Religious observance and well-being among Israeli Jewish adults: Findings from the Israel Social Survey

This study reports on analyses of Jewish respondents (N = 6,056) from the 2009 Israel Social Survey. Multivariable methods were used to investigate whether religiously observant Jews have greater physical and psychological well-being. After adjustment for age and other sociodemographic correlates of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Religions (Basel, Switzerland ) Switzerland ), 2013-12, Vol.4 (4), p.469-484
Main Author: Levin, Jeff
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Health
Israel
Jewish people
Judaism
Polls & surveys
religion
Religious studies
Social psychology
well-being
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Summary:This study reports on analyses of Jewish respondents (N = 6,056) from the 2009 Israel Social Survey. Multivariable methods were used to investigate whether religiously observant Jews have greater physical and psychological well-being. After adjustment for age and other sociodemographic correlates of religion and well-being and for a measure of Israeli Jewish religious identity (i.e., secular, traditional, religious, ultra-Orthodox), two findings stand out. First, greater Jewish religious observance is significantly associated with higher scores on indicators of self-rated health, functional health, and life satisfaction. Second, there is a gradient-like trend such that greater religiousness and life satisfaction are observed as one moves “rightward” across religious identity categories. These findings withstand adjustment for effects of all covariates, including Israeli nativity and Jewish religious identity.
ISSN:2077-1444
2077-1444
DOI:10.3390/rel4040469