Happy New Year: "Women who stop church 'put health at risk'"

I've just found this article in The Telegraph. Or, to be honest, on MadPriest's blog. I'm sure there must be a pithy and witty gender-related comment or some reference to Foucault to make on this, but I'm not sure what it is. I just know that week I thought I was going to have to leave my church, I felt exceedingly lonely and drank ridiculous amounts of white wine...

"Researchers say women who let their religious activity lapse are three times more likely to suffer from anxiety or become dependent on alcohol than those who keep their faith active.
However, men who took part in the study and who became less religious in adulthood did not appear to suffer any increase in mental health problems.
Dr Joanna Maselko, the lead study author, of Temple University, Philadelphia, said women suffered more from losing interest in religion because they were more likely to lose friends and social contacts as a result.
Dr Maselko said: "Women are more integrated into the social networks of their religious communities.
"When they stop attending religious services, they lose access to that network and all its potential benefits. Men may not be as integrated into the religious community and so may not suffer the negative consequences of leaving."
Dr Maselko, whose research is published in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, questioned 718 adults.
Among the women, seven per cent of those who had always been active in their religion had symptoms of anxiety disorder.
However, 21 per cent of those who were less religiously active than in their childhood suffered symptoms of anxiety.
They were also three times more likely to have had drinking problems.
This effect was not seen in the men. The survey found male participants who stopped being religiously active were less likely to suffer from serious depression than those who still went to church.
Dr Maselko said: " A person's current level of spirituality is only part of the story. We can only get a better understanding of the relationship between health and spirituality by knowing a person's religious history."