In Israel, Faith is Linked to Greater Happiness

Most research on religion and mental health has focused on Christians. This study asked: does the same pattern hold for Jewish people? Using data from nearly 3,000 Jewish adults in Israel, researchers looked at five aspects of Jewish religious life — attending synagogue, praying, reading sacred texts, believing in God, and valuing Jewish teachings — and compared them to six measures of mental health and well-being.

In Israel, more religiously observant Jewish adults consistently report greater happiness and less anxiety.

These included overall mental health, feelings of depression and anxiety, suffering, happiness, and life satisfaction. The findings were striking. People who practiced their faith more tended to report better mental health, less depression and anxiety, less suffering, and more happiness and life satisfaction. This held up even after accounting for differences in age, sex, education, income, marital status, and other factors.

The strongest connections appeared for belief in God and a combined measure of overall Jewish observance. There was just one exception: belief in God alone was not significantly tied to reports of suffering. This is one of the first large, nationally representative studies to look at this question among Jews, and the results echo what decades of research have found in other faith traditions — that active religious life tends to go hand in hand with better psychological well-being.