Got religion?

Going to church regularly may bring contentment, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of studies released earlier this year.

Actively religious people are more likely than less-religious people to describe themselves as “very happy” in almost three-quarters of the 26 countries surveyed. In the United States, for example, 36 percent of the actively religious describe themselves as “very happy,” compared with 25 percent for both the inactively religious and the unaffiliated. Gaps in happiness among these groups also exist in Japan, Australia and Germany, Pew reported.

At the same time, the actively religious are generally less likely than the unaffiliated to smoke and drink, which might suggest that unaffiliated people are the truly happy group.