Rational or Emotional? Church-based Support Exchanges among Congregational Members in Late Life

• In Event: 165 - Section on Sociology of Religion Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 12. Religion and Coping Skills

Abstract

The present study examines patterns of religious social support exchange in later life by drawing from theories of rational choice and exchange. A conceptual model of congregational support provision examines the effects of received support at Time 1 (T1), religious factors and denominational affiliation on support provision at Time 2 (T2), net of significant controls for race, health status, and financial strain. Using panel data from the Religion, Aging & Health Survey [2001, 2004], I examine the influence of religion and the receipt of emotional and instrumental forms of support at T1 on T2 support provision among elderly Americans. Results suggest that receipt of emotional support at T1 is highly associated with the provision of both emotional and instrumental support at T2. Unexpectedly, receiving instrumental support at T1 is predictive of T2 emotional support provision, but not instrumental. Although less pronounced, religious participation and congregational investments are predictive of both emotional and instrumental support provision at T2. Catholics provide less emotional and instrumental support than their Protestant counterparts. In short, initial congregational investments in the form of emotional support yield more robust “returns on investment” thereafter. This study at once affirms and challenges exchange and rational choice models of religious behavior.

Author

• Andrea Liza Ruiz, Pennsylvania State University