Let Go and Let God: A Study of Religiosity and Depressive Symptoms in the Black Church.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between dimensions of religiosity (organizational, non-organizational, subjective) and depressive symptoms in the Black church. Surveys were administered to attendees of four churches in the northeastern U.S. The Multidimensional Measure of Religious Involvement for African Americans examined religiosity and the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 items assessed depressive symptoms. Logistic regression analysis was employed to examine the relationship between religiosity and depressive symptoms adjusting for potentially influential covariates. Participants reporting high organizational religiosity were significantly more likely to report non-significant depressive symptoms (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.80, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.05, 3.08) in comparison with those reporting low organizational religiosity, when controlling for potentially influential covariates. Our findings suggest that organizational religiosity may be protective against depression. These findings inform the development of initiatives seeking to reduce the burden of depression in the Black church.