The association between religiosity and subjective well-being: the unique contribution of religious service attendance and the mediating role of perceived religious social support

People who frequently attend religious services tend to enjoy higher subjective well-being compared to people who attend less often. Research to date, however, has yet to resolve two key questions: (1) what level of insight does attendance at religious services actually provide above other predictors of well-being, and (2) what are the mechanisms that help to explain their positive association? To begin addressing these questions, this study first tests for the unique contribution of service attendance in predicting life satisfaction, an indicator of well-being, beyond the effects of other well-established predictors. This study then examines if perceptions of social support from religion mediate the association between attendance and life satisfaction. Among an Irish undergraduate sample of service-attending Christians (N=206), attendance at religious services predicted a small but unique proportion of variance in life satisfaction after controlling for other known predictors. Further, perceived religious social support significantly and fully mediated their association. This study illustrates the unique contribution of a common measure of religiosity and provides new empirical evidence for the role of religion in providing supportive relationships, and the benefits that such support conveys for well-being.