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Denne artikel er en sekundær analyse og diskussion af to forskningsprojekter, som søgte at udforske eksistentielle karakteristika ved henholdsvis livets begyndelse (blandt nybagte mødre) og livets afslutning (blandt døende og deres pårørende). På baggrund af empiri genereret via forskellige forskningsmetoder diskuteres resultaterne i lyset af en fællesteoretisk forståelse af sekulære, religiøse og spirituelle aspekter i menneskelivet. I artiklen fokuserer vi i særlig grad på, hvordan det at blive mor kan aktualisere eksistentielle overvejelser og hvordan resonansen til samme aktualisering i forbindelse med døden, kan informere sundhedsvæsenets svangreomsorg. Med begrundelse i to sammenfattende argumenter, det eksistentielle/åndelige og det sundhedsfaglige, argumenterer vi for, at eksistentiel og åndelig omsorg potentielt kan være relevant ved livets begyndelse på samme vis som ved livets afslutning.

Denne artikel er en sekundær analyse og diskussion af to forskningsprojekter, som søgte at udforske eksistentielle karakteristika ved henholdsvis livets begyndelse (blandt nybagte mødre) og livets afslutning (blandt døende og deres pårørende). På baggrund af empiri genereret via forskellige forskningsmetoder diskuteres resultaterne i lyset af en fællesteoretisk forståelse af sekulære, religiøse og spirituelle aspekter i menneskelivet. I artiklen fokuserer vi i særlig grad på, hvordan det at blive mor kan aktualisere eksistentielle overvejelser og hvordan resonansen til samme aktualisering i forbindelse med døden, kan informere sundhedsvæsenets svangreomsorg. Med begrundelse i to sammenfattende argumenter, det eksistentielle/åndelige og det sundhedsfaglige, argumenterer vi for, at eksistentiel og åndelig omsorg potentielt kan være relevant ved livets begyndelse på samme vis som ved livets afslutning.

It is well known that human behavior and individual psychological traits are moderately to substantially heritable. Over the past decade, an increasing number of studies have explored the genetic and environmental influence on religiousness. These studies originate predominantly from countries generally considered more religious than the very secular northern European countries. Comparisons of the results are complicated by diverse definitions of religiousness, but several studies indicate that the influence of the family environment is most predominant in early life, whereas genetic influences increase with age. We performed a population-based twin study of religiousness in a secular society using data from a Web-based survey sent to 6,707 Danish twins born 1970–1989, who were identified in the Danish Twin Registry. We applied Fishman's three conceptual dimensions of religiousness: cognition, practice, and importance. In all polygenic models and biometric analyses, we controlled for gender and age. The study sample comprised 2,237 same sex twins, a response rate of 45%. We found high correlations within both monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs in most items of religiousness, indicating a large influence from shared environmental factors. Personal religiousness such as praying to God, believing in God, and finding strength and comfort in religion were more influenced by genetic factors than were social forms of religiousness such as church attendance. We found a small tendency for increasing genetic influence with increasing age for some religious items, but not for all.

Sex differences in religion are well known, with females generally being more religious than males, and shared environmental factors have been suggested to have a large influence on religiousness. Twins from opposite-sex (OS) and same-sex (SS) pairs may differ because of a dissimilar psycho-social rearing environment and/or because of different exposures to hormones in utero. We hypothesized that OS females may display more masculine patterns of religiousness and, vice versa, that OS males may display more feminine patterns. We used a web-based survey conducted in Denmark, which is a secular society. The survey included 2,997 twins aged 20–40 years, identified through the population-based Danish Twin Registry. We applied la Cour and Hvidt's adaptation of Fishman's three conceptual dimensions of meaning: Cognition, Practice, and Importance, and we used Pargament's measure of religious coping (RCOPE) for the assessment of positive and negative religious coping patterns. Differences between OS and SS twins were investigated using logistic regression for each sex. The analyses were adjusted for dependence within twin pairs. No significant differences in religiousness and religious coping were found for OS and SS twins except that more OS than SS females were members of the Danish National Evangelical Lutheran Church and fewer OS than SS females were Catholic, Muslim, or belonged to other religious denominations. Moreover, OS males at age 12 had higher rates of church attendance than did SS males. This study did not provide evidence for masculinization of female twins with male co-twins with regard to religiousness. Nor did it show any significant differences between OS and SS males except from higher rates of church attendance in childhood among males with female co-twins.