Religion as a Resource? Unpacking the Longitudinal Dynamics Between Religiosity and Mental Health in sub-Saharan Africa

Religion as a Resource? Unpacking the Longitudinal Dynamics Between Religiosity and Mental Health in sub-Saharan Africa | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Religion as a Resource? Unpacking the Longitudinal Dynamics Between Religiosity and Mental Health in sub-Saharan Africa Daniel Hofmann This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6367036/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Most evidence on religiosity and mental health comes from the relatively unreligious West, often showing negligible protective effects. However, the importance of religion throughout human history suggests both societal and individual benefits. In a three-year longitudinal study in sub-Saharan Africa, we examined how religiosity influences mental health between and within individuals. Overall, people with higher religiosity reported greater life satisfaction and lower substance abuse, but showed no difference in internalizing symptoms (anxiety, depression, trauma sequelae). When individuals became more religious over time, mental health improved: stronger religious beliefs led to enhanced life satisfaction, and participation in religious activities alleviated internalizing symptoms. These findings show that religiosity can serve as a resource for mental health in highly religious contexts, in contrast to minimal longitudinal benefits on wellbeing in the West. An exploratory finding was that increases in life satisfaction led to decreases in religiosity, suggesting a possible mechanism of religious disengagement. Social science/Psychology/Human behaviour Social science/Cultural and media studies Humanities/Religion Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files RaaRSSASupplement17444795132.pdf Supplementary Information File #1 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6367036","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":441686691,"identity":"2afeeda5-0167-49c9-bfda-620661355c25","order_by":0,"name":"Daniel Hofmann","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"University of Zurich","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Daniel","middleName":"","lastName":"Hofmann","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-04-03 07:50:55","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6367036/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6367036/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":83431639,"identity":"f07bbaf7-b0d0-4a27-bed1-38151bf36c75","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-26 07:15:14","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":579324,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File #1","description":"","filename":"RaaRSSA17444795131.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6367036/v1_covered_bca7c75a-10e5-45d6-a9c2-8d8f7095a380.pdf"},{"id":80687552,"identity":"c0a1b4fb-083d-4da7-9ba8-e1a5b573e407","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-04-16 04:09:33","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":2212486,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSupplementary Information File #1\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"RaaRSSASupplement17444795132.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6367036/v1/1e5c3c2b55e3b312f4111a49.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Religion as a Resource? 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