Men who go to church services regularly are much happier in their marital relationships compared to those who don't, a new study revealed. However, the same cannot be said for women who regularly attend religious services without their husbands.
The study, conducted by the pro-marriage organisation Institute for Family Studies, revealed that more than 40 percent of couples where only the woman goes to church are unhappy, compared to only 22 percent who are unhappy if only the man attends or both of them attend church services.
If both husband and wife do not attend a service regularly, they have a one-in-three chance of being unhappy, the study said.
The Institute for Family Studies only polled heterosexual couples belonging to Christian denominations.
Bradford Wilcox, who authored the study, believes that churches or temples are the only places where men are encouraged to think about their girlfriends or wives, thus making them happier with their partners.
"Men who attend church, with or without their partner, may especially benefit from the stress that religious institutions often put on fidelity, commitment, and emotional expressiveness," he said.
On the other hand, women attendees are left feeling isolated or pressured by the importance placed by the church on relationships. Wilcox even suspects that women attendees might be coveting fellow church attendees' partners.
"Women who attend alone may be disappointed by how their partners stack up, compared to what they see among their peers in shared-faith marriages and relationships," he said.
At the same time, the study found out that being happy about going to church might not even have anything to do with faith.
"Some of the benefits of religious participation appear to be temporal, not spiritual," said the study, "and hold even for churchgoers who may be uncertain about their own devotion."
