Religiosity as Related to Women’s Health.

ABSTRACT

Background:.A number of well-conducted clinical and epidemiological studies have shown that religiosity can under some circumstances can help prevent depression and anxiety. Thus, given the prevalence and importance of religiosity, it is reasonable to consider the impact of religiosity on mental well-being such that to clarify its position in the existing literature. Aims of the study The aims of the present study were (i) To examine the relationship between religiosity and anxiety (ii) To examine the relationship between religiosity and depression. Method: The sample of the study consisted of one hundred and fifty women aged 20-30 which were taken from B.H.U., Varanasi. The various measures used were Religiosity scale by Bhusan (1971), State, Trait and Free Floating Anxiety Scale (Hindi version) by Rastogi and Tripathi (1986), Epidemiological Studies Scale (CES-D) by Radloff (1972)along with personal data schedule respectively. This is a correlational study and it employed Mean, S.D, Range,‘t’ test and correlation for the interpretation of the results. Results: The results indicated that mean sores of depression and anxiety were comparatively higher in low level of religiosity as compared with high level of religiosity. Result of the correlation tests also indicated that religiosity is significantly negatively correlated with anxiety and depression. Conclusion: This study confirms the positive links between religiosity and mental health. This shows that high religious women would have good mental health as compared to less religious women.