Using a survey of adults in Nebraska, we find that the association between church attendance and mental health varies across religious traditions and across two distinct dimensions of mental health—depressive symptoms and positive affect. Specifically, the association between church attendance and depressive symptoms differs for mainline Protestants, evangelical Protestants, and Catholics. Of t...

There are undoubtedly differences between Roman Catholic and African Pentecostalism such as doctrinal issues salvific conceptualisations. Besides non-Catholics, specifically Pentecostal churches have always been perceived non-churches lacking the real salvation by Catholics. Thus, Catholics looked at Pentecostals with eye of suspicion regardless ecumenical efforts made to bring two together. Si...

There has been little recent research in Europe exploring the relationship between religion and health. In Northern Ireland previous analysis has tended to divide the population dichotomously as Catholic and Protestant, ignoring the diversity inherent in the Protestant community. This study used a census-based longitudinal study of the enumerated population with five-years follow-up (covering t...

Since the transition to democracy in Spain in 1975, both total fertility and rates of church attendance of Catholics have dropped dramatically. In this study the 1985 and 1999 Spanish Fertility Surveys were used to investigate whether the significance of religion for fertility behaviour -- current family size and the spacing of births -- changed between the survey dates. In the 1985 survey, fam...

Citizens often feel pressured to adopt the beliefs held by their peers, conforming to the views of the majority even in the absence of rational argument. However, few scholars have investigated the mechanisms underlying this “mindless” conformity to group pressure. Drawing on recent research in psychology, this manuscript puts forward a new theory of group influence called Social-Emotional Infl...

Evidence suggests that religious systems have specific effects on attentional and action control processes. The present study investigated whether religions also modulate choices that involve higher-order knowledge and the delay of gratification in particular. We tested Dutch Calvinists, Italian Catholics, and Atheists from both countries/cultures using an intertemporal choice task where partic...

The normative value of, and the extent of popular engagement with, different forms commitment differ across Christian religious traditions, but studies often show women older people exhibiting greater religiosity in their behavior belief. Using a multidimensional approach to commitment, this study uses new survey provide an in-depth assessment Catholics Britain. It finds that younger cohorts in...