Eine religiöse Erziehung in der Kindheit ist mit einer schlechteren geistigen und kognitiven Gesundheit im späteren Leben verbunden. Im Durchschnitt ist eine religiöse Erziehung als Kind mit einer etwas schlechteren Selbsteinschätzung der Gesundheit nach dem 50. Lebensjahr verbunden.
A religious upbringing in childhood is linked to poorer mental and cognitive health in later life
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I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625005404
From the linked article:
**A religious upbringing in childhood is linked to poorer mental and cognitive health in later life**
A new large-scale study of European adults suggests that, **on average, being religiously educated as a child is associated with slightly poorer self-rated health after the age of 50**. The research, published in the journal Social Science & Medicine, also indicates that this association is not uniform, varying significantly across different aspects of health and among different segments of the population.
The overall results indicated that, on average, having a religious upbringing was associated with poorer self-rated health in later life. The average effect was modest, representing a -0.10 point difference on the five-point health scale. The analysis showed that for a majority of individuals in the sample, the association was negative.
The analysis also considered how adult religious practices related to the findings. The negative association between a religious upbringing and later health was stronger for individuals who reported praying in adulthood. It was also stronger for those who reported that they never attended a religious organization as an adult. This combination suggests a complex interplay between past experiences and present behaviors.
Anecdotal, but this tracks. All of my friends who were raised religious absolutely do not have great mental health now as adults, whether or not they kept the religious beliefs as they got older.
Several of the ones who are still religious are actually mentally worse off than the ones who shed religion as adults, and they generally feel constantly guilty for normal stuff. That stress can’t be healthy!
Edit: in the case of my friends, the religious ones are/were all Christians fyi.
Edit 2: I just realized that my non-Christian religious friends don’t necessarily meet this mold, which now I gotta read the article to see if other religions were taken into account for the study
VERY true. Ha, go show this to conservatives.
As a former Mormon, I absolutely believe this.
This seems obvious to me. Most religions rely on guilt and ignorance. This is never a good combination for mental health.
Catholic Schools survivor…I’m sunk.
Counter point https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/01/31/are-religious-people-happier-healthier-our-new-global-study-explores-this-question/
„self-rated“ doesn’t mean ACTUAL poorer health, just an expectation that it should be better. If the rating was done by a doctor then it would be meaningful.
As a former Jehovah’s Witness I agree
>The study provided further evidence that the link between a religious upbringing and poorer self-rated health was not the same for all people. The negative association appeared to be stronger for certain subgroups. For example, individuals who grew up with adverse family circumstances, such as a parent with mental health problems or a parent who drank heavily, showed a stronger negative link between their religious education and later health.
This is an important part
It might not be religion that’s causing poor health in some of these cases
Lying to kids is bad, basically.
The group difference was 2% on the scale they were using. I wouldn’t let my confirmation bias run too wild here.
A rare bit of good news
I certainly knew someone who had poorer physical health since they believed God would magically cure all their problems and wouldn’t go to doctors or take medicine.
I suppose when you learn to give up responsibility to parents or to God, you have a harder time learning to take responsibility for yourself.
This is extremely surprising as many other studies have found strong links between religious participation and mental health.
https://globalflourishingstudy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/GFS_Report-1.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Scott-Schieman/publication/286179196_Religion_and_Mental_Health/links/56eff02608ae52f8ad7f8373/Religion-and-Mental-Health.pdf
It makes slightly more sense that individuals who had a religious upbringing and are not currently practicing (only praying) do not experience the benefits of religious communities.
It’s feels kind of like saying people who had a healthy diet in childhood but now eat an unhealthy diet report poorer health; maybe they are just more aware of what they lack?
Being introduced to guilt, fear of death and a restrictive upbringing doesn’t seem like a good recipe
Kids shouldn’t be exposed to such anxiety inducing topics
They should thank God for that I guess.
yeah, cause its a cult and we are brought up that the world was ending ever so often. always fear of hell. I honestly thought I wouldn’t reach 15 years of age. almost 40 now and thankfully therapy has helped a lot.