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Assessment of Religious and Spiritual Capital in African American Communities

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Abstract

African American faith communities are an important source of social capital. The present study adapted a theory-based social capital instrument to result in religious (e.g., from organized worship) and spiritual (e.g., from relationship with higher power) capital measures. Data from a national sample of 803 African Americans suggest the instruments have high internal reliability and are distinct from general religiosity. Measurement models confirmed factor structures. Religious capital was positively associated with self-rated health status. Religious and spiritual capital were negatively associated with depressive symptoms, but these associations largely became nonsignificant in multivariate models that controlled for demographic characteristics. An exception is for spiritual capital in the form of community participation, which retained a negative association with depressive symptoms. These instruments may have applied value for health promotion research and practice in African American communities.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the Duke University Center for Spirituality, Theology, and Health, through the John Templeton Foundation (#11993) and was approved by the University of Maryland Institutional Review Board (#08-0329). The team would like to acknowledge the work of OpinionAmerica, who conducted participant recruitment and data collection activities for the present study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Behavioral and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, 2369 School of Public Health (Building 255), College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Cheryl L. Holt & Min Qi Wang

  2. Department of Occupational Therapy, Arizona School of Health Sciences, Mesa, AZ, USA

    Emily Schulz

  3. Division of Gerontology/Geriatrics/Palliative Care, Department of Medicine, Birmingham VA Medical Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Beverly Williams

  4. Department of Psychology, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Eddie M. Clark

  5. Division of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Penny L. Southward

Authors
  1. Cheryl L. Holt
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  2. Emily Schulz
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  3. Beverly Williams
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  4. Eddie M. Clark
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  5. Min Qi Wang
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  6. Penny L. Southward
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Correspondence to Cheryl L. Holt.

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Holt, C.L., Schulz, E., Williams, B. et al. Assessment of Religious and Spiritual Capital in African American Communities. J Relig Health 51, 1061–1074 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-012-9635-4

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