Latest Pew Study Notes Link between Church Attendance, Happiness

The latest study from the Pew Research Center has found that people who attend religious services weekly are happier than those who attend monthly or less.

The latest study from the Pew Research Center has found that people who attend religious services weekly are happier than those who attend monthly or less. Other factors contributing to happiness were also explored.

Forty-three percent of weekly churchgoers are very happy, while 31 percent of those who attend church monthly or less are very happy, according to the new study conducted by the nonpartisan "fact tank" based in Washington D.C. And of those who attend church seldom or never, only 26 percent say they are very happy.

The same pattern of frequency of church attendance applies within all major religious denominations. For example, 38 percent of all Catholics who attend church weekly or more report being very happy, while just 28 percent of Catholics who attend church less often say they are very happy. The survey also finds that white evangelical Protestants (43 percent) are more likely than white mainline Protestants (33 percent) to report being very happy, but this difference goes away after taking frequency of church attendance into account.

This finding has been consistent since research institute began taking general social surveys in 1972.

After researching several causal relationships, the analysis shows that those who were most likely to be very happy not only go to church often, but are healthy, rich, married, and Republican.

And being a Republican is associated not only with happiness, but it is also associated with every other trait in this cluster. Even so, the factor that makes the most difference in predicting happiness is neither being a Republican nor being wealthy – it's being in good health.

Of people who say their health is poor, 55 percent also report that they are "not too happy." Poor health is the strongest predictor of unhappiness.

Other correlations show that Whites and Hispanics are happier than blacks, and Sunbelt residents are happier than those who live in the rest of the country.

The research also found that people who have children are no happier than those who don't, after controlling for marital status. Retirees are no happier than workers. Pet owners are no happier than those without pets.

In total, 34 percent of adults in this country say they're “very happy.” Another half say they are “pretty happy,” and 15 percent consider themselves “not too happy.”

Results for the survey, which were published last Monday, are based on telephone interviews conducted from October-November 2005 with 3,014 people.