ArticleEvolutionary human sciences2026
Target trial emulation shows that supported causal effects of religious attendance on well-being are selective.
Article in Evolutionary human sciences, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- How work hours affect well-being: A target trial emulation.PloS one · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Religious service attendance is associated with better well-being, but observational associations do not establish causation. We analyse six annual waves of the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study () to estimate causal effects of monthly attendance on 24 well-being indicators using target trial emulation. Deterministic 'make everyone attend' contrasts fail positivity: only 2-3% of non-attenders initiate attendance per year. We therefore estimate supported stochastic interventions () among baseline non-attenders () using a sequentially doubly robust estimator with cross-validated machine learning. Effects are selective: small gains appear in meaning and purpose, forgiveness, and sexual satisfaction, with little movement in somatic health, psychological distress, social belonging, or perceived social support. A comparison exposure (+1 hour per week socialising with others) does not reproduce the pattern. We interpret the selective pattern through a prominent cooperative account of religion: gains concentrate in coordination-relevant domains rather than in direct health pathways.
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Registered trials
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