Health benefit or burden? Unpacking the dual effects of religious group membership on long COVID prevalence and severity

While religious group membership is often linked to positive health outcomes, it can also influence engagement with health advice in ways that present challenges. The role of religious group membership in long COVID prevalence and severity therefore warrants closer examination. This study used cross-sectional data from Round 11 of the European Social Survey (N = 25,124) across 24 countries. Multilevel multinomial logistic mediation models tested whether the association between religious group membership and long COVID was mediated by two divergent pathways: religious attendance (enactment) and religiosity (significance of beliefs). Results showed that membership was indirectly associated with a lower likelihood of reporting long COVID symptoms via more frequent attendance at religious services. By contrast, greater religiosity was associated with a higher likelihood of reporting persistent symptoms. These findings suggest that the health advantages of religious group membership may lie in opportunities for social connexion.