It's known that religious people tend to feel better about their lives. But,a new study has now found that this benefit may hold true in places where everyone else is religious,too. The study involving almost 200,000 people in 11 European countries found that people who are religious have higher self-esteem and better psychological adjustment than the non-religious only in countries where belief in religion is common. However,in more secular societies,the study found that the religious and the non-religious are tend to be equally well-off,LiveScience reported. "The results suggest that religiosity,albeit a potent force,confers benefits by riding on cultural values," study researcher Jochen Gebauer of Humboldt University in Berlin and colleagues said. Many studies have shown benefits to religion,from an increase in self-control to greater happiness among the faithful. But where these benefits come from is still an open question. It could be something related to religion or religious teachings; alternatively,the social side of religion might play a role,the researchers said. For their study,published in the journal Psychological Science,Gebauer and colleagues wanted to know if larger cultural forces contribute to the well-being of spiritual sorts. They turned to eDarling,the European version of dating websites like eHarmony or Match.com. Users of eDarling answer a question about how important religion is to them; while setting up their profiles,they also complete psychological surveys asking them how "calm","cheerful" and "content" they feel,among other measures of happiness,life satisfaction and self-esteem. Using information from 187,957 daters,the researchers compared each individual's spirituality and happiness against the backdrop of religiosity in each person's country. They found that religion did indeed contribute to happiness,but only in cultures where religion is celebrated. For example,a believer gets a happiness boost in Turkey,where religion is part of the fabric of daily life and taking part means you're doing the "right" thing in your culture. But that same person wouldn't see any benefit in Sweden,where few people care much about religion. The study isn't focused on any specific religion,but on religious feelings in general,the researchers wrote on their eDarling research blog. Nonetheless,the findings suggested that research on religion and happiness in the US,where religion is relatively important compared with many other nations, may not apply across all cultures.
