The Salience of Religion Under an Atheist State: Implications for Subjective Well-Being in Contemporary China

Abstract

We examine the linkage between religious involvement and life satisfaction among adults in contemporary China, a largely nonreligious society. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (2012, 2014, and 2016), we conduct latent class analysis by using four indicators of religious involvement, including membership of religious groups, types of religion, frequency of participation, and evaluation of importance of religion in life. We classify the sample into four latent classes: (1) the pure nonreligious, (2) the nonreligious, but with some spirituality, (3) Chinese-religion adherent, and (4) organized religion adherent. Results from our fixed-effect models show that Chinese-religion and organized-religion adherents have higher levels of life satisfaction than those with no religious beliefs. Moreover, the disadvantaged groups benefit more from religious involvement in China, as evidenced by the stronger positive effect of religious adherence found among rural residents and individuals in the lowest income quartile. We discuss the benefits of religion both in terms of its public/social and private/intrinsic aspects and situate our findings in the larger social context of China.