Aim of the current study is to examine whether previous depressive symptoms modify possible effects of religiousness on mood in the last week of life. After-death interviews with proxy respondents of deceased sample members of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam provided information on depressed mood in the last week of life, as well as on the presence of a sense of peace with the approaching end of life. Other characteristics were derived from interviews with the sample members when still alive. Significant interactions were identified between measures of religiousness and previous depressive symptoms (CES-D scores) in their associations with mood in the last week of life. Among those with previous depressive symptoms, church-membership, church-attendance and salience of religion were associated with a greater likelihood of depressed mood in the last week of life. Among those without previous depressive symptoms, church-attendance and salience of religion were associated with a higher likelihood of a sense of peace. For older adults in the last phase of life, supportive effects of religiousness were more or less expected. Fore those with recent depressive symptoms, however, religiousness might involve a component of existential doubt. 1. Introduction One important aspect of religion is how it may guide people through questions about the end of life. For some religious believers, it is clear that death only implies a transition. Others are less convinced, and may doubt about the existence of a transition, or about the conclusion of a judgement on their moral behaviour. In a previous study, we focused on the role of religiousness with respect to aspects of mood in the last week of life, as observed in a sample of older adults in The Netherlands [1]. Several aspects of religiousness were included, but none of them was associated with depressed mood in the last week of life, as reported by surviving relatives. Nonetheless, church attendance earlier in life predicted a “sense of peace” with the approaching end of life. Therefore, only modest support was found for the adaptive potential of religion in the last week of life. A possibly maladaptive aspect was not identified in this first report. Furthermore—although the analyses were adjusted for effects of previous depressive symptoms—the first study did not focus on those who were prone to depression during their lifetime. The Netherlands represents a highly secularized country, but the older generation has still grown up in a society in which religious traditions had a prominent role, and many older
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