Abstract
A significant body of research supports the relationship between religious attendance, objective and subjective social networks characteristics, and mental well-being. This trajectory may be particularly important in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Thus, the current study examined the relationship between religious attendance, social network characteristics, loneliness, and mental well-being in a sample of 564 young adults (aged 18–35 years) soon after the first COVID-19-related restrictions were imposed in Poland. In line with previous findings, both frequent (FAs) and infrequent religious attenders (IAs) reported more people in their social networks compared to non-attenders (NAs). Further analysis revealed full mediation of religious attendance (FAs vs. NAs) via social network size on loneliness and mental well-being. This pattern of results was still observed after the exclusion of worship-based affiliates from the social network score. A follow-up survey carried out one year later (N = 94) showed that all three groups of participants (FAs, IAs, and NAs) reported increased loneliness and decreased mental well-being. Taken together, these findings show that the influence of religious attendance on social functioning cannot be attributed solely to congregational relationships.
Highlights
For decades a growing body of work has provided evidence for positive associations between religiosity and physical and mental health
The current analysis aimed to examine the relationships between religious attendance, social network size, loneliness and mental well-being in young Polish adults during the COVID-19 pandemic
The results of the current study suggest that previous studies that have used aggregate measures of social integration or social network size may have failed to account for some aspects of the social network composition, which may differentiate Frequent attenders (FAs) from NAs
Summary
A growing body of work has provided evidence for positive associations between religiosity and physical and mental health. Several meta-analyses have corroborated the robust link between religious involvement and mortality (Chida et al, 2009; Lutgendorf et al, 2004; McCullough et al, 2000). The impact of religion has been found to be similar to or even stronger than many recommended health interventions (Lucchetti et al, 2011). A recent meta-analysis (Garssen et al, 2021) found a small effect of religiosity (i.e., participation in public religious activities and importance of religion) on mental health. Investigations of religious involvement and its association to multiple aspects of well-being are crucial during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which can pose a severe threat to both physical and mental health
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