Feeling grateful to God and change in chronic health problems: exploring variations by age

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between feeling grateful to God and change in chronic health problems. Three sets of findings are provided. First, the data suggest that feeling grateful to God is associated with more chronic health conditions among younger adults while older adults who are grateful to God report fewer chronic conditions. Second, the results reveal that feeling grateful to God is associated with more spiritual struggles among younger people but elderly individuals who are grateful to God experience fewer spiritual struggles. The third set of findings emerge from a three-way statistical interaction between age, gratitude to God, and spiritual struggles on change in health. The data indicate that the most vulnerable group consists of younger adults who are grateful to God and who experience more spiritual struggles. In contrast, fewer health problems are found among older adults who are grateful to God and who experience more spiritual struggles.

KEYWORDS:

• Gratitude to god
• spiritual struggles
• chronic health problems
• age differences

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

The data that were analyzed in this study are available upon request from the corresponding author

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation (40077).