Journal of religion, disability & health
Year: 2002, Volume: 6, Issue: 4, Pages: 49-65
Further subjects:B Spirituality
B self-schema
B immuno-competence
B personal constructs
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Eighty-eight healthy men and women (ages 29-63) had a blood draw and completed the Lifestyle Assessment Questionnaire (LAQ) and a version of Kelly's repertory grid in order to investigate the relationship between spirituality and immune functioning. As expected, spirituality was associated with patterns of healthier immune functioning in terms of lower absolute and percentage based counts of monocytes and higher T helper (CD4+) cells and the ratio of T helper to T cytotoxic (CD8+) cells. This pattern mostly implicated the person's spirituality when intrinsically versus extrinsically derived. Findings extend research on immune functioning and religiosity, and support the existence of a relationship between spirituality and health, underscoring the possible stress buffering role of spirituality in enhancing physical and emotional well-being.
ISSN:1522-9122
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of religion, disability & health
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1300/J095v06n04_04