Religiosity and Self-Esteem among Older Adults

The relationship between religiosity and self-esteem in later life was examined in this study. Previous research in this area provides conflicting findings. Some studies indicate that greater religious involvement tends to bolster feelings of self-worth, whereas others suggest that more religious involvement is associated with less positive self-evaluations. A new perspective is tested in the present study which predicts that there may be a nonlinear U-shaped relationship between these measures. More specifically, it is proposed that self-esteem is highest among elderly people with the greatest, as well as the least, amount of religious commitment and lowest among older adults with only modest levels of religiosity. The data tend to largely support this new view. However, feelings of self-worth tend to be lowest for those with very little religious commitment rather than those with moderate levels of religious involvement.