Religion, Social Networks, and Life Satisfaction by Chaeyoon Lim and Robert D. Putnam was published in the American Sociological Review

I can however bring you the abstract and some conclusions from the research:

Abstract:

Although the positive association between religiosity and life satisfaction is well documented, much theoretical and empirical controversy surrounds the question of how religion actually shapes life satisfaction. Using a new panel dataset, this study offers strong evidence for social and participatory mechanisms shaping religion’s impact on life satisfaction. Our findings suggest that religious people are more satisfied with their lives because they regularly attend religious services and build social networks in their congregations. The effect of within-congregation friendship is contingent, however, on the presence of a strong religious identity. We find little evidence that other private or subjective aspects of religiosity affect life satisfaction independent of attendance and congregational friendship.

Conclusion:

Does religion make you happier? Many studies show that religious Americans report greater happiness and life satisfaction than do non-religious Americans. However, skeptics posit that this trend is due to the fact that happier people are more likely to attend church, rather than church attendance making people happier. Some scholars also suggest that religious people may share certain non-religious characteristics (e.g., a “happiness gene”) that make them happy. In a recent study published in the American Sociological Review, scholars Chaeyoon Lim and Robert D. Putnam examine the nationally representative Faith Matters survey, which interviews the same set of people twice in a one-year period, to show that increased church attendance during the period increases life satisfaction. Lim and Putnam find that the connection between happiness and religion is not a result of theology (what you believe and what religion you belong to) or private religious practices (e.g., frequency of prayer or feeling God’s presence in one’s life). Instead, they find that frequent churchgoers are more satisfied with their lives because they build intimate social networks in their congregations, anchoring a strong sense of belonging in these religious communities and receiving morally-infused social support. If one seeks life satisfaction, it is neither faith nor communities alone that are important, but communities of faith. For life satisfaction, praying together seems better than either bowling together or praying alone. These findings suggest that religious leaders should invest more of their time, resources, and talent in deepening the social dimensions of congregational life, such as through small support or worship groups, potlucks, and choirs. This is likely to pay dividends to their congregants in making them happier, while benefitting religious leaders by making their congregants more likely to stay active religious members.