Discuss the relationship between involvement in religion and the positive effects of social support

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

It is clear that religion provides a deeply important source of social and emotional
support for many people. There are more than 6 billion people on Earth who belong to
hundreds of religions, the most populated, in order, being Christianity, Islam, Hinduism,
and Buddhism (Judaism and others have many fewer adherents). Only about 15% to
20% of the world's population is unaffiliated with a religious group. In the United
States, two-thirds of all adults describe religion as a very important part of their lives. Is
there a link between religiosity and health? This is an interesting but controversial
question. On the one hand, population surveys suggest that people who regularly attend
religious services live longer than those who do not (McCullough et al., 2000). When
you think about it, this correlation makes some intuitive sense. Religious faith may fill
people with hope and optimism rather than with despair, offer the physiological benefits
of relaxation in prayer, provide a community lifeline of social support to prevent
isolation, and promote a safe and healthy way of life by discouraging such toxic habits
as drinking and smoking. After analyzing 30 years of health data from 2,600 California
adults, for example, William Strawbridge and others (2001) found that men and women
who regularly attend religious services drink less, smoke less, and exercise more. On
the other hand, some researchers caution that the correlations between religiosity and
longevity are modest and can be interpreted in other ways. It's possible, for example,
that nonsmokers, teetotalers, and others who regularly abstain from unhealthful
behaviors are more likely to adopt religion as part of their lives than smokers, drinkers,
and risk-takers, and that their survival comes from who they are, not from their
attendance at religious services (Sloan et al., 1999)