Joanna Maselko

Joanna Maselko (Public Health), a social and psychiatric epidemiologist who researches the socioeconomic determinants of mental health in the global context, and the relationship between religious engagement/spirituality and health, recently received a grant from the John Templeton Foundation for the project, “Stress, Violence and Spiritual Capital" and a grant from the National Institutes of Health. Maselko has done interesting work on the relationship between religious belief and mental health. There seems to be some kind of correlation between belief and sanity, but Maselko is quick to point out that one can't infer a causal relationship. A factor in her work is that it is meta-research: she is not gathering new data, but rather using longitudinal data, of which the collection began 40 years ago, and for a very different purpose. Hers is the first longitudinal study of religion and mental health. Some of work centers on the sociological concept of "social capital" and its relation to mental health. This work is funded by the Templeton Foundation, which she reports makes her work somewhat suspect to some scientists. She feels that this source of funding is accepted without prejudice at Temple; this open-mindedness is one reason that she came to Temple, when she might have gone to a school that has a college of public health.



Currently, Dr. Maselko is conducting research on the social determinants of mental health in international settings. Of particular interest is the link between economic development and mental health in developing countries, especially in South Asia. Economic development is often associated with changes that impact family and social networks and supports, which might have adverse effects on mental health. On the other hand, increased economic opportunities are associated with improved health and well-being and Dr. Maselko hopes to elucidate the aspects of economic and social development that are salient to health. She has conducted research on women’s empowerment in Bangladesh, socioeconomic disadvantage and suicide in Goa, India, and is currently conducting a study exploring the connections between negative life events, debt, spiritual coping and mental health in Karnataka, India.



Dr. Maselko also conducts studies on the role of individual’s changing levels of religious engagement over the lifecourse in the development of psychopathology. She is especially interested in how gender and socioeconomic status impacts the relationship between religious engagement/spirituality and health, with a special focus on diverse religious environments. For example, findings from this line of research suggest that denominational differences in the strength of the association between religious engagement and psychological health between men and women. Ongoing projects explore the role of religious institutions in shaping the religion-health connection.



Women who stop being religiously active are three times more likely to suffer generalized anxiety disorder than women who have always been religiously active, researchers report.



"One's lifetime pattern of religious service attendance can be related to psychiatric illness," she said. Maselko and her team analyzed data from 718 adults who shared details of their religious activity in youth and adulthood. They found that a majority of the respondents changed their level of religious activity between childhood and adulthood. The data is published in the January issue of Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.



According to Maselko, the gender differences in the relationship between religious participation and mental health may be tied to social networks. Women are more likely to build them through their religious activities, and then to feel the loss of those networks when they stop attending church, she explained.



Slightly more than one-third of the women reported always being religiously active. Half said they had not been active since childhood. About 7 percent of the women who were always religiously active could be categorized as having generalized anxiety disorder, compared with 21 percent of those who had ended their religious activities.



People with generalized anxiety disorder experience worries and concerns out of proportion to their daily lives, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. The disorder is diagnosed if the worries do not abate after six months. About 6.8 million Americans suffer from the disorder, which can seriously interfere with sleep and relaxation. Women are two times more likely to suffer from anxiety disorder than men.



"Everyone has some spirituality, whether it is an active part of their life or not; whether they are agnostic or atheist or just 'non-practicing.' These choices potentially have health implications, similar to the way that one's social networks do," Maselko said.