Associations between religious attendance, social support, and depression in psychiatric patients

Religious attendance and social support have been found to be positively as sociated with mental wellbeing, although this may be threatened by depressi on. Here we studied whether religious attendance was associated with mildne ss of depression and whether social support explained this association amon g 1,179 patients in community mental health services in Kuopio province, I; inland. More women (20%) than men (11%) attended religious events regularly . In logistic regression, mildness of depression (Beck Depression Inventory score less than or equal to 10) was associated with regular religious atte ndance in females but not in males. No higher-degree associations between r eligious attendance, social support, and mild depression were found in logl inear models. Religious attendance may be important in protecting mental we ll-being, but social support is not the explanation.