Family Facts: Social Science Research on Family, Society & Religion

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This finding looks at the relationship between religious attendance and all-cause mortality risk.

Frequency of religious service attendance was significantly associated with lower mortality risk for the overall population as well as for each gender and racial group. Respondents who attended religious services more than once a week tended to have lower risk of mortality compared to those who attended religious services less frequently.

Sample or Data Description
Data came from the 1987 Cancer Risk Factor–Epidemiology Study Supplement of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which is linked to the Multiple Cause of Death File (NCHS 1997). The analytical sample consisted of 21,204 individuals, aged 18 or older in 1987, who provided responses to the religious attendance questions in the survey, for whom sufficient identification information was available, and who were followed for eight years until 1995.

Source
"Religious Involvement and U.S. Adult Mortality"
Hummer, Robert A.
Rogers, Richard G., Nam, Charles B.; and Ellison, Christopher G.
Demography Vol. 36, Number 2. May, 1999. Page(s) 273-285.

FindingID: 9040