This paper was published by MICARE’s associate researcher and UC academic, María Beatriz Fernández.

Its purpose is to establish the association between different dimensions of religiosity (organizational, non-organizational, and intrinsic) and indicators of physical and functional health in older people in Chile.

Main results

• Almost a third of older Chileans attend religious services frequently, and half of them pray frequently.
• 46% perceive their health to be good/very good and about half perceive their health to be better than their peers.
• The only significant relationship observed was between religious attendance and a lower probability of presenting functional dependency.

Conclusion

Organizational religiosity is a psychosocial resource that is positively associated with the process of successful ageing.