生命壓力事件與個人宗教性之關係的探討

Stressful Life Events and Religiosity: Evidence from Religious Experience Survey in Taiwan

個人在面臨生命的重大壓力事件時，常常會借由宗教的力量，或是經由宗教的管道進行療傷止痛。本研究利用009年「臺灣地區宗教經驗調查」資料中，探討在不同人生發展階段中，不同類型之生命壓力事件是否會影響個人的宗教性。本研究將臺灣地區經歷過重大生命壓力事件之類型分為「父母分居或離婚」、「父或母去世」、「父或母罹患精神病」、「父或母有酗酒習慣」、「自己生重病或受重傷」、「兄弟姊妹去世」及「經濟變故」七類。另將人生發展階段分為「國小以前」、「國小時期」、「國中時期」、「高中以前」及「高中以後」。個人宗教性的指標則為個人是否有宗教信仰，參拜或祈禱頻率，以及宗教信仰重要性程度等三項。各項迴歸分析的結果顯示，臺灣民眾在「高中以後」經歷「父或母去世」的經驗，對個人宗教的歸屬、宗教信仰的重要程度與從事宗教行為的頻率等宗教性指標有顯著的正向影響。

Religion can play an important role in the coping process of individuals when facing stressful events in life. The present research uses data collected by the Religious Experience Survey in Taiwan in 2009 to investigate the relationship between stressful life events (SLEs), which happened during different stages of the life course, and the development of individual religiosity. We consider 7 types of SLEs, including parents' divorce or separation, death of one or both parents, one or both parents suffering from mental illness, one or both parents being alcoholic, being seriously ill or injured, death of a sibling, and financial ruin.There are 5 stages of the life course which SLEs happened: before primary school, during primary school, during junior high, during senior high, and after senior high. The dependent variables are three variables related to individual's religiosity. They are the presence of religious belief, the frequency of worshiping or praying, and the importance of religious belief. Using various kinds of regression analysis, the present study finds that Taiwanese people who experienced the death of parent (s) in their adulthood would have higher religiosity than those who did not.