{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T18:37:26Z","timestamp":1780339046606,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":59,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,24]],"date-time":"2021-03-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1616544000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001350","name":"Ministry of Health -Singapore","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NA"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NA"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001350","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Temasek Foundation","award":["NA"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NA"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: This study investigated association of religious affiliation with positive mental health (PMH) and mental disorders. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 2270 adults was conducted in Singapore. Participants reported their religious affiliation to Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Taoism, or other religions. A PMH instrument measured total PMH and six subcomponents: general coping (GC), emotional support (ES), spirituality (S), interpersonal skills (IS), personal growth and autonomy (PGA), and global affect (GA). Lifetime history of mental disorders was assessed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Results: Total PMH (mean \u00b1 SD) was 4.56 \u00b1 0.66 for participants with any religion versus 4.12 \u00b1 0.63 (p = 0.002) in those without any religion. After adjustment for all potential confounders, the mean difference in total PMH between these groups was 0.348 (95% CI: 0.248\u20130.448). Having any religion was significantly associated with higher scores for S, GC, ES, IS, but not with PGA, GA or mental disorders. Compared with individuals without any religion, total PMH and S levels were significantly higher across all religions. Additionally, Christianity was significantly associated with higher ES, Taoism with higher GC, Buddhism and Islam with higher GC, ES and IS, Hinduism with higher IS and Sikhism with higher ES and IS. Conclusion: Our results indicate that religious affiliation is significantly associated with higher PMH, but not with mental disorders in an Asian community setting. In addition, different religions showed unique patterns of association with PMH subcomponents.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph18073368","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,24]],"date-time":"2021-03-24T15:42:19Z","timestamp":1616600539000},"page":"3368","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":23,"title":["Religious Affiliation in Relation to Positive Mental Health and Mental Disorders in a Multi-Ethnic Asian Population"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9486-1896","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Janhavi Ajit","family":"Vaingankar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Mental Health, Research Division, Singapore 539747, Singapore"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Niyanta","family":"Choudhary","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Mental Health, Research Division, Singapore 539747, Singapore"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Siow Ann","family":"Chong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Mental Health, Research Division, Singapore 539747, Singapore"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fiona Devi Siva","family":"Kumar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Mental Health, Research Division, Singapore 539747, Singapore"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1016-3298","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Edimansyah","family":"Abdin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Mental Health, Research Division, Singapore 539747, Singapore"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Saleha","family":"Shafie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Mental Health, Research Division, Singapore 539747, Singapore"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Boon Yiang","family":"Chua","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Mental Health, Research Division, Singapore 539747, Singapore"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7354-8734","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rob M.","family":"van Dam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117597, Singapore"},{"name":"National University Health System, Singapore 119228, Singapore"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4530-1096","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mythily","family":"Subramaniam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Mental Health, Research Division, Singapore 539747, Singapore"},{"name":"Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117597, Singapore"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"283","DOI":"10.1177\/070674370905400502","article-title":"Research on Religion, Spirituality, and Mental Health: A Review","volume":"54","author":"Koenig","year":"2009","journal-title":"Can. 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