Exploring the association between religious participation and memory in middle- and older-aged adults in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

To investigate the association between religious participation and memory in persons aged 45–85 years. Using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, frequency of religious participation was measured from "daily" to "never"; immediate and delayed recall memory were assessed with the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. We regressed memory onto religious participation for persons aged < 65 years and persons aged ≥ 65 years. We found some evidence of effect modification: among persons < 65 years, monthly to yearly participation versus never attending was positively associated with immediate and delayed recall memory; among persons aged ≥ 65 years, weekly or more participation versus never attending was negatively associated with immediate and delayed recall memory. However, regression coefficients were small (−0.09 ≤ B ≤ 0.06) and most were not statistically significant (p < 0.05). Insufficient evidence existed to conclude that religious participation was associated with memory in our sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]