Im not surprised at the results, lots of data on social support and health. Some might say its a cynical view of 'religion' to attend for the social support, but only if we view religion with too much seriousness and metaphysical baggage. I have always maintained that spirituality/religiosity is overdue for psych study, but only if we get away from studying the _beliefs_ and focus more on the _behavior_ and how it relates to basic evolutionary and psychological processes. Too much theology always ruins an otherwise great religion :-) Interesting gender differences. In my religion a few select men swing the incense, the women run the committees, and the rest of the men use it as a place to talk about the restaurant industry. THAT's old-time religion :-)
John W. Kulig Professor of Psychology Coordinator, University Honors Plymouth State University Plymouth NH 03264 Sent from my U.S. Cellular Android device ----- Reply message ----- From: "Mike Palij" <[email protected]> Date: Fri, Nov 11, 2011 10:33 am Subject: [tips] Why I'm Going To Start Going To Church Again To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> Cc: "Mike Palij" <[email protected]> Because the media are reporting results of a recent study that shows, quoting CNN: |A new study shows that attending religious services regularly can |mean a more optimistic, less depressed, and less cynical outlook on life. http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/10/study-links-regular-religious-service-attendance-outlook-on-life/ See also this article with the headline "Women Who Attend Church Are More Optimistic"; http://www.urbanchristiannews.com/ucn/2011/11/study-women-who-attend-church-are-more-optimistic.html Now, to be fair, several of the news stories provide the qualification that this study (which is based on the Women's Health Initiative; see: http://www.whi.org/ and http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/whi/os.htm ) is merely correlational and that there is only a link, not a causal relationship between church attendance and optimism etc. One odd point is that the news stories say that the study was published in the "Journal of Religion and Health" (a Springer pub) but examination of the Springer website does not appear to contain it. In their "Online First" pre-publication of article, the most recent article is from October; see: http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:2421/content/0022-4197/preprint/?sort=p_OnlineDate&sortorder=desc&o=10 So I wonder how this study got released to the media so fast. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13338.f659d005276678c0696b7f6beda66454&n=T&l=tips&o=14082 or send a blank email to leave-14082-13338.f659d005276678c0696b7f6beda66...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=14099 or send a blank email to leave-14099-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
