Highly religious Americans are happier and more involved with their families, researchers have found.

A study by the Pew Research Centre discovered that strong believers are more likely to volunteer, more involved in their communities and generally happier with the way things are going in their lives.

Highly religious was classed as those who pray everyday and attend church at least once a week.

However, being religious had no effect on how often people exercised or on the quality of their interpersonal relationships, the study claimed.