According to a recent report in the Journal of Religion and Health, “Measures of religiosity are linked to health outcomes, possibly mediating effects of associated psychological and social factors.”  The researchers examined data from more than 90,000 postmenopausal participants of the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study who answered questions on religious attendance, psychological characteristics, and social support.
The study found that “Women attending services weekly during the past month, compared with those not attending at all in the past month, were less likely to be depressed or characterized by cynical hostility, and more likely to be optimistic.  They were also more likely to report overall positive social support as well as social support of four sybtypes, and were less likely to report social strain.”
–“Psychological and Social Characteristics Associated with Religiosity in Women’s Health Initiative Participants,” by Eliezer Schnall, et. al, was published online on November 9, 2011, and appears in the  Journal of Religion and Health (2012) 51:20-31.