@article{ref1,
title="Spiritual struggles and interleukin-6: assessing potential benefits and potential risks",
journal="Biodemography and social biology",
year="2017",
author="Krause, Neal and Pargament, Kenneth I. and Ironson, Gail and Hayward, R. David",
volume="63",
number="4",
pages="279-294",
abstract="The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between spiritual struggles and levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) with a subsample (N = 943) of participants who took part in a nationwide survey. This study, which was completed in 2014, was conducted in the United States. Spiritual struggles refer to difficulties that a person may encounter with his or her faith and include having a troubled relationship with God, encountering difficulties with religious others, and being unable to find a sense of ultimate meaning in life. Based on the notion that spiritual struggles may be associated with personal growth as well physical health problems, it was hypothesized that there is a nonlinear relationship between the two: levels of IL-6 will decline at relatively low levels of spiritual struggles, but levels of IL-6 will increase as spiritual struggles become more severe. The findings support this hypothesis and suggest there is a quadratic relationship between spiritual struggles and IL-6. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1948-5565",
doi="10.1080/19485565.2017.1377058",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19485565.2017.1377058"
}