People who attend weekly religious services might be more likely than less-frequent attendees to improve their health behaviors and to maintain already established good health habits, according to a three-decade-long study.
"Our analyses indicate that attenders did not all start off with such good behaviors," said lead author William J. Strawbridge, PhD, of the Human Population Laboratory in Berkeley, California. "To some extent, their good health behaviors occurred in conjunction with their attendance."
Several studies have found that religious attendance improves one's chance of survival. Those who regularly attend services are known to smoke less, drink less, and in general exhibit better health behaviors. However, the question remaining has been if religious organizations attract people who already have good health behaviors or if attendance helps create these behaviors.
Cause or Result?
Strawbridge and colleagues addressed this question by analyzing nearly 30 years of health data on more than 2,600 individuals. "We examined the extent to which religious attendance is associated with both improving poor health behaviors and maintaining good ones already established," said Strawbridge.
"Individuals who regularly attended religious services were more likely to become more physically active, quit smoking, become less depressed, increase their social relationships, and initiate and maintain stable marriages," said Strawbridge.
Certain results were stronger for women than for men. The researchers noted that female frequent attenders tended to be more likely than male frequent attenders to improve poor health behaviors and mental health.
Why Is It So?
More research is needed to determine exactly how religious attendance might increase survival, according to the researchers. It might benefit health by offering attendees a sense of coherence or perceived control of their lives or by exposing them to organizational rules that discourage smoking and to philosophical principles that stress respect for the body. The support offered by the religious community might also be a boon to health, according to the study.
"These mechanisms are worth understanding in more detail since they can be applied to other health promotion efforts," said Strawbridge. "Discovering exactly how attendance impacts adoption of good health behaviors can help in the design of strategies to promote the adoption of good health behaviors before illness strikes and to provide effective self-care treatment when it does."
This study was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |
