FALSE or TRUE: Church attendance is good for your health

The correlation between church attendance and good health is a strong relationship. 

Put simply, people who attend church on a regular basis also have better health than do people who do not attend church on a regular basis.

So, what’s my issue? It’s the old problem that never goes away-- correlations do not mean causation. The fact that people who attend church have better health than those who don’t, does not mean attending church caused better health.

The RNS writer, Yonat Shimron, does not emphasize this important fact about correlations. Here’s a quote from the first sentence of the story:

“(RNS) The latest in a long line of studies, now numbering in the hundreds, if not thousands, shows that church attendance is good for your health.”

Later in the article, the author refers to various factors connected with church attendance that might be responsible for the supposed effect. It is good to consider various possibilities like prayer, social interaction, and so forth when trying to understand more about a phenomenon. But, there is no consideration given to the reasons why people who do not attend church may not have better health.

And more importantly, the author, like so many students and professionals, ignore the fact that the research is not an experiment aimed atdetermining cause-effect relationships.

Correlational research is useful. We can learn about relationships, which can lead to exploring additional connections. Some of the reliable relationships may turn out to be cause-effect relationships. The problem with the article, and other news stories derived from this and similar studies, is the lack of attention to the research methods involved.

One useful part of the article is the link to the original publication. I took a look at the original study. Do you see how they defined church goer? In one analysis, a church goer was someone who attended at least once a year. In another analysis, a churchgoer is someone who went at least once a week.

Another issue common to much research, including my own, is the reliance on self-report. When we are talking about health, self-report is a place to start, but we really need biological data before making health claims.

Shimron asks, “Should doctors prescribe church attendance?”

I say unto you, “maybe, but not for better physical health.”

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Related Post

Psychology Experiments

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Psychology of Religion and Mental Health

"Thank God for psychologists and Lexapro. Without them, I might be dead today."

--Jonathan Merritt (2018, February 16)

Jonathan Merritt's body vibrated. Then he had difficulty breathing. He grips us with his story of a panic attack.

Then he shares his story of faith and psychology. Friends diagnosed a spiritual problem. A professor advised against a professional therapist saying, "you already have a wonderful counselor in Jesus."

Merritt has more to say about Christian beliefs and mental health so, I suggest reading his post. I now move to related thoughts on Christianity and psychology.

*****

I was sitting in a church pew one Sunday evening when a pastor launched into a rant against psychology. I left and never went back. At the time, I was in the process of earning a master's degree in Counseling at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Since those days, I find that my profession is still unwelcome in many conservative churches and Christian organizations.

At about the time I left that conservative congregation, I learned that a group of psychologists were working on ways to integrate Christian faith and psychological science (www.caps.net). Although, most of the integrationists focus on ways to integrate faith and clinical practice, rather than other areas of psychological science.

At some point, a number of Christian universities began to offer graduate degrees in psychology, counseling, or both. Today, there are a variety of approaches available to Christians who want to remain loyal to their Christian beliefs and find evidence-based interventions to eliminate or control distressing conditions like panic attacks, depression, anxiety, relationship struggles, sex and gender-related distress, and more.

*****

Merritt’s story is a reminder that divisions between faith and science persist. I suspect there will always be religious people who are so skeptical of science that they will not consider help that does not come from their religious leaders. However, I think the percentage of people opposed to scientific interventions is dwindling along with the social values conservative Christians used to teach and practice only a few decades ago.

Merritt’s story explains one reason many Christians no longer consider psychologists as enemies—psychotherapy works. And sometimes, psychotherapy plus medication is the best available approach.

In fairness, I should add that many people improve when they share their concerns in the context of a warm and caring relationship. People also improve when their expectations are raised such as when beginning an organized course of treatment (placebo effect). And, unfortunately, some people who attend professional counseling do not improve. So, I support the inclusion of "lay counseling" as a Christian ministry, provided that they participate in an educational program.

I write about Christian cultures and social-moral values.

Here’s a recent book: A House Divided

Discussions of A House Divided have been well-received in conservative and liberal settings--in churches, universities, and a seminary.  The book is free to professors as an exam copy from PICKWICK. The publisher - PICKWICK- also offers group discounts.

A low cost Discussion Guide can be found on AMAZON.

Buy an eBook on AMAZON and at other bookstores.

Connections and Links to Resources

My Page    www.suttong.com

My Books   AMAZON

FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton

TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton

LinkedIN Geoffrey Sutton  PhD

Publications (many free downloads)

     

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton   (PhD)

    

  ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton   (PhD)