Social science & medicine
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Social science & medicine · Feb 2004
Is going to church good or bad for you? Denomination, attendance and mental health of children in West Scotland.
Religiosity is often associated with mental health in adult populations, but not in a consistent direction. Conflicting results reflect the multidimensional nature of both concepts. Few studies have addressed the relationship between religiosity and mental health among children. ⋯ Self-esteem, anxiety and depression all demonstrated an interaction, such that weekly church attendance was associated either with advantage for Catholics, disadvantage for children with a Church of Scotland affiliation, or both. Teasing/bullying acted in a small way as a mediating factor in these relationships. In an education system with separate Catholic and 'non-denominational' schools, we hypothesise that the relationship between church attendance and mental health may be contingent on whether church attendance is normative within the peer group.