Well there is this:
http://www.dukemednews.org/av/medminute.php?id=1603
http://www.apa.org/releases/teen_religiosity.html
http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9899/Nov16_98/17.htm
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/139/story_13945_1.html
and
Numerous studies published in peer-reviewed journals have shown that religious faith and participation in organized religion offer benefits for healthy aging. People with a strong personal faith who regularly attend religious services generally have lower blood pressure; are less likely to suffer from depression; have a greater sense of well-being; have stronger immune systems; and live longer-23% longer, according to a long-term study by Dr. William Strawbridge and other researchers published in the American Journal of Public Health in 1997.
Religious faith seems to increase the ability of older people to cope with illness, disability, loss, and their own mortality. In a study published in 1992 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, Dr. Harold G. Koenig, Director of the Center for the Study of Religion/Spirituality and Health at Duke University, and colleagues surveyed men hospitalized with serious illness. They found that those men who used religion to cope with their illness had much lower rates of depression and reported a better quality of life than those using nonreligious coping methods or who reacted negatively to their situation. In addition, religious people seem to spend less time in the hospital. In a study published in the Southern Medical Journal in 1998, Dr. Koenig and colleagues found that subjects who attended church at least once per week were 43% less likely to have been admitted to the hospital in the preceding year than non-churchgoing subjects. Plus, any hospital stays they did have were markedly shorter.
Data like this seem particularly meaningful in light of the growing expenses of our healthcare system, which will worsen as the baby boomer generation ages. Dr. Koenig believes that doctors ought to take a spiritual history of patients with serious medical illness," he says. "It is important for a doctor to know how a person's religious beliefs could help or hinder their ability to cope with their illness." He also thinks there needs to be more of a connection between health care systems and religious communities.
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* Facts & Figures
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o Regular churchgoers tend to live longer, an average of seven years longer than those who never attend church.1
o Religious practice is related to emotional health. Research suggests "after gender (girls are more likely to attempt suicide than boys), religiousness is the second strongest inhibitor of ... suicide attempts."2
o Church attendance can be a predictor of family stability. Those children who, "at age 18, attend religious services with approximately the same frequency as their mothers," have "significantly better relationships" with their mothers five years later, as reported by the mothers.3
o Married couples benefit from religious practice. Studies have linked more frequent church attendance to lower levels of divorce proneness.4
o Couples that pray together, stay together--happily. Married couples that pray together respect each other more, trust each other more, and are more helpful to each other around the house. 5In fact, one study found "75 percent of those who pray say that the marriage is very happy, as opposed to 57 percent of those who do not pray."6
o Research shows that regular church attendance can reduce the likelihood of violence toward a spouse.7
o Fathers who attend church are more involved with their families. Studies show that religion is related to levels of paternal involvement in "one-on-one engagement, dinner with one's family, and volunteering for youth-related activities." In fact, "religion appears to make a unique contribution to paternal involvement" in the "specific attention that religious institutions dedicate to family life."8
o Religious faith remains strong among America's youth. The Institute for Youth Development reports that "94 percent of teenagers say they believe in God" and "nearly 9 in 10 teens consider their religious beliefs important to them."9
o Students who attend church regularly tend to perform better in school. In a study of 10th-graders, "higher levels of involvement in church activities likely signifies ... a motivation toward education that leads to better math and reading skills."10
o Religious practice has positive effects for people of all ages. College students who scored high on a "spiritual well-being" scale, compared with their lower-scoring counterparts, exhibited healthier psychosocial profiles in areas of self-esteem, loneliness, marijuana use, alcohol use, and feelings of hopelessness.11
o Most Americans approve of faith-based groups working in their community. A Gallup poll found that almost 70 percent of respondents "believe that faith-based organizations do the best job of helping youth in the community."12
o The work of faith-based organizations in reaching at-risk youth is essential. Results from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health "found that the active involvement of a caring adult is the best defense against delinquency, academic failure, substance abuse, and other problems" in adolescents.13
Footnotes
1. Robert A. Hummer, Richard G. Rogers, Charles B. Nam, and Christopher G. Ellison, "Religious Involvement and U.S. Adult Mortality," Demography, Vol. 36, Number 2, May 1999, pp. 273-285.
2. Michael J. Donahue and Peter L. Benson, "Religion and the Well-Being of Adolescents," Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 51, 1995, pp. 145-160.
3. Lisa D. Pearce and William G. Axinn, "The Impact of Family Religious Life on the Quality of Mother-Child Relations," American Sociological Review, Vol. 63, 1998, pp. 810-828.
4. Alan Booth, David R. Johnson, Ann Branaman, and Alan Sica, "Belief and Behavior: Does Religion Matter in Today's Marriage?" Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 57, 1995, pp. 661-671.
5. Andrew M. Greeley, Faithful Attraction: Discovering Intimacy, Love, and Fidelity in American Marriage (New York, NY: Tom Doherty Associates, 1991).
6. Greeley, Faithful Attraction
7. Christopher G. Ellison, John P. Bartkowski, and Kristin L. Anderson, "Are There Religious Variations in Domestic Violence?" Journal of Family Issues, Vol. 20, 1997, pp. 87-113.
8. W. Bradford Wilcox, "Religion, Convention, and Paternal Involvement," Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 64, 2002, pp. 780-792.
9. Joseph Loconte and Lia Fantuzzo, "Churches, Charity, and Children: How Religious Organizations Are Reaching America's At-Risk Kids," Center for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society Report 2002, p. 10, at
http://www.heritage.org/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=39395.
10. Mark D. Regnerus, "Shaping Schooling Success: Religious Socialization and Educational Outcomes in Metropolitan Public Schools," Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 39, 2000, pp. 363-370.
11. Jon Hammermeister and Margaret Peterson, "Does Spirituality Make a Difference: Psychosocial and Health-Related Characteristics of Spiritual Well-Being," American Journal of Health Education, Vol. 32, Number 5, September-October, 2001, pp. 293-297.
12. Loconte and Fantuzzo, "Churches, Charity, and Children," p 10.
13. Loconte and Fantuzzo, "Churches, Charity, and Children," p. 8.