Americans tend to be happier if they believe in God, poll says

WASHINGTON (TND) — Americans are not a particularly happy bunch, according to a recent Wall Street Journal-NORC poll that recorded the smallest share of people who said they were "very happy" since 1972.

Only 12% of Americans described themselves as "very happy," compared to around 30% just a few years ago, based on the data. Furthermore, the percentage of unhappy people has significantly risen in the past few years.

These numbers beg the question, what makes the 12% of Americans "very happy" and what makes the 30% "not too happy," as they responded in the poll?

According to the WSJ, a high level of happiness comes down to three things: community, age and religion.

Over two-thirds of the poll's respondents who said they were "very happy" said their "belief in God" was "very important" to them. About two-thirds of those who said they were "very happy" also said the same about marriage. Forty percent of those who told the poll they were "very happy" said that "community involvement" was "very important" to them.

Those with strong religious beliefs typically covet close relationships, which was another trait that was most important for the "very happy" group, and less so for the unhappy group, according to WSJ's poll.

Harvard's Study of Adult Development has compounded that finding, the WSJ added. The Harvard study has tracked men and their families since the 1930s, and among their core findings was that a main factor to happiness is having one or two people you feel closely connected to.

The "very happy" also tended to be older in age, which generally has a link to religious adherence and Church attendance. According to Pew Research, 70% of Americans 65 years of age and older believe in God with no reservations, while only 51% of Americans between 18 and 29 do. When it comes to the importance of religion in one's daily life, the difference between the two age groups is even greater.

Moving from the "very happy" group to the "pretty happy" group, belief in God declines, and from the "pretty happy" group to the "not happy" group it declines once again, illustrating the trend between faith and happiness.

Catherine Sanderson, a psychology professor at Amherst College, told The Washington Post that besides a strong social network, religious beliefs "give people a sense of meaning."