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Religiosity and life satisfaction among old people: Evidence from a transitional country

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Listed:
  • Quang Tran, Tuyen
  • Quy Nguyen, Thanh
  • Vu Van, Huong
  • Thanh Doan, Tinh

Abstract

Using data from the 2011 Vietnam National Aging Survey, we examined whether religion is associated with subjective well-being (i.e. happiness or life satisfaction) among old people in Vietnam. Our regression analysis provided the first evidence that some religious affiliations are negatively related to happiness. Buddhists and Caodaists are less happy than their non-religious counterparts, even after controlling for several household and individual attributes. However, this negative association does not hold for Christians. This finding is robust to the choice of key covariates and specification of econometric models. Our finding supports the hypothesis that religiosity tends to be linked with unhappiness in transitional countries because in these countries those who are religious often consist disproportionately of new, relatively unhappy recruits.

Suggested Citation

  • Quang Tran, Tuyen & Quy Nguyen, Thanh & Vu Van, Huong & Thanh Doan, Tinh, 2015. "Religiosity and life satisfaction among old people: Evidence from a transitional country," MPRA Paper 81360, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Jun 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:81360
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Aging; Elderly; Religiosity; Subjective well-being; Transitional countries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion
    • Z18 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Public Policy

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