Study Finds Greater Religious Involvement Associated With Lower Mortality Risk

June 13, 2006

Study Finds Greater Religious Involvement Associated With Lower

Mortality Risk

Social relationships that tend to thrive in church settings can have

a positive affect on an older person's longevity, according to the

latest issue of The Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences (Vol.

61B, No. 3). Specifically, the impact of stress on mortality is

reduced when church-goers provide support to those they worship with.

Previous research has suggested that greater involvement in religion

is associated with better physical and mental health. But attending

services involves many practices, such as praying, singing,

interacting with the congregation, listening to sermons, and the

like. The present study's author, Dr. Neal Krause of the University

of Michigan, discovered that having church-based social relationships

provides the greatest benefit.

He compared survey responses from three groups of Americans over the

age of 66: currently practicing Christians, Christians who no longer

practice, and those who had never been affiliated with any faith. The

data showed that giving emotional support to another congregation

member caused the stress induced by the provider's own economic

problems to decrease, which caused his or her risk of mortality to

decrease.

Also noteworthy is that the benefits seemed to be one sided - those

who received the support showed no significant changes in rates of

mortality.

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The research was supported by a grant from the National Institute on

Aging.

The Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences is a refereed publication

of The Gerontological Society of America, the national organization

of professionals in the field of aging.

The article abstract is available online at

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