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Religion and Life Satisfaction Down Under

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Abstract

We investigated the association between religious involvement and life satisfaction using panel data from the 2004, 2007, and 2010 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. Our study provides strong evidence of an association between attendance at religious services and life satisfaction in the Australian social context. While social resources mediate this association, there appears to be a remaining direct influence of attendance at religious services on life satisfaction. To unravel this association, there is a need to disentangle and separately assess the influence that ‘religious social resources’ and ‘secular social resources’ may have on life satisfaction.

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Notes

  1. Years of education is coded as the highest year of completed schooling if the respondent has no post-school qualifications (i.e., less than 8 years is coded as 8 years). Post-school qualifications are coded into years as follows: masters/doctorate = ‘top coded’ at 17 years; graduate diploma/certificate = 16 years; bachelor degree = 15 years; diploma = 12 years; and certificate = 12 years.

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Acknowledgments

This paper uses unit record data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The HILDA Project was initiated and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services (DSS) and is managed by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (Melbourne Institute). The findings and views reported in this paper, however, are those of the author and should not be attributed to either DSS or the Melbourne Institute. The authors would also like to thank the editors and three anonymous referees for very helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Southern Cross Business School, Southern Cross University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia

    Michael A. Kortt

  2. UNE Business School, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia

    Brian Dollery & Bligh Grant

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  1. Michael A. Kortt
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  2. Brian Dollery
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  3. Bligh Grant
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Correspondence to Michael A. Kortt.

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Kortt, M.A., Dollery, B. & Grant, B. Religion and Life Satisfaction Down Under. J Happiness Stud 16, 277–293 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9509-4

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