Religious involvement and mortality: a meta-analytic review

A meta-analysis of data (mm 42 independent samples examining the association of a measure of religious involvement and all-cause mortality is reported. Religious involvement was significantly associated with lower mortality (odds ratio = 1.29; 95 % confidence interval: 1.20-1.39), indicating that people high in religious involvement were more likely to be alive at follow-up than people lower in religious involve-ment. Although the strength of the religious involvement-mortality association varied as a function of several moderator variables, the association of religious involvement and mortality was robust and on the order of magnitude that has come to be expected for psychosocial factors. Conclusions did not appear to be due to publication bias. Key words: religion, mortality, survival, longevity, meta-analysis Substantial numbers of Americans engage in religious activity. More than 90 % of American adults are affiliated with a formal religious tradition (Kosmin & Lachman, 1993). Nearly 96 % of Americans believe in God or a universal spirit, 42 % attend a religious worship service weekly or almost weekly, 67 % are mem-bers of a local religious body, and 60 % feel that religion is "ver