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Religious Attendance and Social Support: Integration or Selection?

  • Research Note
  • Published:
Review of Religious Research

Abstract

Although numerous studies have shown that religious attendance is associated with greater social support, concerns remain about selection into religious attendance and more supportive relationships. In this paper, we employ data collected from the 2011 Miami-Dade Health Survey (n = 444) to assess the extent to which the association between religious attendance and social support is due to selection processes related to personality, health behavior, and health status. In our multinomial logistic regression of attendance, we find that the odds of weekly attendance are increased by extraversion and reduced by smoking. We also observe that religious attendance does not vary according to level of agreeableness, self-esteem, alcohol consumption, psychological distress, or physical health. In our regression of support, we find that respondents who attend religious services weekly or more tend to report more social support than respondents who never attend. This association persisted with adjustments for age, gender, race, immigrant status, interview language, education, employment status, household income, financial strain, marital status (parent and respondent), the presence of children, family difficulties, personality (agreeableness, extroversion, and self-esteem), health behavior (smoking, binge drinking, and substance use), and health status (psychological distress, activity limitations, and overall physical health). Across models, the association between weekly attendance and social support is attenuated by no more than 7%. This attenuation is due to personality (extraversion), not health behavior or health status. We conclude that the association between religious attendance and social support is primarily driven by integration processes rather than any selection processes we have considered.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminal Justice, Social Work, and Sociology, Southeast Missouri State University, Brandt Hall 327, 1 University Plaza, Cape Girardeau, MO, 63701, USA

    Christopher S. Bradley

  2. School of Sociology, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA

    Terrence D. Hill

  3. Department of Sociology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, USA

    Amy M. Burdette

  4. Department of Sociology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, USA

    Krysia N. Mossakowski

  5. Department of Sociology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA

    Robert J. Johnson

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  1. Christopher S. Bradley
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  2. Terrence D. Hill
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  3. Amy M. Burdette
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  4. Krysia N. Mossakowski
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  5. Robert J. Johnson
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Correspondence to Christopher S. Bradley.

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Bradley, C.S., Hill, T.D., Burdette, A.M. et al. Religious Attendance and Social Support: Integration or Selection?. Rev Relig Res 62, 83–99 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13644-019-00392-z

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