The Cost of Belonging—and Leaving: Structure, Predictors, and Mental Health Outcomes of Costly Religious Exits

Leaving a high-demand religion is often psychologically costly, yet most research focuses on simple outcomes rather than the structure and mechanisms of costly exit experiences. This study examined mental health outcomes associated with high-cost religious exits. Participants (N = 1221) had left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS; n = 426), ultra-Orthodox Judaism (n = 292), fundamentalist Evangelical Christian (n = 279), and moderate/liberal Christian traditions (n = 209). Using a dimensional-categorical spectrum approach, results supported a single dimension of costly experiences composed of summed costs of leaving, negative exit experiences, spiritual harms and abuses, gender discrimination, religious/spiritual struggles, and demonic spiritual struggles. Higher costliness was predicted by religion of origin, gender, and sexual orientation. More intense costly experiences were associated with both higher PTSD symptoms and greater posttraumatic growth (PTG). Religious background moderated both outcomes: costly experiences predicted the highest PTSD among ultra-Orthodox Jewish individuals and was also elevated among LDS and fundamentalist evangelical participants, while ultra-Orthodox Jewish and fundamentalist evangelical participants reported less growth from their costly experiences. Gender moderated the relationship between costly experiences and PTG but not PTSD, with women experiencing less growth from their costly experiences. Sexual minority status moderated the relationship between costly experiences and PTSD, but not PTG. Overall, results suggest that the costly experiences associated with deidentification from high-demand religions begin not at exit, but during membership, and are strongly linked to both PTSD symptoms and PTG — with demographic moderators.