differenceblog, posts by tag: support - LiveJournal

Maselko and Buka (2008) published findings this month that they suggest indicate a benefit in continuous religious practice for women. Maselko said "Everyone has some spirituality, whether it is an active part of their life or not whether they are agnostic or atheist or just ‘non-practicing.’" (EurekAlert, 2008). The study found that women who had changed their attendance at religious services (whether stopping or starting) had an increased risk of mental health and substance abuse problems. Conversely, men whose attendance changed had a decreased risk. Maselko attributes the health decline in women to a loss of social support.

The "change in attendance" (see comments) results are consistent with "non-attendance" results found by Strawbridge et al (2001). Strawbridge also found decreased mental health outcomes for men and increased for women correlated with religious attendance. However, Strawbridge notes that general longevity and physical health behaviors correlate positively with religious service attendance in both men and women.

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I didn't attend church services as a kid. My family was pagan. I did tag along to some Christian services and Sunday school in first and second grade (age 6-7), but it wasn't a positive social experience, so I didn't keep it up. Actually, when I think about religion and spirituality, I rarely think of other people. It's always felt like a very private thing to me, which I think is related to having been brought up thinking that solitary practioners were the norm.

For more on religious differences, see January 2007: 1 & 2.

According to Kendler et al (2005), women usually report having more supportive social networks than men, but have higher rates of depression. In a study of over 1,000 pairs of male-female twins, Kendler et al found that women reported having a more supportive social network than did their twin brothers. Male and female twins did not show a significant difference in the amount of support received from their parents. Kendler et al found that social support was a better predictor of depression in women than in men.

Shih et al (2006) suggest that these differences begin with greater reactivity and exposure to social episodic stress as adolescent girls. Brugha et al (2005) found that small social networks (< 3) were especially detrimental to men. Piccinelli and Wilkinson's 2000 review points out that studies on social support and depression are inconsistent, with some showing advantages for women and some for men.

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I feel incredibly lucky to have the social support that I do. I spent most of my life very socially isolated, first by being in a rural community as part of an unpopular family, and later by being in a romantic relationship where outside friendships were discouraged. While women are supposed to be more affiliative than men, in my life, the most supportive friendships I've seen have been between men, in my father and his friends.