The effects of participation in Christian religious activities on the satisfaction with life of older adults: the mediating effects of depressive symptoms

This study aimed to clarify the effects of Christian religious activities on depressive symptoms and life satisfaction among older adults by analysing longitudinal data. Causal relationships between the variables were assessed using autoregressive cross-lagged model analysis. First, autoregressive coefficients were examined for church participation, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction. Second, the cross-lagged coefficients revealed that participation in church activities later had a significant effect on depressive symptoms. In addition, depressive symptoms had a significant effect on life satisfaction. Depressive symptoms had a significant effect on life satisfaction. Third, the results indicated that participation in church activities during the fifth period significantly affected life satisfaction during the seventh period through depressive symptoms during the sixth period. This pathway suggests that depressive symptoms mediates the relationship between older adults’ church participation and life satisfaction longitudinally (i.e., older adults’ church participation reduces their depressive symptoms, and reduced depressive symptoms increases their life satisfaction).