Religion, Families, and Health: Population-Based Research in the United States

edited by Christopher G Ellison and Robert A Hummer
contributions by Valarie King, Xiaohe Xu, Amy Burdette, Teresa Sullivan, Linda Waite, Alisa Lewin, Lisa Keister, Evelyn Lehrer, JenÆnan Read, Neal Krause, Marc Musick, Meredith Worthen, Maureen Benjamins, Richard Rogers, Patrick M Krueger, Isaac Eberstein, Kathleen Heyman, Tim Heaton, Darren Sherkat, Helen Ebaugh, Robert A Hummer, John P. Bartkowski, Christopher G Ellison, Lisa Pearce, Duane Alwin, Jacob Felson and Mark Regnerus

Rutgers University Press, 2010
Cloth: 978-0-8135-4718-3 | Paper: 978-0-8135-4719-0 | eISBN: 978-0-8135-4945-3
Library of Congress Classification BL2525.R4633 2010
Dewey Decimal Classification 306.60973

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Religion is a major social institution in the United States. While the scientific community has experienced a resurgence in the idea that there are important linkages between religion and family life and religion and health outcomes, this area of study is still in its early stages of development, scattered across multiple disciplines, and of uneven quality. To date, no book has featured both reviews of the literature and new empirical findings that define this area for the present and set the agenda for the twenty-first century. Religion, Families, and Health fills this void by bringing together leading social scientists who provide a theoretically rich, methodologically rigorous, and exciting glimpse into a fascinating social institution that continues to be extremely important in the lives of Americans.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

CHRISTOPHER G. ELLISON is the Elsie and Stanley E. (Skinny) Adams Sr. Centennial Professor in the department of sociology and a research associate of the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author or coauthor of approximately one hundred journal articles and chapters on the topics of religion and family life and religion and health in the United States. ROBERT A. HUMMER is a professor and chairperson in the department of sociology and a research associate of the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the coauthor of Living and Dying in the USA, winner of the 2002 Otis Dudley Duncan Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Social Demography from the Population Section of the American Sociological Association.

REVIEWS

"This excellent compilation of population-based research on the relationships of religion to family life and health establishes a
research agenda for decades to come."

— Kenneth C. Land, Duke University

"A truly unique and important contribution to our growing knowledge about the relationship between religion, family life, and health. An
important work deserving a wide reading."

— Christian Smith, University of Notre Dame

"A fascinating array of research that is well-grounded in key theoretical debates and draws insightful conclusions. This volume does a
wonderful job of setting the agenda for research on religion and its impact on other aspects of American life."

— Robert V. Robinson, Indiana University

"Two of the top social institutions on anyone's list—the family and religion—both exert considerable influence on the well-being of their members. Although there are long histories of research in each of these separate domains, here for the first time is a consideration of their joint impact, by leaders in the field of population health and the scientific study of religion."

— Ellen Idler, Emory University

"Religion, more aptly religiosity, has a long and recognizable history in the social sciences as an innately collective phenomenon. As
such, social theorists recognized early on the power of religion in framing social life. Similarly, the family has and continues to serve as
an immediate and undeniable contributor to the social experience. This volume admirably and ambitiously tackles these major institutions within society and provides fertile ground for scholars across specialties to recognize the reciprocal and cyclical nature of religion, family, and health."

— Contemporary Sociology

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

Part One: Religion and Family Life Outcomes

2. Religion and the Timing of First Births in the United States

3. Religion and Child Bearing

4. Religion and Adolescent Sexual Behavior

5. The Influence of Religion Ties between the Generations

6. Religion and Family Values Reconsidered

7. From Generation to Generation

8. Religious Intermarriage and Conversion in the United States

9. Childhood Religious Denomination and Early Adult Asset Accumulation

10. Religious Affiliation and Participation as Determinants of Women's Educational Attainment and Wages

11. Religion, Family, and Women's Employment among Muslim and Christian Arab Americans

Part Two: Religion and Health Outcomes

12. Religion and Depressive Symptoms in Late Life

13. Religion and Physical Health among U.S. Adults

14. Religious Involvement and Mortality Risk among Pre-Retirement Aged U.S. Adults

15. Religious Attendance and Cause-Specific Mortality in the United States

16. Race, Religious Involvement, and Health

17. Jewish Identity and Self-Reported Health

18. Religion, Sexually Risky Behavior, and Reproductive Health: The Mormon Case

19. Religion and the New Immigrants

Part Three: Looking Ahead

20. The Religious Demography of the United States

21. Future Directions in Population-Based Research on Religion, Family Life, and Health in the United States

Notes on Contributors

Index

See other books on: Bartkowski, John P. | Ellison, Christopher G | Families | Health | Rogers, Richard
See other titles from Rutgers University Press

Nearby on shelf for Religions. Mythology. Rationalism / History and principles of religions / American: