Religiousness and Quality of Life Among Older Adults of Different Ethnic Groups in Malaysia: A Five-Year Follow-up Study

Research has shown that religion is associated with a better quality of life (QoL). This study aims to examine ethnic differences in the association between religion and the QoL of older adults in a predominantly Muslim population within a multicultural setting. Two-wave data of 3,810 participants consisting of mostly Muslims and older adults aged ≥ 55 years were collected as part of the community health surveys conducted in 2013 and 2018 in the South East Asia Community Observatory (SEACO). Both cross-sectional analyses of baseline data and prospective analyses of longitudinal data were conducted. The associations between religiosity and quality of life were mainly positive in the cross-sectional analysis. In the two-wave analysis, religious importance was negatively associated with QoL among the Malays (B = - 1.103, SE B = 0.029, p