I found this to be an interesting chapter because religion has been a prevalent part of my life. Growing up in a christian household, I was surrounded by positive news regarding the faith. I always had a community to fall back on, the church provided me with volunteering opportunities, and probably have prevented me from doing dangerous illicit activities such as drinking and smoking. In my Introduction to Psychology class, I learned that religious people tend to live longer lives, but the textbook never explained the study’s findings and how that conclusion came to be I like how the chapter reiterated the study that those who are religious live longer, and that the potential mediating variable was the health characteristics and community involvement that came with being religious.Growing up, I was taught that people who did not believe in the faith are worldly, selfish people who had terrible lifestyles However, I learned that is not the case; there are many wonderful people who are not religious who have healthy tendencies and characteristics.
This makes me wonder if there was a longitudinal study done where they take two groups, one group is a religious group that naturally has these healthy characteristics mentioned in the book, and the other is a control group where it has non-religious participants but naturally exhibit healthy characteristics, and the study sees if the sole variable of religion affects longevity.
I also thought it was interesting that men did not religion as much as women because they are overwhelmed by other influences such as family and their careers. I wonder if there would be differences if there is a similar study done in in this century.
I was surprised to find that the quantity of friends mattered in terms of longevity, and not the feeling of being loved and cared for. Intuitively, you would think that feeling loved and cared for would be related to decreased health risks and greater sense of well being. I’m also disappointed to hear that having pets doesn’t increase longevity. Quantity and quality of friendships matter in terms of longevity.
I like how you point out that those who are not religious can still live a healthy live, and have values that prevent them from doing harmful activities such as drinking and smoking. Although religion is one way that someone can avoid illicit activities, it varies from person to person. I have many friends who are not religious but still don’t like to drink or smoke, and engage in healthy lifestyles. It seems as though religious people are more likely to avoid engaging in those impulsive behaviors, but it is not impossible for non-religious people to avoid it as well.
I was also really doubtful about the finding that, in terms of longevity, the quantity of friends is more important than the quality of friendship and the feeling of being loved. However, it makes a lot of sense after the discussion we had in class. People benefit from different types of social supports, not just the emotional one. A larger amount of social connections are more likely to include a diverse range of social supports. For example, your life will be easier when you not only have friends you can talk to when you are upset but also friends who can help with you laptop problems and friends who share your interests. In addition, diverse social supports also benefit the the quality of your intimate friendship because you are less likely to the unrealistic expectancy that your two best friends can solve all your problems, be with you all the time or share the exact same interest as you; therefore, you are less likely to be disappointed.