Am J Psychiatry 1980; 137:1563-1568
Copyright © 1980 by American Psychiatric Association
Religiousness, conversion, and subjective well-being: the "healthy- minded" religion of modern American women
P Shaver, M Lenauer and S Sadd
Data from a survey of 2,500 American women were examined to determine 1)
the nature of religiousness among women and, in particular, whether modern
religiousness corresponds to William James' conception of "healthy-minded"
religion; 2) how religiousness is related to self- reports of mental and
physical health; and 3) differences between converts (mainly to Protestant
denominations) and women who have maintained the same religious affiliation
all their lives. The authors found that healthy-mindedness described the
nonconverts (the majority) fairly well, and that certainty of beliefs
(either strong religiousness or confident nonreligiousness) was associated
with better mental and physical health. Converts were distinguished from
nonconverts by the former's relatively happy and less religious childhoods,
stronger adult religiousness, and greater authoritarian tendencies.
