New study Being an atheist not bad fr your mental health

[Perspicuo]

Being an atheist isn't bad for your mental health, new study says
http://www.businessinsider.com/atheism-isnt-bad-for-your-well-being-2015-4

Is being a believer beneficial to one’s mental health? That's the conclusion of much psychological research, which points to both the social support of belonging to a congregation, and the stress-reducing qualities of knowing that a larger force is looking out for you.

But a newly published study challenges those beliefs. Analyzing answers provided by a large and diverse group of participants, it finds “secular and religious adherents have similar levels of mental health.”

The study on APA's Psycnet: http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2015-14529-001/

 

[Perspicuo]

Obviously, Christian researchers have been skewing, screwing and tinkering with the details of their research so as to paint a picture of reality favorable to them and damning on the hated other du jour.

Thou shalt not bear false witness, sure...

 

[fromderinside]

Christians do hop hip.

 

[Underseer]

The reasons those old studies got it wrong is because they were comparing apples to oranges.

Theists are generally part of a church/synagogue/mosque/whatever and thus part of an extrafamilial social environment that they interact with regularly. Atheists on the other hand are often shunned, ostracized, and marginalized and have less social contact with others outside the home. So when these studies compared atheists as a group to theists as a group, they were mostly comparing people who regularly socialize outside the home with people who don't (or don't as much).

When you control for that variable, the differences between atheists and theists disappears.

Bottom line: regularly socializing with people outside your home will make you happier. Humans are a social species, so this should not surprise you.

 

[Perspicuo]

Yes, similar to Evangelicals citing suicide and drug use statistics to argue that homosexuality is pathological. Or blacks and crime, low academic performance and the curious inclination to live in ghettos.

Theory-building is like connect the dots. Sure, bad theories connect them, but good theories connect all the available dots and predict where the next dots should be found.

 

[Speakpigeon]

Bottom line: regularly socializing with people outside your home will make you happier. Humans are a social species, so this should not surprise you.

I will be waiting for studies looking at atheists socialising within communities of believers and vice versa believers socialising within communities of atheists to see if any kind of socialising really makes you happier.

My guess is 'no' but maybe it's only me.
EB

 

[Loren Pechtel]

An eternity in hell isn't going to do bad things to your mind?!?!

 

[bilby]

An eternity in hell isn't going to do bad things to your mind?!?!

It hasn't really affected me yet.

 

[thentian]

It is good for your mental health to be religious, and it is also good for it to be atheist!

Presumably, then, what is bad for your mental health is to be both religious and atheist at the same time. Yes, I can see how that might be the case!