• The findings showed that there is a high correlation existing between religious attendance and mortality risk among the majority of the middle age United States adults (Hummer et al, 2004). In the United States, religious attendance and adult mortality are largely considered a graded fashion among the middle age adults.
• The study suggests that churchgoers have the high likelihood to live longer compared to the non-attendance. The reason behind this is that churchgoers are in a better position of living healthier and much more responsible lives. The non-attendance particularly stand out clearly with a fifty-two percent higher mortality risk compared to the frequent church goers. The notion here is that people who do not attend church, religious service or such faith lifting events are more likely to be unhealthy and consequently prone to dead.
• Findings have shown that religious attendance work by increasing the social ties as well as the various behavioral factors, which lower the risk of dead. However, the magnitude of the correlation existing between religious attendance and mortality do vary by the cause of dead. The association has been very consistent across the causes of the dead.
• The evidence for the strong correlation between religious involvement and adult mortality risk is very strong when it comes to public religious attendance as well as across some specific religious denominations. On the other hand, the evidence is weakest when it comes to private religious activities.
• There are three behavioral factors, which account up to 40% of the mortality difference between the various attendance groups. The three aspects include social integration, social regulation, as well as psychological resources.
• The majority of the America population do engage in religious activities. More than ninety percent of the American adult population are associated with formal religious institutions and believe in God or a universal spirit. Forty-two percent of the population does attend a religious worship weekly while a vast majority comprising of sixty-seven percent are members of a local religious body and have a feeling that religion is the very vital aspect of their daily lives.
• Religious belief and activities confer physical health benefits on the various aspects of physical health. The measures of physical health include high blood pressure, suicidal thought, cancer, as well as heart diseases. Findings show that religious beliefs help to buffer the impact of stress on the physical as well as on the mental health of a person. Because of this association, religious involvement consequently leads to longer life.
Reference
Ellison, C. G., & Hummer, R. A. (2010). Religion, families, and health: Population-based research in the United States. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press.
Hummer, R.A., Moulton, B.E., Rogers, R.G., & Romero, R.R. (2004). Religious involvement and adult mortality in the United States: Review and perspective. South Med J., 97(12): 1223-1230.
