Religious attendance and subjective well-being among older Americans: Evidence from the general social survey

A growing body of research addresses religion and well-being among older adults. In investigating these significant aspects of older adults' lives, many studies find that religious attendance is positively associated with psychological well-being. However, this conclusion bears further scrutiny for several reasons, including a shortage of national data, the possibility that the effect found in some studies is due to the relationship of religious attendance with physical health, and lack of clarity on the reasons for this effect. This study addresses these gaps in prior research with data from pooled samples of the General Social Survey. Net of controls, we find among other results that religious attendance is positively associated with two measures of subjective well-being among adults age 65 and older Final remarks address the theoretical implications of the findings and discuss directions for future research.