Relationship Between Church Attendance and Immigrant Health: Does Christian Denomination Matter?

Background: Religion and ethnicity are intertwined and evidence supports a religion-health connection, However, there is inadequate research on the intersection of religious involvement, typically measured by church attendance, immigrants and health and very little of this focuses on the potential importance of denomination. This study examined the relationship between church attendance and health as well as variations by denomination for Christian Latino immigrants, the largest immigrant group. Theoretical mechanisms were hypothesized to include both social capital and religious capital. Methodology: This study analyzed the New Immigrant Survey, a randomized survey of all newly legalized U.S. immigrants in 2003. Multivariate analyses were performed controlling for religious, immigrant and demographic variables. Outcome measures included health status and health behaviors. Variations were analyzed by Christian denominations: Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical Protestant and Other Protestant. Results: Over 1500 U.S. immigrants from the largest sending Latin American countries in the survey self-identified as Christians, representing a wide range of health, religious, immigrant and demographic measures. A positive relationship was found between church attendance level and health outcomes. Denomination was associated with health status and also moderated the relationship found between religion and health status. Social, structural and theological explanations for these variations will be discussed. Conclusions: Opportunities exist to leverage widespread church-going by immigrants through creating innovate faith-based interventions to reduce the burden of disease. Taking into account denominational characteristics can improve efforts to target the needs of church-going Latinos and help counteract the worsening Latino health that typically occurs with longer U.S. residency.