The document analyzes survey data from 56 societies to test relationships between religiosity, attitudes toward science and technology, news use, and subjective health status. It finds: 1) Religiosity has no relationship with attitudes toward science and technology but has a substantial positive relationship with subjective health status. 2) There is a moderate negative relationship between news use and religiosity, suggesting those with higher religiosity consume less news.

1. Conflict Thesis or the Reverse?
Testing the Relationships among Religiosity, Attitudes toward Science and
Technology, News Use, and Subjective Health Status among 56 Societies
Qingjiang (Q. J.) Yao, Department of Communication Studies, Fort Hays State University
Results
Discussion
A harmlessly coexistence pattern has been established between
religions and science across societies. Probably the optimism going
with religiosity enhances subjective health status. Religiosity
decreases news use may be because selective exposures.
RQs
RQ1: Does religiosity have a positive or a negative
relationship with attitudes toward science and
technology?
RQ2: Does religiosity have a positive or a negative
relationship with health status?
RQ3: Does news use have positive or negative
relationships with religiosity, attitudes toward science &
technology, and health status?
Method
Data:
From the fifth wave of the World Values Survey,
conducted in 2005-2008 across 56 societies.
Measures:
Religiosity. Seven questions asking how important
religion and god was to respondents and their children
and how often they attended religion services.
News use. Four questions asking if respondents used
newspaper, news and in-depth reports on television or
radio, and magazines in the last week.
Confidence in the press.
Three variables regarding attitudes toward science
and technology.
Subjective health status (SHS). Asking respondents
how they feel about their health status.
Unit of Analysis:
Society. This way, one society or the sample size has
little influence on the analyses.
Variables
RQ1 RQ2 RQ3
Trust in
S&T
Support-
ing Sci
Support-
ing Tech
SHS Confidence
in Press
News
Use
Trust in S&T —— .33c .34c ———— ———
Supporting
Sci
.31c ——— ———— ———
Supporting
Tech
.33c ——— -.28 ———— ———
Religiosity .52b -.36b
News use -.28 -.32c -.48a ———
Confidence
in Press
.25 .38c ———— -.25c
GDP PC PPP .73a .40b
R2 .39 .25 .30 .43 .23 .63
Note. Entries are βs. —— represents that the variable is not in the
model. Empty cells means that the variable is originally in the mode
but was dropped in the backward regression process. a means p ≤ .001;
b means p ≤ .01; c means p ≤ .05.
Summary:
RQ1: No relationship. RQ2: A substantial positive relationship. RQ3:
A moderate negative relationship between news use and religiosity.
Introduction
The relationship between science
and religion is an ancient and
persistent debate. Some people
believe that some religion
movements, such as the intelligent
design, are essentially anti-science
and impeding medical treatments.
Other scholars argue that religion
boosts science and helps answer the
questions beyond science. About
79% Americans believe religiosity
helps health and 70% US medical
schools provide courses on religion,
spirituality, and medicine.
The scientists and health
professionals use news media to
promote public awareness. The
public also uses them as a major
source. Religiosity, nevertheless, may
decrease news media use.