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Research on Aging, Vol. 27, No. 4, 420-446 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0164027505276315

"Your Body Is God’s Temple"

The Spiritualization of Health Beliefs in Multigenerational African American Families

Sharon V. King

Georgia State University

Elisabeth O. Burgess

Georgia State University

Makungu Akinyela

Georgia State University

Margaret Counts-Spriggs

Clark Atlanta University

Nesonya Parker

Georgia State University

This qualitative study of 17 coresident, three-generation African American families provides a generational- and family-level comparison of religion and health beliefs. Four themes emerged from the generational analysis: divine healing, divine healing through doctors, divine healing through health or religious behavior modification, and acceptance of health outcomes. Three categories of religion and health beliefs—coping, behavior-focused, and multidimensional—emerged from the family-level analysis. A grounded theory analysis of the emergent themes suggests that the families affirm God’s sovereignty over their health by spiritualizing, rather than medicalizing, their health beliefs. The families also function as a health maintenance system, transmitting faith-based health beliefs and modeling health behaviors across generations. The findings have implications for the further study of the family context of religion and health among African Americans and the need for a faith-based, family-oriented approach to health disparities interventions.

Key Words: religion • health • African American families • multigenerational


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