This research project will determine the relationship between religiosity and female health trends.
Can religion influence female health?
Are more religious counties less likely to struggle with accessibilty to healthcare?
Are more religious counties more likely to have higher reports of sexual activity?
Can religiosity of a county help predict maternal health?
Can religiosity of a community help predict maternal health in community spaces? Prior research has demonstrated a positive association between religious attendance and certain medical issues. As religious attendance increases, individuals report a decrease in depressive sympthology, lower blood pressure, and better physical health (Hill 1995). Religious beliefs and religious institutions often advocate healthy lifestyle choices involving nutrition, social relationships, and spiritual wellness. Lectures and community meetings are typically held in a permanent, physical space: a place of worship, such as a synagogue, church, temple, or mosque. Places of worship provide members with an opportunity to meet and socialize with other people, thereby increasing the likelihood of companionships forming. Companionships can lead to marriages, children, lifelong friendships, or business partnerships that increase an individual’s quality of life (Schlundt et al.2008).
While research demonstrates that religion can have a positive impact on physical and mental health, religion has a trickier relationship with reproductive health. Many religions strictly preach abstinence and abstinence-only education is associated with higher risk of teen pregnancy and development of sexually transmitted diseases (Stanger-Hall & Hall 2011). Women tend to bear the brunt of a lack of sufficient sex education due to pregnancy or social stigmatization. Bullying in school towards women heavily involves derogatory comments about their sexual behaviors and religious communities can also indirectly encourage bullying by having harsh punishments for young women who are found to be sexually active as it disobeys their code of conduct.
Women historically receive fewer positions of power under religious institutions. For example, in majority of denominations for the Abrahamic religions, women are prohibited from leading prayers and preaching to men. Community-focus tends to be at the whim of male, religious leaders, which minimizes the importance of women-focused health initatives especially iniatives grounded in improving maternal health.
Maternal health in the United States is alarmingly poor and continues to worsen every year. Black women are at the highest risk than any other race for maternal death. Black women often report neglect or complete disregard for their concerns during pregnancy (Villarosa 2018). There are multiple factors to consider that are impacting maternal health, but as it stands there are certain hospitals in the United States that abide by religious doctrines (16% of hospitals to be exact) and these doctrines limit doctor’s ability to treat women. For example, religious hospitals are not allowed to terminate pregnancies and a woman with an ectopic pregnancy is at risk of deadly blood lost if the pregnancy continues (Rollston 2018). One report claimed that religious communities across United States had higher infant mortality rates than less religious communities (Kimball & Wissner 2015).
This research project seeks to analyze the relationship between religion and female health in the hopes of helping inform policymakers and community members about campaigns/initatives to organize that can center female health issues and combat America’s growing maternal health crisis.
I have selected two datasets from Social Explorer: U.S. Religion 2010 and U.S. Health 2012. The U.S. Religion Data comprises of congressional membership data collected by the Associations of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. I use the variable of total congressions to assess the religiosity of each county. The U.S. Health Data measures health factors on a county level and was collected by the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. For this research project, I will use the variables associated with infant health, sexual health, access to healthcare, and ability to afford healthcare.
I will use Zelig models to determine if there is a correlation between the independent variable (religiosity) and the dependent variables aforementioned. I will also map the county-level data using the Tmap package to assess whether religious communities do have reported lower healthcare access for women.
RCMS10_NV009_001 renamed as Religiosity
SE_T003_001 renamed as Low_Birthweight
SE_T009_001 renamed as Sexual_Activity
SE_T006_002 renamed as Health_Insurance
SE_T004_001 renamed as PCP (Primary Care Physicians)
SE_T004_002 renamed as MHP (Mental Health Providers)
SE_T004_003 renamed as Dentist
SE_T005_001 renamed as Limited_Access
After mapping religiosity across the United States, there was a large concentration of the major religious denominations in California. The map of low birthweight revealed that in the counties with the highest religious communities, there was also the lowest birthweights (specifically Kern, Los Angeles, and San Bernadino). Los Angeles was the only county that reported a significant lack in Health Care Providers, possibly due to it being the largest population in California.
In Model 1, the y intercept is 5.620 and this means that individuals with no access to healthcare have a low birthweight that increases 5.620 units. According to Model 2, when there is limited access to healthcare, there is an increase in low birthweight by 0.164 units and when there is no health insurance, there is an increase in low birthweight by 0.020. units. When there is limited access to healthcare and no health insurance, Model 3 states that low birthweight decreases by -0.005. Model 4 reveals that if there is no primary care physician, the low birthweight decreases by -2.489e-05. This is insignificant. Model 5 states that low birthweight increases by 0.002 units when there is increase by 1 unit in lacking a primary care phyisican. However, when there is a 1 unit increase in those lacking Mental Health Practioners and Dentists, low birthweight decreases by -0.0007 and -0.003. These numbers are not significant yet emphasize the importance of ensuring every mother has a primary care physician to assist her during pregnancy and not allow a low birthweight that puts the baby at risk.
The final graph in this research project clearly shows that low birthweight vastly increases as limited access to healthcare increases.
According to the research, religious communities do play an active role in maternal health as there is a correlation between low birthweights and religious communities. The higher the presence of religious institutions, the more likely the community had low birthweights and limited access to healthcare. There was not a notable association between religiosity and if individuals had healthcare providers. The results suggest that religious communities may be able to influence women’s health practices and thus can begin to advocate for awareness and assistance in improving maternal health nationwide.
Data would be more accurate if there was a U.S. Religion Data for 2012 on Social Explorer, but the data stopped at 2010.
Hill PC, Butter EM. (1995). Role of religion in promoting physical health. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 14(2):141-155.
Schlundt, D. G., Franklin, M. D., Patel, K., McClellan, L., Larson, C., Niebler, S., & Hargreaves, M. (2008). Religious affiliation, health behaviors and outcomes: Nashville REACH 2010. American journal of health behavior, 32(6), 714-724. doi:10.5555/ajhb.2008.32.6.714
Stanger-Hall, K. F., & Hall, D. W. (2011). Abstinence-only education and teen pregnancy rates: why we need comprehensive sex education in the U.S. PloS one, 6(10), e24658. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024658
Rollston, Rebecca. (2018). Religion-Restricted Healthcare and its Effects on Reproductive Health Needs. Our Bodies Ourselves. https://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/2018/03/religion-restricted-healthcare-and-its-effects-on-reproductive-health-needs/.
Villarosa, Linda. (2018).“Why America’s Black Mothers and Babies Are in a Life-or-Death Crisis.” New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/11/magazine/black-mothers-babies-death-maternal-mortality.html
Kimball, R & Wissner, M. (2015). Religion, Poverty, and Politics: Their Impact on Women’s Reproductive Health Outcomes. Public Health Nurs.32(6):598-612. doi: 10.1111/phn.12196.