{"id":13,"date":"2026-05-18T15:08:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=13"},"modified":"2026-05-18T15:08:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:08:20","slug":"analysis-harvard-global-flourishing-study-compares-latter-day-saints-with-people-of-other-faith-and-no-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=13","title":{"rendered":"Analysis: Harvard Global Flourishing study compares Latter-day Saints with people of other faith and no faith"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Harvard recently released the latest results from their Global Human Flourishing Study, which surveyed over 200,000 people from 22 countries. Employing the highest level of rigor, this study focuses on what is connected with flourishing in individual countries and what is common worldwide. <\/p>\n

Read more Deseret News archives: Mount St. Helens brought the fire and the fumes<\/a><\/p>\n

Flourishing was examined from multiple angles, including happiness, health, meaning, good character, relationships and financial stability. All of these were combined into a single \u201cflourishing index.\u201d <\/p>\n

In line with the overall body of research, their worldwide analyses found that the greater the religious service attendance, the greater the flourishing. <\/p>\n

What about Latter-day Saints? Fortunately, the study included religious affiliation questions, allowing us to see how Latter-day Saints compare in the U.S. and globally. <\/p>\n

In analyzing just the U.S. data here, this study finds that Latter-day Saints scored highly on the flourishing index, statistically tied with several other religions. The lowest levels of flourishing were found in those of no religion, particularly those who were \u201cnever religious\u201d (not raised in a religion and not currently religious).<\/p>\n

As in other studies, this Harvard survey found a significantly higher number of Latter-day Saints reporting they attend religious services at least weekly (65%), with the next highest being Evangelical (59%), Pentecostal\/Charismatic (53%), Baptist (45%) and Presbyterian (37%). <\/p>\n

Latter-day Saint happiness, love and comfort <\/h3>\n

Looking at some specific aspects of flourishing, Latter-day Saints had one of the lowest levels of depression (8.5%) \u2014 two to three times lower than groups measured in the study more distant from faith, including \u201cno religion\u201d (16%) and \u201cAgnostic,\u201d \u201cAtheist\u201d and \u201cNever Religious\u201d (all at 19%). <\/p>\n

Latter-day Saints are also statistically tied with several other conservative Christian faiths for members who were \u201chighly happy\u201d (30%), which was close to double those surveyed in the study more distant from faith, including \u201cno religion\u201d (16%), \u201catheist\u201d (14%), \u201cagnostic\u201d (12%) and \u201cnever religious\u201d (11%). <\/p>\n

Read more Sam Merrill and Donovan Mitchell\u2019s big games help Cavaliers to Eastern Conference Finals<\/a><\/p>\n

Latter-day Saints also had the highest reports of feeling loved by their mother (94%) and their father (90%) while growing up \u2014 about 10 points higher than those more distant from faith, who are 85\u201387% likely to report feeling loved by a mother and 79\u201380% likely to report the same for their father. This is similar to other research that finds religion related to fathers being more positively engaged with their children and less likely to be abusive.<\/p>\n

And they were among the highest for finding strength and comfort from their religion or spirituality (89%). Again, given the overall research finding religion related to greater well-being, these findings are unsurprising. <\/p>\n

Feeling criticized within a faith community<\/h3>\n

One area of curiosity is that Latter-day Saints also reported somewhat higher levels of feeling like their religious community was critical of them (11%). This was statistically identical to several other faiths, including Baptist, Presbyterian, Evangelical and Buddhism, and appears to be a broader issue that many religions are working with. <\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not entirely clear what the finding means. It may be that given higher expectations, Latter-day Saints may perceive (whether real or not) others judging them for not meeting those expectations. But this may also reflect perceived critique from less religiously orthodox members for others being \u201ctoo\u201d religious (\u201cMolly Mormon\u201d) or supporting certain prophetic teachings. <\/p>\n

President Russell M. Nelson spoke directly to this concern when he said, \u201cMy dear brothers and sisters, how we treat each other really matters! \u2026 If a couple in your ward gets divorced, or a young missionary returns home early, or a teenager doubts his testimony, they do not need your judgment. They need to experience the pure love of Jesus Christ reflected in your words and actions.\u201d <\/p>\n

This may be an area Latter-day Saints need to continually work on. At the same time, it does seem many Latter-day Saints are integrating this teaching. That nearly 90% of Latter-day Saints don\u2019t feel criticized means, for the most part, that people are not feeling excessive judgment. And again, this Latter-day Saint level of criticism is not particularly unique across faiths. <\/p>\n

In the end, recent data from one of the best studies finds religion connected with greater flourishing, and Latter-day Saints are no exception. There are certainly areas for Latter-day Saints to improve, and solid research can help us identify and tackle those areas more effectively. As we work to obtain and understand the best data, we can move toward greater flourishing for all. <\/p>\n

Read more Sam Merrill and Donovan Mitchell\u2019s big games help Cavaliers to Eastern Conference Finals<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Latter-day Saints report highest rates of weekly church attendance and among the highest in happiness. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nAnalysis: Harvard Global Flourishing study compares Latter-day Saints with people of other faith and no faith - American Movers Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=13\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Analysis: Harvard Global Flourishing study compares Latter-day Saints with people of other faith and no faith - 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