Religious Service Attendance Research Articles

Religious service attendance and consumer financial outcomes: Evidence from a longitudinal survey

Previous literature has pointed to strong links between religion and economic outcomes. However, little is known about how individual consumers ’ religiosity is related to their financial management outcomes. Using longitudinal data from a national representative survey of households in Poland (more than 90% of believers declaring Roman Catholic religious denomination), we examine the associations between religious service attendance (RSA) and three subsequent consumer financial outcomes: savings, debt, and financial satisfaction. Social contacts, general trust, and risk tolerance have been tested to mediate these associations. The results indicate that RSA is prospectively associated with all three consumer financial outcomes: savings (positive), debt (negative), and financial satisfaction (positive). Only one mediation effect was found: the association between RSA and savings is mediated by social contacts. This implies that religiosity, as measured by RSA, is prospectively associated with financial outcomes, and socialcontacts have some potential to mediate the process.

Association between Jewish religious observance and mental health among Israeli adults: Findings from the Global Flourishing Study.

This study investigates the association between Jewish religious observance and several indicators of mental health and psychological well-being among Jewish Israeli adults. Data are from adult (18+) Jewish respondents in the Israeli sample (N = 2958) of the first wave of the Global Flourishing Study (GFS), a 22-nation population survey which will eventually consist of five annual waves of panel data. The GFS Israeli data were collected via a randomized, stratified, probability-based sampling design, and contained dozens of indicators of sociodemographic, socioeconomic, political, religious, health-related, and other constructs. Measures of Jewish religious observance, including religious service attendance, prayer, scripture reading, belief in God, and importance of Judaism, are statistically significant predictors of several single-item indicators of mental health (overall mental health, depression, anxiety) and psychological well-being (suffering, happiness, life satisfaction). Greater religious observance is associated with a higher self-rating of overall mental health, less depression and anxiety, less suffering, and greater happiness and life satisfaction. Nearly all results withstood adjusting for effects of several sociodemographic covariates. These results offer confirmation of prior studies using smaller samples or non-population-based designs and with fewer mental health and religious indicators. They suggest that evidence for a salutary association between religious observance and mental health or psychological well-being among Israeli Jewish adults is consistent with findings in this literature for adherents to other faith traditions throughout the world.

Busy Ethic: A Validation of a Popular Concept.

The busy ethic for retirement, as proposed by Ekerdt (1986), is a prescriptive norm that esteems an occupied, active lifestyle. This research is a first attempt to measure the busy ethic in a standardized way and apply it to a population-based sample. Objectives are: to examine whether a busy ethic is affirmed by retirees; to test busy ethic endorsement by different segments of the retired population; and to examine whether endorsement is associated with selected activities. We developed a scale measuring the busy ethic for a survey among 1,143 Dutch retirees. We tested two sets of hypotheses about social factors that might explain subscription to a busy norm: a hypothesis about modernization (i.e., individual autonomy from social control) that would reduce busy ethic endorsement and a hypothesis about differential exposure to expectations. Greater consent to the busy ethic was associated with circumstances that enable active lifestyles (perceived income adequacy, self-reported health), that raise one's social value (education), and that entail more social connectedness (religious service attendance). Busy ethic agreement was positively associated with engagement in paid work, productive social activities, and group recreation. We found substantial endorsement of the importance of activity for oneself and others. The idealization of a busy retirement as a good retirement may be a seeming way for retirees to defer old age. At the same time, a prescriptive norm of activation may put strain on older adults who are less capable of conforming.

Association between maternal religious service attendance and pregnancy loss in the United States: a secondary analysis of the Future Families & Child Wellbeing Study.

Accumulating evidence suggests that spirituality and religiosity may be associated with improved health outcomes. However, few studies have examined maternal religiosity as a protective factor for perinatal outcomes. We explored the association between maternal religious attendance and pregnancy loss. Data were drawn from the Future Families & Child Wellbeing Study's first and second waves and medical records (n=1874). Religious attendance was a self-reported response to the question "About how often do you attend religious services?" Pregnancy loss was measured from responses to the second wave survey question, "Since focal child's birth, have you had any miscarriages/abortions/stillbirths?" Logistic regression estimated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between maternal religious attendance frequency and pregnancy loss, overall and by race. Models were adjusted for sampling weights, religious preference, socioeconomic and behavioral factors. 8% (n=164) of mothers reported having a pregnancy loss. Of those with a pregnancy loss, 28% (n=46) attended services hardly ever and 20% (n=20) attended services once a week or more. Women who attended services more frequently had 58% increased odds of not experiencing a pregnancy loss (OR:1.58;95%CI:1.01,2.48) after adjusting for potential confounding. A post hoc analysis found no difference in pregnancy loss type or subsequent reproductive history based on attendance level. Results suggest that higher maternal religious attendance frequency may be a protective factor for pregnancy loss. Further research is needed to understand the association between maternal religious attendance and mechanisms for pregnancy loss.

Religiosity in adolescence and body satisfaction and disordered eating in adolescence and young adulthood: cross-sectional and longitudinal findings from project EAT

PurposeThis research identified whether adolescent religiosity was associated with body satisfaction and disordered eating in adolescence and early adulthood and explored gender/sex differences in these associations.MethodsProject EAT (Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults) is a longitudinal cohort study following participants from adolescence into young adulthood. For this analysis (N = 1620), religiosity (importance of religion and frequency of religious service participation) during adolescence was examined as a correlate of body satisfaction and disordered eating (binge eating, maladaptive behaviors intended to lose or maintain weight, eating to cope, and dieting) at the same life stage (EAT-II, 2003–2004, Mage = 19.4 years) and during young adulthood (EAT-IV, 2015–2016, Mage = 31.5 years). Analyses used linear and logistic regression models adjusted for demographics and adolescent body mass index.ResultsDuring adolescence, females who placed greater importance on religion had higher body satisfaction, 22% higher odds of binge eating, and 19% greater odds of dieting in the past year, while more frequent attendance of religious services was associated with higher body satisfaction and 37% greater odds of dieting past year. Among males, only frequent attendance of religious services was associated with higher adolescent body satisfaction. Longitudinally, among females, only frequent attendance of religious services in adolescence predicted higher levels of body satisfaction in young adulthood. No significant longitudinal associations were observed among males.ConclusionsOur findings contribute to understanding the complex interplay between religiosity, gender, and body satisfaction. Further research should explore cultural factors influencing these associations and qualitative aspects of religious experiences to inform nuanced interventions.Level of evidence: Level III, cohort study.

Religious service attendance is protective against the diseases of despair: evidence from regression, sibling fixed effects and instrumental variables analyses.

Religious service attendance is protective against the diseases of despair: evidence from regression, sibling fixed effects and instrumental variables analyses.

Unequal Returns: Exploring Racial Differences in the Mental Health Benefits of Religious Service Attendance among Low-Income Mothers

Unequal Returns: Exploring Racial Differences in the Mental Health Benefits of Religious Service Attendance among Low-Income Mothers

“See You Sunday?” Effects of Attending a Specific Weekend Religious Service on Emotional Well‐Being: A State/Trait Analysis of the SoulPulse Study

AbstractMost studies of religious service attendance and emotional well‐being are only capable of evaluating “trait” aspects of religious attendance, or long‐term patterns and habits that form an attendance routine. Methodological limitations make it difficult to capture the immediate (i.e., “state”) effects of attending a specific religious worship service. Using the SoulPulse Study, a 2‐week microlongitudinal study consisting of two daily cell phone surveys, we move beyond this limitation by examining trait attendance, state attendance, and the interaction of the two on 10 emotional/affective outcome variables. We find that both state attendance and trait attendance are associated with well‐being, though state attendance performs more consistently across the 10 positive and negative emotion items. Leveraging Iannaccone's concept of “religious capital,” we present evidence in state × trait interaction models that only those who have high trait levels of attendance are able to capture the emotional benefit of state attendance. This study informs the broader literature on religious attendance and well‐being by providing evidence that religious attendance can be considered a “practice” that must first be internalized as a set of familiar routines prior to being activated for personal well‐being.

Symptoms of dementia progression in cognitive impairment: the role of religious and spiritual activity

ABSTRACT This exploratory study explores the role of religious and spiritual (R/S) activity in cognitive impairment. We used data from respondents with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) from the Health and Retirement Study and Aging, Demographics, and Memory sub-study to investigate associations between religious service attendance and behavioral expressions, cognition, and sleep disturbances independently at two different time points using Spearman’s Rho partial correlation. Religious service attendance was significantly associated with behavioral expressions, cognition, and sleep disturbances. Older adults with MCI who exhibited heightened levels of R/S activity engagement reported decreased behavioral expressions and better cognition at both time points.

Religion and Loneliness: Investigating Different Aspects of Religion and Dimensions of Loneliness

This study explores the relationship between religiosity, spirituality, and loneliness in the United States, using the 2018 General Social Survey to assess their interactions against a backdrop of declining traditional religious affiliation and a rise in “spiritual but not religious” identification. It examines religion and spirituality’s capacity to counteract loneliness, a condition with significant health implications. The analysis uncovers complex relationships between aspects of religious life and loneliness, showing no mitigating role of spirituality when controlling for other factors, with complex and varied negative relationships of religious service attendance and self-rate religiosity to different aspects of loneliness. Yet, any potentially protective effect of religion varies, with minority religious groups reporting feelings of increased loneliness. These findings underscore religion and spirituality’s nuanced roles in emotional well-being, indicating that their benefits (or not) against loneliness are complex, varied, and depend on the aspect of religion or loneliness observed, along with non-religious factors. The paper contributes to the literature on societal loneliness, changing religious and spiritual engagements, and highlighting the need for a comprehensive approach to explore the role of religion and spirituality in understanding loneliness specifically, and personal and social well-being more generally.

The association between religious beliefs and values with inflammation among Middle-age and older adults

Objectives: Dimensions of religion and spirituality are associated with better emotional, physical, and cognitive health. However, the underlying physiological mechanisms are not well known. We investigated the relationship between dimensions of religion and spirituality with levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker of systematic inflammation, in middle-aged and older adults in the United States.Methods: In this descriptive longitudinal study using secondary data, we used proportional odds models of the generalized estimating equation (GEE) to assess the association between religious beliefs and values and religious service attendance with CRP levels from respondents (n = 2,385) aged 50 years and older in the Health and Retirement Study from 2006 to 2014.Results: Middle-aged to older adults who reported higher religious beliefs and values had lower levels of CRP, controlling for age, sex, education, marital status, race, household income, and health, such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer, and body mass index (BMI).Conclusion: Religious beliefs and values are associated with lower CRP levels among middle-aged and older adults in the U.S. This study adds to the understanding of biological processes underlying the relationship between dimensions of religion and spirituality with better cognitive and physical health, potentially through inflammation.

Religiosity and Muslims’ gender role attitudes toward women’s right to work

This study aimed to examine the effect of religiosity on the gender role attitudes of Muslims toward women’s right to work. It probed the cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of religiosity and tested whether measures derived from these components affect Muslims’ agreement with the statement that when jobs are scarce, men should have more rights to a job than women. This study employs individual-level data from the sixth and seventh waves of the World Values Surveys and adopts logistic regression analysis as the main empirical methodology. The main findings reaffirmed the effect of religiosity. Muslims who are more religious are more likely to have gender role attitudes that favor men’s right to work over women’s when jobs are scarce. This is true for religiosity measured by beliefs in hell, the importance of God in life, the importance of religion in life, the frequency of prayer, and the frequency of religious service attendance. Participation in religious organizations as a measure of behavioral religiosity has only a weak effect on the gender role attitudes of Muslims toward women’s right to work. These findings highlight the importance of considering religiosity when analyzing gender dynamics in labor markets within Muslim societies.

Asian Hate, religion, and perceived changes in physical health: exploring the flip side of minority stress during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Objectives Prior research suggests that racism is associated with adverse mental health outcomes for Asians in the United States. Relatively less research has been conducted to examine the effects of racism on physical health, particularly the changes in physical health among Asians and Asian Americans. This study aims to fill in this gap in prior research. Design Survey was conducted via Qualtrics in March 2023. A panel sample of 356 Asian and Asian American adults from across the US was collected. Ordinary Least Squares Regression was employed to examine the interrelationships among racism, religion, and perceived changes in physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results Contrary to conventional wisdom, more frequent experience with blatant racism was associated with a perceived improvement in physical health after controlling for subtle racism, anxiety, acculturation, and various sociodemographic variables. Interestingly, this robust relationship was more significant among Asians who attended religious services more frequently. Additional three-way interactions revealed that the interaction between blatant racism and religious service attendance on perceived changes in physical health was more significant for US-born Asians and Asians of Indian or Japanese ethnicity. Conclusion Racism exerts a significant influence on physical health outcomes among Asians and Asian Americans. However, this relationship was contingent upon the specific aspect of racism and intersected with religiosity, acculturation, and ethnic identity.

Quantifying the effects of religious distance on trade misinvoicing

ABSTRACT This study investigates the impact of religious distance on trade misinvoicing, using bilateral data from 87 countries over the period 1990–2018. Trade misinvoicing refers to the combined occurrence of export under-invoicing and import over-invoicing. Religiosity is utilized as a measure of personal trust in God and adherence to religious values and principles. To capture religiosity, a composite index is constructed, considering three components: the number of religious adherents, the significance of religion, and religious service attendance. The empirical findings reveal that countries with greater religious distance exhibit reduced trade misinvoicing. Within the three dimensions of religiosity, belief and the importance of religion act as deterrents to trade misinvoicing, while religious service attendance is found to facilitate such misinvoicing. Furthermore, the effects vary across different types of misinvoicing, time periods, and sectors.

Attitudes toward premarital and casual sex in Canada: A secondary analysis of the seventh wave of the World Values Survey

Numerous studies have examined associations between sociodemographic characteristics and attitudes toward premarital sex and, more recently, toward casual sex. However, no recent study has examined these associations in Canada’s general population. The present exploratory study consists of a secondary analysis of the World Values Survey’s seventh wave of data collected in 2020 from a sample of 4,018 Canadian adults. Results indicate moderately positive attitudes toward premarital sex and lower levels of approval for casual sex, on average. Religion-related variables yielded moderate to strong effect sizes, with identifying as religious, higher frequencies of religious service attendance, and greater attributed importance to religion being associated with lower levels of approval for premarital and casual sex. Small to moderate effects were found for politics-related, family-related, and ethnocultural variables. On average, participants who considered premarital and casual sex as justifiable tended to be more left-leaning, have fewer children, live together as married, have been born in Canada, identify as White, report French as the language they normally speak at home, and live in Quebec. While age and generation were weakly associated with premarital sex attitudes, they were more strongly associated with casual sex attitudes, with younger participants being somewhat more accepting of casual sex than older participants. Small gender differences were found for casual but not premarital sex attitudes. Attitudinal differences based on socioeconomic variables were overall statistically insignificant or negligible. The findings are consistent with and expand on the existing literature. They also shed light on Canada’s ethnocultural and provincial particularities.

Child health and its effect on adult social capital accumulation.

Although studies have demonstrated important effects of poor health in childhood on stocks of human and health capital, little research has tested economic theories to investigate the effect of child health on social capital in adulthood. Studies on the influence of child health on adult social capital are mixed and have not used sibling fixed effects models to account for unmeasured family and genetic characteristics, that are likely to be important. Using the Add-Health sample, health in childhood was assessed as self-rated health, the occurrence of a physical health condition or mental health condition, while social capital in adulthood was measured as volunteering, religious service attendance, team sports participation, number of friends, social isolation, and social support. We used sibling fixed effects models, which attenuated several associations to non-significance. In sibling fixed effects models there was significant positive effects of greater self-rated health on participation in team sports and social support, and negative effect of mental health in childhood on social isolation in adulthood. These results suggest that children with poor health require additional supports to build and maintain their stock of social capital and highlight further potential benefits to efforts that address poor child health.

Revisiting Associations Among Parent and Adolescent Religiosity and Early Adolescent Suicide Risk in the United States.

The contributions of religion to reduced suicide risk have been studied in adults and adolescents, though to our knowledge no comprehensive investigation has been conducted in early adolescents, at a time coinciding with emergence of suicide risk trajectories. In this largest study to date on this topic, we aimed to characterise the contributions of various measures of "private" and "public" religiosity to early adolescent suicide ideation (SI) and suicide attempt (SA) histories using information from a large, epidemiologically informed U.S. sample of adolescents (N = 7068; mean age = 12.89years, 47% female) and their parents. In all youth, parent-reported adolescent religious importance was associated with reduced odds of SA (OR = 0.75, CI = 0.61-0.92, P = .005). Muslim youth were more likely (OR = 1.52, CI = 1.02-2.22, P = .033), and Catholic youth were less likely (OR = 0.80, CI = 0.67-0.95, P = .014), to report SI. A variety of sex differences were noted, with significant protective associations of adolescent self-reported religiosity on SI and SA, religious service attendance on SI, and religious importance on SI, in female-but not male-youth; and significant protective associations of religious importance on SA in male-but not female-youth. Against expectations, there was no evidence that parent religiosity moderated the link between youth religiosity and SI or SA. These results shed light on the roles of cultural and familial context in youth suicide risk, which may ultimately be targeted in screening and interventional approaches.

Religious Involvement and the Impact on Living Alone and Depression: An Examination of Gendered Pathways Post-Widowhood.

This study analyzed data from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to examine the association between widowhood and depression. The results revealed that both men and women experienced increased depression after widowhood, with women exhibiting a better recovery pattern over time. Religiosity, especially attending religious services, was found to be a beneficial coping mechanism for both genders, although men were less religious than women. Living alone was a significant factor associated with depression in widowhood for both men and women. High religious service attendance moderated the association between living alone and depression for women, while both high and moderate religious service attendance moderated this association for men. These findings emphasize the importance of considering gender differences and the potential benefits of religious involvement in addressing depression during widowhood, highlighting the need for tailored interventions and support services for widows and widowers, particularly those living alone.

ASSOCIATION OF RELIGIOUS ATTENDANCE, RELIGIOSITY/SPIRITUALITY, AND C-REACTIVE PROTEIN IN MIDDLE TO OLDER ADULTS IN THE U.S

Abstract Elevated levels of C-reactive Protein (CRP), a biomarker of systemic inflammation, are associated with a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Religious attendance and religiosity/spirituality are associated with better cognitive health, yet the underlying physiological mechanisms are not well understood. We examined the association between religious service attendance, religiosity/spirituality, and CRP levels in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults aged 50 years and older (n=6,652) from the Health and Retirement Study from 2006 to 2014. The mean age was 70.7(9.32) years, 84.4% were White, 58.4% were female, and mean CRP levels were 3.98 (8.50) ug/mL. Utilizing the generalized estimating equation (GEE), a significant negative association was found between religious service attendance and religiosity/spirituality with average CRP levels, even after controlling for age, sex, education, marital status, race/ethnicity, income, body mass index (BMI), and health conditions (diabetes, cancer, hypertension) [B: -0.39, 95% CI:-0.76,-0.03, p<0.034 and B: -0.04, 95% CI:-0.07,-0.01, p<0.01]. Age, income, and education were negatively associated with CRP levels, while being female, Black/African American, having diabetes, cancer, hypertension, and BMI were positively associated with CRP levels. Findings contribute to our understanding of a possible mechanism by which religious service attendance and religiosity/spirituality influence cognitive health through reduced systemic inflammation. Interventions are needed to sustain religious attendance supporting religiosity/spirituality for adults who find religion/spirituality important, with the potential to reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia.

RELIGIOUS ATTENDANCE AND SLEEP QUALITY IN US OLDER ADULTS

Abstract Sleep is an important proponent of memory, learning, and cognitive processing with changing patterns throughout the life course; poor sleep contributes to cognitive decline and dementia risk. Spiritual and religious activities are associated with better cognitive health, yet the biological mechanism is not well understood. This study aims to investigate whether religious and spiritual activity is associated with sleep quality in U.S. adults. Data were drawn from a U.S. longitudinal survey of a national probability sample, Midlife in the United States (MIDUS), from MIDUS Wave 2 (2004-2006), and MIDUS refresher (2011-2014). We examined cross-sectional associations between self-reported religious service attendance measured with 1 item (high, low religious attendance) and sleep quality measured with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) (n=1,168) across three adult age groups (early, middle, late). We adjusted for sex, education, marital status, BMI, and smoking. Higher religious service attendance was significantly associated with better sleep quality among older adults (aged 60 – 80 years) (B=-1.02, p=0.011), while associations in young (aged 20-40 years) (B=-0.76, p=0.087) and middle-aged adults (aged 40-60 years) (B=-0.54, p=0.061) were marginal. Religious service attendance may contribute to better sleep quality amongst older adults by providing a sense of purpose and reducing feelings of helplessness and a sense of loss of control associated with aging. In addition, religious attendance is associated with decreased depressive symptoms and anxiety, possibly contributing to greater spiritual well-being and promoting better sleep. Longitudinal studies are needed to examine these associations over time.