We use the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) to discuss the influence of church-going on well-being and get significant estimations that there is a relevant influence. Whereas in the US such analyses are rather common, empirical analysis of the role of religion for individuals are in Europe relatively scarce.

However, there are intervening variables, e.g. different labour market incomes and time-budgets of the pious and the others, who need to be taken into account for a proper estimation on this first level.

In addition, we add hitherto unused regional data to capture some relevant context effects and apply hierarchical modelling. The GSOEP-dataset can be regionalized by either using the regional planning regions (N=97) or the counties/cities-level (N=439).

We have access to two datasets, which can be used on both levels. One is the number of persons belonging to the main (Christian) churches, or who are without any formal religious affiliation. We suppose that here we can see a non-linear effect, where either belonging to a homogenous culture or to a closely-knit diaspora has additional positive effects on well-being.

The other additional data is the regional structure of so-called ‘milieus’. From comprehensive information based on marketing research groups can be destilled, distinguished by value and behaviour patterns (e.g. ‘modern performers’, ‘conservatives’, ‘hedonists’ etc.). Our hypothesis is that certain dominant milieus influence the role religion can play for individuals.