Protestant and Catholic
women in the United States have grown unhappier since stores have stayed open
on Sundays, according to a study by economists from Israel’s Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev and Chicago’s DePaul University.
The study found that the
repeal of “blue law” restrictions on Sunday shopping has corresponded with
lower church attendance for white women. Meanwhile, the probability of women
becoming unhappy increased by 17 percent.
The study concludes that “an
important part of the decline in women’s happiness during the last three
decades can be explained by decline in religious participation,” said Danny
Cohen-Zada, an economics scholar at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
The researchers analyzed
churchgoing habits of women from the National Opinion Research Center’s General
Social Survey, which has collected information about American characteristics
and attitudes from 1972 to 2008.
They looked at data from
states that have repealed “blue laws” restricting Sunday commerce — Indiana,
Minnesota, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Vermont — compared to
others with no change.
The study followed up on a
2008 study published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, which found that
states that had eliminated blue laws saw church attendance decline while drinking
and drug use increased.
Even when women noticed they
had been happier when malls were closed Sundays, they didn’t resume their
previous church habits, which the researchers speculated was due to a problem
of self-control and the addictive nature of shopping.
“People choose shopping,
like watching TV, because it provides immediate satisfaction,” Cohen-Zada said.
“That satisfaction lasts for the moment it’s being consumed and not much longer
than that. Religious participation, on the other hand, is not immediate.
Instead, it requires persistence over a period of time.”