Take Me to (the Empty) Church? Social Networks, Loneliness and Religious Attendance in Young Polish Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

J Relig Health

Social Neuroscience Lab, Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 1 Jaracza Street, 00-387, Warsaw, Poland.

Published: February 2022

A significant body of research supports the relationship between religious attendance, objective and subjective social networks characteristics, and mental well-being. This trajectory may be particularly important in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Thus, the current study examined the relationship between religious attendance, social network characteristics, loneliness, and mental well-being in a sample of 564 young adults (aged 18-35 years) soon after the first COVID-19-related restrictions were imposed in Poland. In line with previous findings, both frequent (FAs) and infrequent religious attenders (IAs) reported more people in their social networks compared to non-attenders (NAs). Further analysis revealed full mediation of religious attendance (FAs vs. NAs) via social network size on loneliness and mental well-being. This pattern of results was still observed after the exclusion of worship-based affiliates from the social network score. A follow-up survey carried out one year later (N = 94) showed that all three groups of participants (FAs, IAs, and NAs) reported increased loneliness and decreased mental well-being. Taken together, these findings show that the influence of religious attendance on social functioning cannot be attributed solely to congregational relationships.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8764885PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10943-021-01486-1DOI Listing

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