The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion wanted to know whether regular church attendance had an impact on emotional well-being. The researchers noticed that "most studies of religious service attendance and emotional well-being are only capable of evaluating 'trait' aspects of religious attendance, or long-term patterns and habits that form an attendance routine." But this group didn't want to know what caused a person to establish a routine. They wanted to know how a routine caused a person to feel.
