Losing hope: mental health and religious service non-attendance in Australia

Religious beliefs and practices are related to mental health. Many individuals report a religious affiliation, but do not have specific religious beliefs or practices such as attending religious services. These non-attendees are often assumed to resemble the non-religious, but are poorly studied. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Waters, Edward Kyle (Author) ; Millard, Heléna Mary (Author) ; Doyle, Zelda (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Taylor & Francis 2015
In: Mental health, religion & culture
Year: 2015, Volume: 18, Issue: 2, Pages: 114-122
Further subjects:B Religious Affiliation
B Mental Health
B Church Attendance
B Religiosity
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:Religious beliefs and practices are related to mental health. Many individuals report a religious affiliation, but do not have specific religious beliefs or practices such as attending religious services. These non-attendees are often assumed to resemble the non-religious, but are poorly studied. This study explored the demographic characteristics and mental health outcomes associated with being a non-attendee using data from a nationally representative Australian sample. Non-attendees were more likely to be non-Christian than attendees at religious services. They had worse mental health than both non-religious individuals and attendees, especially compared to the non-religious. Whether non-attendance is a result of or cause of poor mental health outcomes is not clear and deserves further investigation. Non-attendees clearly differed in our sample from both non-religious individuals and attendees. Our results do not support the hypothesis that individuals who report a religious affiliation, but are not actively religious, are similar to non-religious individuals.
ISSN:1469-9737
Contains:Enthalten in: Mental health, religion & culture
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13674676.2014.1003290