Impact of Religious Practices on Hardiness and Mental Health of Elderly Muslim Subjects

Abstract

The present study examined the impact of regularly performed religious practices on hardiness and mental health of elderly age Muslims. For this purpose a total of 200 old age subjects belonging to Muslim religious community of age ranging from 65 to 75 years were taken for the study. The subjects were consisted of two groups of subjects, who reported to perform the religious prayers (Salah) five times a day (100Ss) and the subjects who were not regular at such religious prayers (100Ss). The Singh Psychological Hardiness Scale constructed by Arun Kumar Singh and Mental Health Checklist, constructed by Pramod Kumar was used for the purpose of measuring variables under study. The Mean and t-test was used for the purposed of statistically analyse the obtained. The results indicate that elderly Muslim subjects, who used to perform prayer (Salah) regularly for five times a day, were significantly more hardy and their psycho-physical health was better than those who do not participate in such prayer (Salah) regularly.