Does Religious Service Attendance Condition the Link between Relationship Status and Mattering to Others? Evidence From the United States during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Social mattering is the extent to which an individual feels important and valued by others. While some previous studies have assessed the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics and mattering, the association between relationship status and mattering has been vastly understudied. And while sociologists of religion have recognized the importance of religiosity for mattering, this link has not been studied alongside demographic patterns in mattering. To overcome these limitations, we draw on data from Wave 6 of the 2021 Baylor Religion Survey, a nationally representative survey of adults living in the United States ( N = 1,248) collected roughly one year into the COVID-19 pandemic. We test our hypotheses with OLS regression models. Our findings suggest that single/never married and divorced/separated respondents report lower perceptions of mattering than the married/cohabiting group. While we observed no significant association between religious attendance and mattering, results suggest that regular (weekly) religious attendance weakened the association between being single/never married and divorced/separated and lower mattering. Single/never married respondents and divorced/separated persons who attend religious services weekly report the highest mattering scores, even relative to married weekly attenders. We also offer several important directions for future research on this topic.