Religiosity and life satisfaction across the life course

Scant attention has been paid to social catalysts of the increase in religi osity in the maturational and aging process. Using the 1988 Gallup Survey, this paper first explores four major measures of religiosity (personal devo tion, participation in public ritual, divine interaction, and preference fo r public or privatized religiosity) for seven age groups. Next, the impact of these religiosity measures on satisfaction with life is assessed for eac h of the major age categories. In light of these findings, the authors move toward developing a theory of religiosity and life course.