For decades, research in social sciences has assumed that a low income negatively affects psychological well-being. Up to now, researchers have assumed that this effect becomes weaker when the countries continue to develop. However, the opposite is the case: a low income affects life satisfaction of people in rich countries more than in developing countries. The reasons for this surprising finding have remained unclear. On average, the population in economically strong countries is less religious than the population in poorer countries. An international research team, headed by Professor Jochen Gebauer and Jana Berkessel from the team of the Heisenberg Professorship of Cross-Cultural Social and Personality Psychology at the University of Mannheim has analyzed the connection between socio-economic status, psychological well-being and religion. The findings: in all countries, poorer people are less content than wealthier citizens. However, in poor and religious countries, this effect is significantly smaller as compared to industrialized nations of the Western world where religion is not as important.
According to the research team, this can be attributed to the norms that are associated with the people’s beliefs: Most religions, such as Christianity and Islam, are critical of wealth and have a positive attitude towards a simple life. “Being religious eases the burden of poverty, by being a source of comfort and confidence”, says Berkessel, a psychologist. “But in more religious countries, wealth in the form of money also has a lower value in society.”
The study results lead to the assumption that the increasing secularization will also strengthen the negative effects of having a lower income. Berkessel warns against underestimating the function religion has for communities when making political decisions: “If being religious is no longer relevant, we will need another approach to ease the psychological burdens of having a low income.” A strong welfare state, as it has been established in Scandinavian countries, could help in making up for the decrease in religiousness.
About the study
Data of the representative Gallup World Poll, the Gosling-Potter Internet Personality Project and the World Values Survey are the basis of the study. The study thus comprises data of more than 3.3 million persons from more than 150 countries. The data were collected between 1981 and 2017.
Original publication:
National religiosity eases the psychological burden of poverty.
Jana B. Berkessel, Jochen E. Gebauer, Mohsen Joshanloo, Wiebke Bleidorn, Peter J. Rentfrow, Jeff Potter, Samuel D. Gosling
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Sep 2021, 118 (39) e2103913118; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2103913118
Link to the original publication: https://www.pnas.org/content/118/39/e2103913118