Two Cambridge-led studies suggest that the psychological distress caused by lockdowns (UK) and experience of infection (US) was reduced among those of faith compared to non-religious people.
University of CambridgeFeb 3 2025 Two Cambridge-led studies suggest that the psychological distress caused by lockdowns and experience of infection was reduced among those of faith compared to non-religious people.
University of Cambridge economists argue that - taken together - these studies show that religion may act as a bulwark against increased distress and reduced wellbeing during times of crisis, such as a global public health emergency. They found that while lockdowns were associated with a universal uptick in unhappiness, the average increase in feeling miserable was 29% lower for people who described themselves as belonging to a religion.
Those self-identifying as religious in the UK are more likely to have certain characteristics, such as being older and female. The research team "controlled" for these statistically to try and isolate the effects caused by faith alone, and still found that the probability of religious people having an increase in depression was around 20% lower than non-religious people.
For the earlier study, authored by Prof Sriya Iyer, along with colleagues Kishen Shastry, Girish Bahal and Anand Shrivastava from Australia and India, researchers used online surveys to investigate Covid-19 infections among respondents or their immediate family and friends, as well as religious beliefs, and mental health.
Where mental health declined, it was around 60% worse on average for the non-religious compared to people of faith with typical levels of "religiosity".
Pandemic Research Mental Health Public Health Stress
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