College students of high religious activity and commitment are in better emotional and mental health than those who have no involvement, according to a University of California-Los Angeles study.

The study consisted of 3,680 third-year college students at 46 diverse colleges and universities.

UCLA researchers found there may be a correlation between religious activity and physical and mental health. The study found students who participate frequently in religious services are less likely to feel overwhelmed during college, while students who do not attend religious services are more than twice as likely to report feeling depressed.

The study also found non-religious students experience a drop in physical health, increase in alcohol consumption and an overall drop in a sense of psychological well being.

Some UW-Madison students are skeptical of the study. Sophomore Katie Rowley, who grew up a Universalist-Unitarian and now identifies as an atheist, said she thought the study was overly general.

“I’m not as spiritually involved as I was when I was younger, but I still find my mental health is good,” she said. “I find myself stronger now mentally and emotionally than I ever have been.”

Others believe the study is valid. Sophomore Ben Stark, a non-practicing Christian, said religion provides something for many students to “fall on” in times of crisis. He added, however, that it could be difficult to measure students’ spirituality.

“People express their spirituality in so many different ways that there’s no way to gauge it across the board,” he said. “You can get a general idea maybe, but I don’t think you can measure it.”

Stark added that spirituality might drop among college students who abandon the faith they feel their parents imposed on them.

Sophomore Anthony Koffman, a practicing Christian, seconded Stark’s thoughts on the study.

“Spiritual people have something to fall back upon,” he said. “Non-spiritual might just give up. Being religious is just another card in the deck to fall back upon.”

Koffman, however, also said religion is not necessarily relevant to mental health.

Other students view religion’s impact on mental health differently. Sophomore Arun Gopalratnam, a Hindu, said Hindus practice religion more in the home than as a religious community. By contrast, he said Christianity focuses on community-based initiatives.

“If you’re religious, you have a clearer idea of what you want to do,” he said, referring to the guidelines many religions provide. “If you feel like you know what you’re doing, you’re [going to] be saner.”

The UCLA study also found strongly religious students hold more politically conservative views of sex, abortion, gay rights and drugs, while they lean in a liberal direction on issues such as gun control and the death penalty.

Koffman said this might be true, especially with Christians, because while many Christians turn to the Bible for political solutions, the Bible does not address subjects such as gun control.

Rowley said making generalizations about political tendencies is unwise, adding that a religious Universalist-Unitarian is probably left-leaning as opposed to socially conservative.