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To determine: (1) differences in spirituality, religiosity, personality, and health for different faith traditions; and (2) the relative degree to which demographic, spiritual, religious, and personality variables simultaneously predict health outcomes for different faith traditions. Cross-sectional analysis of 160 individuals from five different faith traditions including Buddhists (40), Catholics (41), Jews (22), Muslims (26), and Protestants (31). Brief multidimensional measure of religiousness/spirituality (BMMRS; Fetzer in Multidimensional measurement of religiousness/spirituality for use in health research, Fetzer Institute, Kalamazoo, 1999); NEO-five factor inventory (NEO-FFI; in Revised NEO personality inventory (NEO PI-R) and the NEO-five factor inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual, Psychological Assessment Resources, Odessa, Costa and McCrae 1992); Medical outcomes scale-short form (SF-36; in SF-36 physical and mental health summary scores: A user's manual, The Health Institute, New England Medical Center, Boston, Ware et al. 1994). (1) ANOVAs indicated that there were no significant group differences in health status, but that there were group differences in spirituality and religiosity. (2) Pearson's correlations for the entire sample indicated that better mental health is significantly related to increased spirituality, increased positive personality traits (i.e., extraversion) and decreased personality traits (i.e., neuroticism and conscientiousness). In addition, spirituality is positively correlated with positive personality traits (i.e., extraversion) and negatively with negative personality traits (i.e., neuroticism). (3) Hierarchical regressions indicated that personality predicted a greater proportion of unique variance in health outcomes than spiritual variables. Different faith traditions have similar health status, but differ in terms of spiritual, religious, and personality factors. For all faith traditions, the presence of positive and absence of negative personality traits are primary predictors of positive health (and primarily mental health). Spiritual variables, other than forgiveness, add little to the prediction of unique variance in physical or mental health after considering personality. Spirituality can be conceptualized as a characterological aspect of personality or a distinct construct, but spiritual interventions should continue to be used in clinical practice and investigated in health research.

This study sought to identify gender differences among medical patients for their spiritual/religious beliefs/practices and their associations with health. Patients (N = 168) completed the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality (BMMRS), and SF-36 general health perception (GHP) and general mental health (GMH) scales. No gender differences were found in endorsement of spiritual experiences, religious practices, or congregational support. For men, religious/spiritual coping significantly correlated with GHP and GMH, and religious support significantly correlated with GMH. For women, measures of spiritual experiences, religious practices, and congregational support were significantly correlated with GMH, but no significant correlations with GHP were noted. Regression analyses revealed that the interaction between gender and BMMRS was a significant predictor for GMH and GHP. Follow-up analyses suggested that for women, GMH was associated with religious/spiritual coping, religious support, daily spiritual experiences, forgiveness, and organizational religion. In contrast, GHP was only significantly predicted by religious support and only for men. Although no gender differences were noted in endorsement of religious/spiritual experiences/practices, gender differences in relationships between spirituality beliefs/practices and health may exist among individuals with chronic health issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]