Religious attendance and social adjustment as protective against depression: A 10-year prospective study
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Background Previous research has identified elevated social adjustment and frequent religious attendance as protective against depression. The present study aims to examine the association of frequency of religious services attendance with subsequent depression, while accounting for the effects of social adjustment.Method Participants were 173 adult offspring of depressed and nondepressed parents, followed longitudinally over 25 years. Diagnosis was assessed with the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Lifetime Version. The Social Adjustment Scale-Self Report (SAS-SR) was used to assess social adjustment and frequency of religious services attendance was self-reported. In a logistic regression analysis, major depression at 20 years was used as the outcome measure and the frequency of religious services attendance and social adjustment variables at 10 years as predictors.Results Frequent religious services attendance was found to protect against subsequent depression at a trend level. High functioning social adjustment was found to protect against subsequent depression, especially within the immediate and extended family. Adults without a depressed parent who reported attending religious services atleast once a month had a lower likelihood of subsequent depression. Among adults with a depressed parent, those with high functioning social adjustment had a lower likelihood of subsequent depression.Limitations Measurement of social adjustment was non-specific to religious services.Conclusions Frequent religious attendance may protect against major depression, independent from the effects of social adjustment. This protective quality may be attenuated in adults with a depressed parent. High functioning social adjustment may be protective only among offspring of depressed parents.
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Spiritual beliefs, religious involvement, or perceived support from a religious or spiritual community may have a buffering effect on mental health and may result in fewer symptoms of depression.
“Spiritual beliefs, religious involvement, or perceived support from a religious or spiritual community, may have a buffering effect on mental health, and may result in fewer symptoms of depression (e.g., Kim and Esquivel, 2011; Barton et al., 2013).”
From A hope intervention for adolescents: a randomized controlled trial delivered by paraprofessionals (2025) · cites this paper as Barton et al., 2013
The Discussion reports that attending religious services at least monthly was associated with a lower likelihood of major depression over ten years, although the association was at a trend level. The paper does not establish the same effect for spiritual beliefs or perceived support from a religious or spiritual community; its Abstract notes that social adjustment was not measured specifically in religious settings. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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Mechanisms of change in interpersonal therapy (IPT)
Lipsitz, J. D., & Markowitz, J. C. (2013) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2013.09.002 · Cited by 214 · see citing works
A hope intervention for adolescents: a randomized controlled trial delivered by paraprofessionals
Scioli, A., MacPherson, N., Murphy, R., Gooding, T., Love, M., Lyons, K. D., & Adachi-Mejia, A. M. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1528504 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
- Authors
- Barton, Y. A., Miller, L., Wickramaratne, P., Gameroff, M. J., & Weissman, M. M.
- Affiliations
- Columbia University (US)
- New York State Psychiatric Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Weissman, Myrna M.
- Venue
- Journal of Affective Disorders
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-03
- Volume
- 146
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 53-57
- ISSN
- 0165-0327 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3582716
- OpenAlex
- W2108171021
- Cited by
- 78
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 42 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 2.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Journal of Affective Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Columbia Academic Commons (Columbia University)
- Funders
- John Templeton Foundation
- National Institute of Mental Health (2 R01 MH36197)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Religion and Society Interactions
- Keywords
- religious service attendance, social adaptation, depression, protective factors, offspring of depressed parents, family functioning, major depressive disorder, prospective cohort
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Major Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Male, Prospective Studies, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Religion and Psychology, Social Adjustment, Child of Impaired Parents, Risk Assessment, Adult Children, Young Adult
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