Search

Beliefs in supernatural evils are prevalent among many religions. Prior research has shown that beliefs in supernatural evils were tied to various social and health outcomes. However, much less is known about the political implications of beliefs in supernatural evils. To fill this research void, a national survey of 1,092 adults with oversamples of respondents of Asian or Hispanic heritage was conducted in March 2023. The findings suggest that a stronger belief in demons or evil spirits was associated with more negative views toward President Joe Biden. This demonic effect was robust even after controlling for a variety of religious and sociodemographic variables. Besides being robust, the demonic effect was the strongest among all religiosity measures. In contrast, a main relationship between a stronger belief in demons and greater support for Donald Trump was found. However, this demonic effect was explained by Christian nationalism. Finally, these demonic effects vary based on one's political party identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The FK506 Binding Protein (FKBP), ubiquitously present across diverse species, is characterized by its evolutionarily conserved FK506 binding domain (FKBd). In plants, evidence suggests that this gene family plays integral roles in regulating growth, development, and responses to environmental stresses. Notably, research on the identification and functionality of FKBP genes in rice remains limited. Therefore, this study utilized bioinformatic tools to identify 30 FKBP-encoding genes in rice. It provides a detailed analysis of their chromosomal locations, evolutionary relationships with the Arabidopsis thaliana FKBP family, and gene structures. Further analysis of the promoter elements of these rice FKBP genes revealed a high presence of stress-responsive elements. Quantitative PCR assays under drought and heat stress conditions demonstrated that genes OsFKBP15-2, OsFKBP15-3, OsFKBP16-3, OsFKBP18, and OsFKBP42b are inducible by these adverse conditions. These findings suggest a significant role for the rice FKBP gene family in stress adaptation. This research establishes a critical foundation for deeper explorations of the functional roles of the OsFKBP genes in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research suggests that racism is associated with adverse mental health outcomes for Asians in the United States. Relatively less research has been conducted to examine the effects of racism on physical health, particularly the changes in physical health among Asians and Asian Americans. This study aims to fill in this gap in prior research. Survey was conducted via Qualtrics in March 2023. A panel sample of 356 Asian and Asian American adults from across the US was collected. Ordinary Least Squares Regression was employed to examine the interrelationships among racism, religion, and perceived changes in physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Contrary to conventional wisdom, more frequent experience with blatant racism was associated with a perceived improvement in physical health after controlling for subtle racism, anxiety, acculturation, and various sociodemographic variables. Interestingly, this robust relationship was more significant among Asians who attended religious services more frequently. Additional three-way interactions revealed that the interaction between blatant racism and religious service attendance on perceived changes in physical health was more significant for US-born Asians and Asians of Indian or Japanese ethnicity. Racism exerts a significant influence on physical health outcomes among Asians and Asian Americans. However, this relationship was contingent upon the specific aspect of racism and intersected with religiosity, acculturation, and ethnic identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research found that Christian nationalism, a belief that integrates Christian identity with American national identity, was associated with more negative views toward marginalized groups, such as religious minorities. Relatively less known is the relationship between Christian nationalism and attitudes toward atheists. Specifically, even less is known about whether or not Christian nationalism that is above individuals at the macro, geographic level may influence individual views of atheists. Using nationally representative multilevel data, this study found that higher individual Christian nationalism was associated with more negative views toward atheists. No robust state‐level Christian nationalism influence was found for anti‐atheist attitude. However, Blacks, relative to Whites, were less likely to view atheists negatively in states where Christian nationalism was higher. Meanwhile, in states where Christian nationalism was higher, Black Protestants were less prejudiced against atheists compared to Evangelical Protestants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different religions may have different cultural values toward volunteering in the wider community. Although prior research has examined how individual religious characteristics may influence volunteering, comparatively less is known about how different religious contexts in which one is embedded may bring about variations in volunteering. To fill in this gap, this study applied multilevel analyses to merged data from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR), the U.S. Census, and the Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS). Results suggest that a county's Catholic population share was positively associated with the frequency of youth volunteering even after controlling for a wide range of individual and county-level variables. Surprisingly, an increasing county-level Catholic population share may even strengthen the positive effect of parental volunteering influence on youth volunteering. In contrast, the county-level evangelical Protestant population share bear a negative relationship with youth volunteering frequency, which was mediated by county-level socioeconomic controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salinity is a major abiotic stress that harms rice growth and productivity. Low phosphate roots (LPRs) play a central role in Pi deficiency-mediated inhibition of primary root growth and have ferroxidase activity. However, the function of LPRs in salt stress response and tolerance in plants remains largely unknown. Here, we reported that the OsLPR5 was induced by NaCl stress and positively regulates the tolerance to salt stress in rice. Under NaCl stress, overexpression of OsLPR5 led to increased ferroxidase activity, more green leaves, higher levels of chlorophyll and lower MDA contents compared with the WT. In addition, OsLPR5 could promote the accumulation of cell osmotic adjustment substances and promote ROS-scavenging enzyme activities. Conversely, the mutant lpr5 had a lower ferroxidase activity and suffered severe damage under salt stress. Moreover, knock out of OsLPR5 caused excessive Na+ levels and Na+/K+ ratios. Taken together, our results exemplify a new molecular link between ferroxidase and salt stress tolerance in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite long being the target of racism, Asians and Asian Americans remain an understudied group regarding the mental health implications of racism. Even less is known about how Asians and Asian Americans may use religion to cope with racism and the resulting mental health implications. In this study, 330 Asian and Asian American adults from various regions of the USA were surveyed. The study results suggest that negative religious coping was associated with worsening depression, anxiety, and stress, particularly among Asian Indians, Asian Hindus, and Asian Muslims. In addition, negative religious coping may have exacerbated the deleterious effects of racism on mental health. Surprisingly, positive religious coping failed to provide any protection against racism-related mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While prior research has revealed a dynamic relationship between individual religiosity and punitiveness, much less is known about how religious context might affect attitudes toward punitiveness. In addition, even less is known about how religion, individual or contextual, might shape public attitudes toward an important aspect of punitiveness—police use of force, an issue that has evoked large-scale social movements in recent years. Purpose: The present research aims to fill in the gap from prior research by examining the relationship between religious context and attitudes toward police use of force. Particularly, this study intends to investigate whether said relationship varies by race. Methods: In this study, individual-level data from the General Social Survey (GSS) 2000–2018 were merged with contextual-level data from the U.S. Census 2000 and the Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS) 2000 enabling a multilevel analysis of the religious effects on attitudes toward police use of force. Results: Study results suggest that higher county-level Catholic population share was associated with less support for police use of force. In contrast, when county-level evangelical Protestant population share rose, residents, including Blacks, became more supportive of police use of force. However, the evangelical Protestant contextual effect was stronger for Whites than Blacks, and this White-Black difference grew when county-level evangelical Protestant population share increased. Conclusions and Implications: The findings suggest that religious effects on attitudes toward punitiveness are multilevel. Religious context exerts independent and divergent influences on one's perceptions of police use of force above and beyond important individual characteristics. Therefore, religious contextual characteristics may need to be considered in the ongoing debate on police brutality and reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While prior research has examined the relationship between personal religiosity and porn viewing, little do we know about the overall religious context and its influence on porn viewing. Using two waves of data from the National Study of Youth and Religion merged with county-level U.S. Census and religious data, this study finds that the higher the county-level conservative Protestant population share, the higher the chances of porn viewing during adolescence. This relationship remains robust even after controlling for a host of individual, peer, family, and county-level variables. Further analyses reveal that within a conservative Protestant religious context, non-conservative Protestant youth are more likely to view porn than their conservative Protestant peers, the gap of which widens when county-level conservative Protestant population share increases. A similar yet stronger religious contextual effect is found for county-level total religious adherence rates: a one unit increase in county-level total religious adherence rates is associated with an increase in the odds of porn viewing by 66.53%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research on the effect of religion on prejudicial attitudes against sexual minorities has looked into how religion may influence public attitudes towards homosexual behaviours, gay marriage, and same-sex adoption. However, less is known about how religion may influence employment discrimination against gays in the education industry where prejudice and discrimination against gays frequently occur. Using the 1993–2018 cumulative General Social Survey data merged with county and state-level demographic and religious data of the United States, this study finds that individuals are more likely to favour banning homosexual men from teaching in college when county-level evangelical Protestant homogeneity increases. By contrast, when a county has a higher concentration of Catholics, individuals are less likely to endorse such discriminatory action, regardless of their own individual religious affiliation. This study contributes to a growing trend of research examining religious moral communities beyond its most general form – the overall church membership rates. Instead, as the results suggest, religious moral communities are multi-dimensional and the extent to which a religion dominates a geographic area may have a broad social impact on the whole community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can the religious values of an entire geographic area affect the BMI of people living in that same area, even people with different religious values? Although prior research has demonstrated that individual religious characteristics are associated with individual BMI, less is known about how the overall religious context influences BMI. Using multilevel analyses on two waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion merged with county-level variables, this study finds that a county's higher Catholic population share is associated with lower individual BMI even after controlling for various individual and county-level variables. Surprisingly, this Catholic contextual effect on BMI applies to almost everyone living in a predominantly Catholic county regardless of individual Catholic identity and residential movement across counties. In contrast, county-level conservative Protestant population share is linked with higher BMI. However, this conservative Protestant contextual effect is explained by county-level socioeconomic variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to individual‐level research on religion and marijuana use, much less research has been conducted to investigate how the overall religious context of a geographic location may influence marijuana use during adolescence and early adulthood. Using multilevel analyses on two waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) merged with county‐level variables from the U.S. Census and the Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS), this study finds that a county's higher Catholic population share is negatively associated with underage marijuana use frequency even after controlling for a wide range of individual and county‐level variables. Besides being robust, the Catholic contextual effect on marijuana use is also diffusive, influencing both Catholic and non‐Catholic youth who live in the same county. This study highlights the importance of viewing religious influence on substance use as a contextual, cultural force across different kinds of religious moral communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can the religious values of an entire geographic area affect the self-efficacy of emerging adults living in that area? Although prior research has demonstrated that individual religious characteristics are associated with self-efficacy, less is known about how the overall religious context influences self-efficacy. Using multilevel analyses on two waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) merged with county-level variables, this study finds that a county's higher conservative Protestant population share is associated with lower self-efficacy even after controlling for various variables. Surprisingly, this conservative Protestant contextual effect also applies to residents who are not conservative Protestants but live in a conservative Protestant county. In contrast, county-level Catholic population share is linked with higher self-efficacy. However, this Catholic contextual effect is explained when controlling for county-level variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has demonstrated that individual religious beliefs and practices are associated with educational outcomes. However, less is known about the manner in which the overall religious cultural influence of a religion can affect an individual's educational aspirations. Using multilevel analyses on two waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) merged with county-level variables from the US Census, and the Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS), the study shows that a county's higher Jewish population share is associated with a higher level of educational aspirations for the youth, regardless of being Jewish or not. This Jewish contextual effect remains robust even after controlling a wide range of individual and county-level variables, such as individual academic achievement and religious identity. Consistent with the relevant theory and literature, the negative main effect of county-level conservative Protestant population share on educational aspirations is explained by county-level socioeconomic characteristics. The same mechanism is used in part to explain the initially positive relationship between Catholic population share and educational aspirations. Finally, the study highlights the importance of using a multilevel approach to examine and provide understanding of the relationship between religious influence and educational outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has demonstrated that individual religious beliefs and practices may reduce the likelihood of underage alcohol consumption, but less is known about how the overall religious cultural influence of a religion may influence individual alcohol consumption behaviors. Using multilevel analyses on two waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion merged with county-level variables from the U.S. Census and the Religious Congregations and Membership Study, we find that a county’s higher Catholic population share leads to more frequent underage drunkenness even after controlling for a wide range of individual and county-level variables. Contrary to other studies’ findings discovered at individual level, a greater population share of conservative Protestants is also linked with higher level of underage drunkenness. This study highlights the importance of viewing religious influence on health behaviors as a contextual, cultural force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many religious traditions include a belief in the reality of demonic beings and evil powers. Previous research demonstrates that comforting beliefs, such as believing in an afterlife, can benefit mental health, but less is known about the potentially negative mental health effects of belief in evil supernatural powers. In cross-sectional analyses, we find that among young adults, believing in demons is one of the strongest (negative) predictors of mental health. More importantly, using three waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion and a cross-lagged structural equation model, we find that belief in demons can lead to lowered mental health in later waves but low mental health does not lead to greater belief in demons. In fact, when predicting changes in mental health from wave 2 to wave 3 of the study, the negative effect size of belief in demons on mental health is larger in magnitude than all other religion-related predictors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]