SYG-1000 Lecture 35: syg lec 35
Religion
Subjective perception of well-being & Quality of Life:
Subjective perception of well-being & quality of life
Most studies find a substantial and positive association between religious involvement & well-
being
2-6% of the variation in subjective well-being can be ascribed to religious involvement.
When it comes to personal feeling of well-being and quality of life, religious involvement has
less of an effect than health & loneliness, but more effect than that of education, marital status,
social activity, age, gender, race.
Methodological Problems in Previous Studies Reporting Positive Association b/w Religious
Involvement & Sense of Well-Being:
Self-selection bias
The need to determine whether religious and secular social resources have the same effect or
whether religion-based social networks provide something unique
The question of mechanism
Lim & Putnam: Findings
Eept fo other non-Christian traditions, all traditions show a higher level of life-satisfaction
tha does o eligio
Religious service attendance is positively correlated to life satisfaction
Most importantly, once attendance is taken into account, the difference between those with
and without religious affiliation is statistically insignificant for all religious traditions.
****Frequency of religious service attendance appears to account for most of the differences in
life satisfaction between those with and without religious affiliations.
Findings:
Particular religious community does not matter, but degree of involvement matters!
People with large networks and active social lives report a high level of satisfaction, and adding
these measures to the model somewhat reduces the effect of religious service attendance.
Yet, the relationship between attendance and life satisfaction remains substantial and
significant. This suggests that secular social involvement and support networks may not be the
primary mediating factor.
Findings:
Friendship in a congregation is significantly related to life satisfaction.
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