The Demographic Makeup of Congregations and Clergy Mental Health: A Research Note

Abstract

The mental health of religious leaders is a serious concern as the emotional, psychological, and spiritual demands on clergy are incredibly high. These demands, however, are likely to vary by the demographic makeup of the congregation that leaders serve, which leads us to expect that clergy mental health is associated with congregational demographics. In this study, we use recently collected (2020), nationally representative survey data from the primary leaders of religious congregations (N = 636) to examine the associations between congregational demographics—the social class, gender, racial, age, and political makeup of religious congregations—and leaders’ mental health. The most robust finding from the full model is that political incongruence between leaders and attendees is strongly associated with worse mental health for clergy. We conclude with a discussion of what the results mean for the mental health of religious leaders in a time of declining religion, growing political polarization, and high rates of anxiety.