Abstract
The effect of religion on happiness in the United States is examined. Particular attention is given to the direct effect of religion on attending religious services and the indirect effect on happiness. The key results include Catholic, Jewish, and no religion having negative effects on happiness relative to Protestants. Data from the National Opinion Research Center’s “General Social Survey” are used.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Azzi, Corry, and Ronald Ehrenberg. 1975. Household allocation of time and church attendance. Journal of Political Economy 83: 27–56.
Blanchflower, David S., and Andrew Oswald. 2007. Is well-being u-shaped over the life cycle? NBER working paper 12945.
Bok, Sissela. 2010. Exploring happiness. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Cohen-Zada, Danny, and William Sander. 2011. Religious participation versus shopping: What makes people happier? Journal of Law and Economics 54: 889–906.
Ferris, Abbott L. 2002. Religion and the quality of life. Journal of Happiness Studies 3: 199–215.
French, Sarah, and Stephen Joseph. 1999. Religiosity and its association with happiness, purpose in life, and self-actualization. Mental Health, Religion and Culture 1: 117–120.
Frey, Bruno S. 2008. Happiness. Cambridge: The M.I.T. Press.
Glaeser, Edward L., Joshua D. Gottlieb, and Oren Ziv. 2014. Unhappy cities. NBER Working Paper 20291.
Gruber, Jonathan, and Daniel M. Hungerman. 2008. The church versus the mall: What happens when religion faces increased secular competition. Quarterly Journal of Economics 123: 831–862.
Iannoccone, Laurence R. 1998. Introduction to the economics of religion. Journal of Economic Literature 36: 1465–1501.
Kahneman, Daniel. 2011. Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux.
Kahneman, Daniel, and Alan B. Krueger. 2006. Developments in the measurement of subjective well-being. Journal of Economic Perspectives 20: 3–24.
Kahneman, Daniel, and Richard Thaler. 2006. Utility maximization and experienced utility. Journal of Economic Perspectives 20: 221–234.
Kortt, Michael, Brian Dollery, and Bligh Grant. 2015. Religion and life satisfaction down under. Journal of Happiness Studies 16: 277–293.
Lewis, Christopher Alan, and Sharon Mary Cruise. 2006. Religion and happiness: Consensus, contradictions, comments, and concerns. Mental Health, Religion, and Culture 9: 213–225.
Lewis, Christopher Alan, John Maltby, and Sue Burkinshaw. 2000. Religion and happiness: Still no association. Journal of Beliefs and Values 21: 233–236.
Layard, Richard. 2005. Happiness: Lessons from a new science. New York: The Penguin Press.
Levin, Jess. 2014. Religion and happiness among Israli Jews. Journal of Happiness Studies 15: 593–611.
Michael, Robert T., and Gary S. Becker. 1973. On the new theory of consumer behavior. Swedish Journal of Economics 75: 378–395.
Pew Research. 2013. A Portrait of Jewish Americans. http://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/Jewish.american-beliefs-attitudes-culture-survey/.
Rampell, Catherine. 2011. American Jews lead the happiest lives. The New York Times.
Sander, William. 2011. Location and happiness in the United States. Economics Letters 112: 277–279.
Smith, Tom W. 2011. Trends in well-being, 1972–2010. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Stevenson, Betsey, and Justin Wolfers. 2009. The paradox of declining female happiness. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 1: 190–225.
United States Census Bureau. 2012. Statistical abstract of the United States 2012.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sander, W. Religion, Religiosity, and Happiness. Rev Relig Res 59, 251–262 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13644-017-0285-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13644-017-0285-6