The study, which looked at data over three decades, reports that a country’s religious values may serve as “a protective factor” against anxiety issues in children and adolescents. Religious faith in society may do more than provide spiritual comfort and moral guidance; it could also help protect against anxiety disorders, according to a recent study published in Developmental Science. It also found that the importance of religious faith in socialization, and its link to interdependence, was associated with fewer anxiety disorders across 70 of the countries examined. So much so that the U.S. data suggested the societyʼs religious norms predicted childrenʼs anxiety better than the motherʼs own beliefs. The global protective factor was not communal values in general but religious faith specifically, which Vaidyanathan called “textbook sociology” of religion.