Religion and Well-Being: What Is the Magnitude and the Practical Significance of the Relationship?

The idea that religion is important for people’s well-being is widespread in social sciences. Current empirical evidence supporting this idea is largely based on research focusing on statistical significance. In this study, the strengths of associations between religious indicators and subjective and psychological well-being were investigated. In the first study, data from the European Value Study and the World Value Survey involving 645.249 participants and 115 countries were used. In the second study, data were taken from three longitudinal investigations: the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe, and the Midlife in the United States. Multilevel analyses revealed that the explained variance of the effects of religious predictors at Level 1 and Level 2 on subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction and happiness) was very small or negligible (Study 1). The effect size estimates of the prospective associations between religious predictors and later psychological and subjective well-being were very small or negligible (Study 2). Taken together, the results of the current investigation suggest that the direct effect of religion on well-being does not seem to have practical relevance. Although religion plays an essential role in the lives of many individuals, the results of the present study call into question the practical significance and utility of using religion per se for the prediction of well-being.