Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Spirituality/Religiosity (SpR), Leisure-Time Physical Activity, and Sedentary Behaviour in Students at a Catholic University

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Religion and Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Some studies have found an association between spirituality and/or religiosity (SpR) and cardiovascular health, for reasons which remain unclear. This study explores whether SpR is linked to physical activity whilst young, which in turn is linked to long-term cardiovascular health. Students at a Catholic University in Australia completed a survey combining the SpREUK-P SF 17 SpR questionnaire with elements of the long-form 7-day recall International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Respondents who scored highly in the unconventional spiritual practices components of SpREUK-P engaged in moderate intensity physical activity more frequently. This finding may have implications for health promotion.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anshel, M. H. (2013). A cognitive-behavioural approach for promoting exercise behaviour: The disconnected values model. Journal of Sport Behaviour, 36(2), 107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Antony, M. G. (2016). Tailoring nirvana: Appropriating yoga, resignification and instructional challenges. International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, 12(3), 283–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2013a). Hitting the books: Characteristics of higher education students. Published online 25 July 2013, last updated 24 March 2014. Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features20July+2013.

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2013b). Losing my religion? Published online 20 November 2013, last updated 17 March 2014. Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features30Nov+2013.

  • Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). (2016). Who is overweight? Published online retrieved from http://www.aihw.gov.au/who-is-overweight/.

  • Barlett, J. E., Kotrlik, J. W., & Higgins, C. C. (2001). Organizational research: Determining appropriate sample size in survey research. Information Technology, Learning, and Performance Journal, 19(1), 43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, A., Ainsworth, B. E., Sallis, J. F., Hagströmer, M., Craig, C. L., Bull, F. C., et al. (2011). The descriptive epidemiology of sitting: A 20-country comparison using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 41(2), 228–235.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Berent, G. R., Zeck, J. M., Leischner, J. A., & Berent, E. A. (2014). Yoga as an alternative intervention for promoting a healthy lifestyle among college students. Journal of Addictions Nursing, 25(4), 167–171.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Berkman, L. F., & Kawachi, I. (2000). A historical framework for social epidemiology. In L. F. Berkman & I. Kawachi (Eds.), Social epidemiology (pp. 3–12). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bey, S. (2014). An autoethnography of bodybuilding, visual culture, aesthetic experience, and performed masculinity. Visual Culture and Gender, 9, 31–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, C. (2015). Textual erasures of religion: The power of books to redefine yoga and mindfulness meditation as secular wellness practices in North American Public Schools. Mémoires du livre/Studies in Book Culture. doi:10.7202/1032713ar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, W. J., Bauman, A. E., Bull, F. C., & Burton, N. W. (2012). Development of evidence-based physical activity recommendations for adults (18–64 years). Report prepared for the Australian Government Department of Health, August 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-strateg-phys-act-guidelines/$File/DEB-PAR-Adults-18-64years.pdf.

  • Büssing, A. (2010). Spirituality as a resource to rely on in chronic illness: The SpREUK questionnaire. Religions, 1(1), 9–17. doi:10.3390/rel1010009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büssing, A., Matthiesson, P. F., & Ostermann, T. (2005). Engagement of patients in religious and spiritual practices: Confirmatory results with the SpREUK-P 1.1 questionnaire as a tool of quality of life research. Health & Quality of Life Outcomes, 3, 53. doi:10.1186/1477-7525-3-53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Büssing, A., Reiser, F., Michalsen, A., & Baumann, K. (2012). Engagement of patients with chronic diseases in spiritual and secular forms of practice: Results with the shortened SpREUK-P SF17 questionnaire. Integrative Medicine, 11(1), 28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craig, C. L., Marshall, A. L., Sjöström, M., Bauman, A. E., Booth, M. L., Ainsworth, B. E., et al. (2003). International physical activity questionnaire: 12-country reliability and validity. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 35(8), 1381–1395. doi:10.1249/01.MSS.0000078924.61453.FB.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • D’Abundo, M. L., Sidman, C. L., & Fiala, K. A. (2016). The potential of promoting mindfulness in a university physical activity and wellness course. International Journal of Adult Vocational Education and Technology (IJAVET), 7(1), 39–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dahl, A. K., Reynolds, C. A., Fall, T., Magnusson, P. K., & Pedersen, N. L. (2014). Multifactorial analysis of changes in body mass index across the adult life course: A study with 65 years of follow-up. International Journal of Obesity, 38(8), 1133–1141.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dohle, S., & Wansink, B. (2013). Fit in 50 years: Participation in high school sports best predicts one’s physical activity after age 70. BMC Public Health, 13(1), 1100. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-13-110.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Foundation, Heart. (2014). Blueprint for an active Australia (2nd ed.). Melbourne: National Heart Foundation of Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • George, K. C. (2012). Self-help as women’s popular culture in suburban New Jersey: An ethnographic perspective. Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies, 9(2), 23–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagstromer, M., Ainsworth, B. E., Oja, P., & Sjostrom, M. (2010). Comparison of a subjective and an objective measure of physical activity in a population sample. Journal of Physical Activity & Health, 7(4), 541.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Healy, G. N., Clark, B. K., Winkler, E. A., Gardiner, P. A., Brown, W. J., & Matthews, C. E. (2011). Measurement of adults’ sedentary time in population-based studies. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 41(2), 216–227.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Jennings, G. (2014). Transmitting health philosophies through the traditionalist Chinese martial arts in the UK. Societies, 4(4), 712–736.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jonsdottir, I. H., Gerber, M., Lindwall, M., Lindegård, A., & Börjesson, M. (2013). The role of physical activity and fitness in prevention and treatment of mental health. International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings, 10(1), Article 72. Retrieved from: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol10/iss1/72.

  • Koenig, H. G. (2012). Religion, spirituality, and health: The research and clinical implications. ISRN Psychiatry. doi:10.5402/2012/278730.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koenig, H. G. (2014). Religion, spirituality, and health: A review and update. Advances in Mind-Body Medicine, 29(3), 19–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koenig, H., & Büssing, A. (2010). The Duke University Religion Index (DUREL): A five-item measure for use in epidemological studies. Religions, 1(1), 78–85. doi:10.3390/rel1010078.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koenig, H. G., Nelson, B., Shaw, S. F., Saxena, S., & Cohen, H. J. (2016). Religious involvement and telomere length in women family caregivers. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 204(1), 36–42.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuh, D., Ben-Shlomo, Y., Lynch, J., et al. (2003). Life course epidemiology. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 57, 778–783.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Levine, R. H. (2015). Walking on a bridge you also built: Practitioners’ experience navigating the borderland between western and Chinese medicine. BS(Hons) thesis, Bates College: Maine. Retrieved from http://scarab.bates.edu/honorstheses/146 (Paper 146).

  • Mansur, R. B., Brietzke, E., & McIntyre, R. S. (2015). Is there a “metabolic-mood syndrome”? A review of the relationship between obesity and mood disorders. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 52, 89–104.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McGill, R., Tukey, J. W., & Larsen, W. A. (1978). Variations of box plots. The American Statistician, 32, 12–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merrill, R., & Salazar, R. (2002). Relationship between church attendance and mental health among Mormons and non-Mormons in Utah. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 5(1), 17–33. doi:10.1080/13674670110059569.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merrill, R. M., & Thygerson, A. L. (2001). Religious preference, church activity, and physical exercise. Preventive Medicine, 33(1), 38–45. doi:10.1006/pmed.2001.0851.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, W. R., & Thoresen, C. E. (2003). Spirituality, religion, and health: An emerging research field. American Psychologist, 58(1), 24–35. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.58.1.24.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nadell, M. J., Mermelstein, R. J., Hedeker, D., & Marquez, D. X. (2015). Work and non-work physical activity predict real-time smoking level and urges in young adults. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 17(7), 803.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Payman, V., George, K., & Ryburn, B. (2008). Religiosity of depressed elderly inpatients. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23(1), 16–21. doi:10.1002/gps.1827.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Piko, B. F., & Brassai, L. (2016). A reason to eat healthy: The role of meaning in life in maintaining homeostasis in modern society. Health Psychology Open, 3(1), 2055102916634360.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Powell, L. H., Shahabi, L., & Thoresen, C. E. (2003). Religion and spirituality: Linkages to physical health. American Psychologist, 58(1), 36–52.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Puustinen, L., & Rautaniemi, M. (2015). Wellbeing for sale: Representations of yoga in commercial media. Temenos, 51(1), 45–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, D., Cavill, N., Ells, L., & Roberts, K. (2011). Measuring diet and physical activity in weight management interventions: A briefing paper. Oxford: National Obesity Observatory.

    Google Scholar 

  • R-project.org. (2016, April 14). Launched R version 3.2.5 (very, very secure dishes) released on April the 14th 2016. Retrieved from http://www.r-project.org/.

  • Ryan, A. (2008). Globalisation and the ‘internal alchemy’in Chinese martial arts: The transmission of Taijiquan to Britain. East Asian Science, Technology and Society, 2(4), 525–543.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salmoirago-Blotcher, E., Fitchett, G., Hovey, K. M., Schnall, E., Thomson, C., Andrews, C. A., et al. (2013). Frequency of private spiritual activity and cardiovascular risk in postmenopausal women: The Women’s Health Initiative. Annals of Epidemiology, 23(5), 239–245.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Sax, L. J., Gilmartin, S. K., & Bryant, A. N. (2003). Assessing response rates and nonresponse bias in web and paper surveys. Research in Higher Education, 44(4), 409–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, C., & Denton, M. L. (2005). Soul searching: The religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. USA: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. M. A., Rissel, C. E., Richters, J., Grulich, A. E., & de Visser, R. O. (2005). Australian studies of health and relationships, 2001–2002 [computer file]. Canberra: Australian Social Sciences Data Archive, The Australian National University. Retrieved from http://www.ada.edu.au/social-science/browse/health/australian-studies-of-health-and-relationships.

  • Smith, A., Rissel, C. E., Richters, J., Grulich, A. E., & Visser, R. O. (2003). Sex in Australia: The rationale and methods of the Australian Study of Health and Relationships. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 27(2), 106–117. doi:10.1111/j.1467-842X.2003.tb00797.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, C., & Snell, P. (2009). Souls in transition: The religious and spiritual lives of emerging adults: The religious and spiritual lives of emerging adults. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Snider, A., & McPhedran, S. (2014). Religiosity, spirituality, mental health, and mental health treatment outcomes in Australia: A systematic literature review. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 17(6), 568–581. doi:10.1080/13674676.2013.871240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tapsell, L. C., & Neale, E. P. (2016). The effect of interdisciplinary interventions on risk factors for lifestyle disease: A literature review. Health Education & Behavior, 43(3), 271–285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taspinar, B., Aslan, U. B., Agbuga, B., & Taspinar, F. (2014). A comparison of the effects of Hatha Yoga and resistance exercise on mental health and well-being in sedentary adults: A pilot study. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 22(3), 433–440.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, J., Jr., Belay, B., Park, S., Onufrak, S., & Dietz, W. (2013). Association of church-sponsored activity participation and prevalence of overweight and obesity in African American Protestants, National Survey Of American Life, 2001–2003. Ethnicity and Disease, 23(3), 322.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Tetley, N. S., Duran, P. A., Andersen, H. S., Washington, N., & Boutin-Foster, C. (2016). “It’s Like Backing up Science with Scripture”: Lessons learned from the implementation of HeartSmarts, a faith-based cardiovascular disease health education program. Journal of Religion and Health, 55(3), 1078–1088.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tolonen, H., Helakorpi, S., Talala, K., Helasoja, V., Martelin, T., & Prättälä, R. (2006). 25-year trends and socio-demographic differences in response rates: Finnish adult health behaviour survey. European Journal of Epidemiology, 21(6), 409–415.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van Berkel, J., Boot, C. R., Proper, K. I., Bongers, P. M., & van der Beek, A. J. (2014). Effectiveness of a worksite mindfulness-related multi-component health promotion intervention on work engagement and mental health: Results of a randomized controlled trial. PLoS ONE, 9(1), e84118.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Waters, E. K., Millard, H. M., & Doyle, Z. (2015). Losing hope: mental health and religious service non-attendance in Australia. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 18(2), 114–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organisation (WHO). (n.d.). Integrated chronic disease prevention and control. Retrieved from: http://www.who.int/chp/about/integrated_cd/index2.html.

  • Yan, Z., Berger, B., Tobar, D. A., & Cardinal, B. J. (2014). Reasons for exercise behavior among American and Chinese college women. Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, 22, 18–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, G. Y., Wang, L. Q., Ren, J., Zhang, Y., Li, M. L., Zhu, Y. T., et al. (2015). Evidence base of clinical studies on Tai Chi: A bibliometric analysis. PLoS ONE, 10(3), e0120655.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Zwingmann, C., Klein, C., & Bussing, A. (2011). Measuring religiosity/spirituality: Theoretical differentiations and categorization of instruments. Religions, 2(3), 345–357. doi:10.3390/rel2030345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The work in this manuscript was partially supported by the Australian Government’s Collaborative Research networks program. EF, ZD, and EKW wish to thank Professor George L. Mendz, Associate Professor Sandra Lynch and Ms. Epi Kanjo for helpful feedback.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Sydney, The University of Notre Dame Australia, 160 Oxford St, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia

    Edward K. Waters & Zelda Doyle

  2. Rural Clinical School, School of Medicine, Sydney, The University of Notre Dame Australia, Bowenfels, NSW, Australia

    Zelda Doyle

  3. School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Notre Dame Australia, Broadway, NSW, Australia

    Ellen Finlay

Authors
  1. Edward K. Waters
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zelda Doyle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ellen Finlay
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Edward K. Waters.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Waters, E.K., Doyle, Z. & Finlay, E. Spirituality/Religiosity (SpR), Leisure-Time Physical Activity, and Sedentary Behaviour in Students at a Catholic University. J Relig Health 57, 869–882 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0440-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0440-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation