Strong connections to others and to the community protect against a decrease in civic engagement during an economic recession.24 In our whole sample, 72% said they had cut down on their civic engagement; but among frequent participants in religious services, a significant portion (40%) had increased the amount of time they put into volunteering and other civic activities. They responded quite differently from those who attend services less often, only about 20% of whom increased civic engagement by any extent. Regular religious attendees were also more likely to feel their communities responded to the current economic situations by helping each other more. Attendance at religious services appears to provide some protection against declines in civic engagement during tough economic times.

Other indicators of social capital (visiting with friends often, eating together as a family, and belonging to a club) predicted higher levels of engagement after controlling for religious service attendance and demographic factors. We found that regardless of education, age, ethnicity, marital status, or income level, people who are well-connected to their family and friends are far more likely to have increased civic engagement this year.