Religion in the Lives of African Americans Social, Psychological, and Health Perspectives

Linda M. Chatters, Ph.D. holds a joint position as Associate Professor in the Department of Health Behavior & Health Education at the School of Public Health and the School of Social Work. She is also a Faculty Associate with the Program for Research on Black Americans, Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. The major focus of Dr. Chatters' research is the study of adult development and aging as it relates to the mental and physical health status and social functioning of older persons in a variety of social contexts (i.e., the family, church, and community). A particular emphasis of this work has been the investigation of various dimensions of religious involvement…  More among the African American population. She is also interested in assessing the independent contributions of relevant religious, personal, and social status factors on well-being among elderly and non-elderly populations. She is Principal Investigator for the National Institute on Aging grant, "Church-based Assistance and Older Blacks." Dr. Chatters is the author of "Religion and health: Public health research and practice" which appeared in the Annual Review of Public Health (2000).  Less

Jeff Levin, Ph.D., M.P.H., an epidemiologist and former medical school professor, is the pioneering scientist whose research beginning in the 1980s helped to create the field of religion and health. He left a successful academic career in 1997 to devote his full-time efforts to writing, research, and consulting. He was the first scientist to systematically review and critique the empirical literature on the health effects of religious involvement. His research has been funded by several NIH grants, and he also has received funding from private sources, including the American Medical Association and the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Dr. Levin has served as chairman of the NIH Working Group…  More on Quantitative Methods in Alternative Medicine, as president of the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine, and as an editorial board member of several peer-reviewed journals, including the "Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences", "The Gerontologist", "Journal of Religious" "Gerontology", and "Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine". He has authored over 130 scholarly publications, and over 120 conference presentations and invited lectures and addresses, mostly on the role of religion in physical and mental health and aging. He has published four other books: "God, Faith, and Health: Exploring the Spirituality-Healing Connection", "Religion in Aging and Health: Theoretical Foundations and Methodological Frontiers", "Faith Matters: A Festschrift in Honor of Dr. David B. Larson", and "Essentials of Complementary and Alternative Medicine". He is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and lives in rural Kansas.  Less