Chen hasn't published in four years, and I don't see a single paper title that seems relevant: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=J_LdHBIAAAAJ
"More likely to attend religious services with their parents" was one of their criteria for well-being. Another was the likelihood of attending religious services in adulthood. That's an absurd yardstick for well-being.
The same two authors produced another opinion piece for the WSJ that basically says "marriage makes women happier": https://www.thecollegefix.com/harvard-scholars-marriage-make...
The center where she works ( https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu ), here are two of their upcoming 'workshops':
> World Congress on Moral Injury, Trauma, Spirituality, and Healing
> Early Christianity and Flourishing Workshops
Here's the staff directory for the "institute" at Harvard where the study was done: https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu/our-people
Notice that a rather large number of people in the department came from a religious university or have degrees that are related to religion?
Chen's bio includes:
> Her other work and interests include a) social disparity in the distribution of well-being; b) the biological and behavioral mechanisms linking childhood familial experiences to health in adulthood; c) the influences of religious participation on individuals’ subsequent health and well-being.
And what’s your point about the researchers having a focus on religion? Religion is a major aspect of human society and a proper subject of academic study.
It's an impenetrable nest of variables, confounds, and actors who are deeply invested in their side of the argument on all sides.
As an American with American attitudes, I believe parents should have that right unless there's real neglect going on.