Religiosity and Physical Health of Middle-Old Aged African Americans: The Linking Role of Self-Control.

Objective: This study examined a psychological process (i.e., sense of control) that links religiosity to self-reported physical health in older African Americans. Methods: Two waves of data from 231 middle-old aged African Americans (AAs) were used to test two specific hypotheses: (a) religiosity influences changes in sense of control middle-old aged AAs, and (b) sense of control influences changes in global physical health in middle-old aged AAs. The analysis used two modeling approaches: (a) an autoregressive cross-lagged modeland (b) a parallel growth/change model. Results: The results of both types of models showed that religiosity positively influenced changes in sense of control and that sense of control positively influenced changes in physical health in middle-old aged AAs over time. Discussion: These findings provide evidence that sense of control links religiosity to physical health in older African Americans. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.