Religious involvement at midlife did not matter much for the men, but for the women, those who were religiously inclined were more likely to live long lives. However, because the modern society has changed so much in terms of gender role, I wonder whether religiosity would influence men’s health as much as women’s health as well. Personality traits may be contributing to individual differences in religiosity: women who were religiously inclined tended to be more unselfish and prudent than others when they were in childhood and puberty.
Besides all the potential mental health benefits, there is some direct behavioral impact of being devoted to religion, including less likely to smoke and abuse alcohol.
It is not the regular attendance at religious services that mattered, but the decrease or even loss of community involvement accompanying diminishing religious involvement. Someone who feels religious but never actively engages in the religious community would not benefit from the positive outcomes had been observed to be related to religious experiences. Surprisingly, religion does not bring health promotion by proposing a life of spirituality, instead, by providing social engagement through religious communities. And those religious communities offered social support for people when they needed help.
However, love and support are not as important as the size of the social network in health realm. When I was doing the self-assessment of social support network in the book, I found myself have more than four friends to count on for help if I needed. I have many close friends, but I am not a person who talks to a lot of people and take part in a lot of group activities. What I feel is that no one really hates being in a large group. Indeed, some people may need more time to stay alone or hanging around with just one or two close friends, but they can still have a sense of fulfillment in social perspective when being in a large group. However, it is harder to find a group of people who share something common with you, and you feel comfortable to get along with, compared to one or two friends. Being in a group which you feel that you do not fit in can be torture.
I also thought it was interesting as well, that in terms of religious involvement, women tended to live longer lives, and for men, it did not matter. And you are right, it would be interesting to know if that is true today as it was 50 years ago. From what I have seen, I agree that being involved in a religious group gives one the support for leading a life that is unselfish and might lead to more volunteering and to a “cleaner” life style in terms of smoking and alcohol. This is obviously not absolute since many people involved in religious organizations have the same problems as people who are not involved. If it true that is the social engagement that people experience when involved in a religious organization that leads to longevity, then there are indeed many ways to get that engagement. Religious organizations are just more visible and easier to access.