Relationship between Religious Orientation, Anxiety, and  Depression among College Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Religious obligation helps people to develop mental health by creating internal commitment to special rules. This meta-analysis aimed to determine the relationship between religious orientation and anxiety among college students.

Methods: Major scientific databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, EBSCO, ProQuest and PsycINFO were searched for original research articles published 1987-2016. A random effect model was used to combine Correlation coefficient. All analyses were performed using Stata MP.

Results: After screening of 7235 documents, 13 articles including 5620 participants met inclusion criteria in this meta-analysis. Correlation coefficient was -0.08 (95% CI= -0.19, -0.03) which indicated with increasing religious orientation, anxiety and depression reduced (P<0.001). Characteristics such as sex, geographic region, and type of religions were potential sources of heterogeneity. Based on fill-and-trim method the adjusted pooled r was obtained, -0.06 (95% CI= -0.16, -0.04).

Conclusion: There was a weakness relationship between religious orientation and mental anxiety and depression. Therefore, it needs to improve knowledge of student about advantages of religious orientation.

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Issue	Vol 48 No 1 (2019)
Section	Review Article(s)
DOI	https://doi.org/10.18502/ijph.v48i1.781
Keywords
Religious orientation Anxiety Depression Meta-analysis

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FOROUHARI S, HOSSEINI TESHNIZI S, EHRAMPOUSH MH, MAZLOOMY MAHMOODABAD SS, FALLAHZADEH H, TABEI SZ, NAMI M, MIRZAEI M, NAMAVAR JAHROMI B, HOSSEINI TESHNIZI SM, GHANI DEHKORDI J, KAZEMITABAEE M. Relationship between Religious Orientation, Anxiety, and Depression among College Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Iran J Public Health. 2019;48(1):43-52.

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