Relationship between religious involvement and Asian immigrant health in the U.S

Background: Religious communities can affect immigrant lives in many ways, including health-related ones. There is a paucity of research however, about the intersection of religion, immigration and health. Earlier research I conducted showed an association between religious involvement and U.S. Latino immigrant health, consistent with the hypothesized theory of social and religious capital. I now examine the religion-health connection for Asian-Americans, a much more heterogeneous group ethnically and religiously.

Objectives: To examine the relationship between religious involvement and health status and health behaviors for Asian-American immigrants and analyze variations in the relationship by key variables.

Methodology: Almost 900 immigrants from the largest Asian sending countries, including China, India, Korea and the Philippines, were analyzed using the randomized New Immigrant Survey data set. Multivariate analyses were performed for health status and health behavior outcomes with congregation attendance level, while controlling for religious, immigrant and demographic characteristics. Variations by denomination, ethnicity and acculturation were analyzed. Comparisons were made with earlier Latino results.

Results: Some associations exist between religion and health for Asian-Americans but findings are more complex and difficult to interpret than for Latinos. Variations exist by ethnic and religious variables. Home country church attendance has a stronger relationship with outcomes for Asians than Latinos. Policy and methodological implications will be discussed.

Conclusion: Considering the context in which people live is important; the social and religious capital from Asian-American religious communities can potentially be leveraged to counteract their often worsening chronic disease health outcomes. However, findings are complex with important variations.