A recent study could counter the common belief that actively religious people are less likely to develop major depression.
Research shows that women with early onset depression are 1.42 times more likely to stop attending religious services than those who did not. This finding, though it found no significant correlation with men, may be a possible explanation for why regular churchgoers are found to have lower rates of depression—depressed people stop going to church all together.
“Though these results show some correlation between mental health and religiosity, we are still far from solving this puzzle,” said Joanna Maselko, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and main author of the study.
The data for the experiment came from three follow-up studies conducted by the National Collaborative Perinatal Project on 2,097 Rhode Islanders who were surveyed from their childhood to their late 30s.
According to the study, 56 percent of women who suffered from a major depressive episode before they were 18 years old stopped attending religious services as adults, as compared to 37.2 percent of those who did not experience an episode and the 44.1 percent who became depressed as adults. In addition, women who experienced early onset of MDE were also more likely to adjust their religious attendance in adulthood.
Maselko noted that in the sample population, 27 percent of the participants experienced some sort of major depression at some point in their lives and nearly one-third of them developed depression symptoms before they were 18 years old.
“The participants for the study all come from middle working class backgrounds,” she said. “However, because depression depends on several factors such as genetics and environment, depression rates can vary substantially from sample to sample.”
The study also showed that even though women had a higher overall likelihood of dropping out of religious services, decreased attendance at religious services was unrelated to depression in men. Maselko said this may indicate that women are more likely than men to stop being religiously engaged only after a significant life experience, such as a major depressive episode.
“There is no definitive answer for these differences between men and women,” Maselko said. “It just shows that religiosity is a multifaceted issue that needs to be studied from a variety of perspectives.”
Another reason for the demonstrated lower rates of depression may be that churchgoers try to cover up their suffering. Though people at church appear to be happy, some are actually hiding deep wounds, said Meghan Feldmeyer, director of worship at Duke Chapel.
“There may be some shame and grief around the despair of depression, especially if people around you seem joyful,” Feldmeyer wrote in an email Thursday. “The church has a rich tradition for those who are grieved—we try and create a space for sadness within the Chapel’s worship life.”
Maselko’s study sheds new light on a similar analysis she conducted in 2006, which showed that weekly public religious activity was significantly associated with better health and well-being for both men and women.
Despite the findings, she noted that there are several areas of the study that can be improved. She is currently conducting additional research on the tie between religion and health in different cultures.
“To retrieve better results for these types of studies, there needs to be more fine-grained methods to measure people’s religiosity,” Maselko said. “Also, since the follow-up data was not updated consistently, all the participants were surveyed retrospectively, which creates a telescoping effect.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.