Association of afterlife beliefs with mental health and its underlying mechanism of brain in older people

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K18465
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Studies on the Super-Aging Society
• Research Institution: Kurume University
• Principal Investigator: Imamura Yoshiomi 久留米大学, 大学共同利用機関等の部局等, 研究員 (50312153)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 溝口 義人 佐賀大学, 医学部, 准教授 (60467892)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 来世信念 / 愛着 / 線条体 / 宗教行動 / 不安

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Research has shown that religiosity or spirituality has salubrious effects on mental/physical health. We focused on religious beliefs and behaviors and explored their functional aspects regarding attachment and mental health among older people. In parallel, we longitudinally analyzed volumetric brain areas related to afterlife beliefs. We found inverse association between belief in gods and relational anxiety, and negative relationship between afterlife beliefs and 7-year-later volume of right striatum. Taken together, these suggest a biological substrate of beliefs in life after death based on attachment-related neuronal circuits.

Free Research Field

心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

来世信念は来世，霊魂等に対する様々な考えで構成される宗教的信念である．来世信念と，線条体体積あるいは人間関係不安との関連は，来世信念が愛着に使用される脳回路を利用していることを示唆している．来世信念が愛着の回路を介して健康の維持に役立つのなら，我が国の伝統的・宗教的習慣である仏壇，墓参り，あるいは先祖供養等は生物学的に意味があることを，ひいては文化や習慣を伝えていくことの重要性を科学的に補強してくれる．