No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
SPIRITUALITY, RELIGIOSITY AND WELL-BEING RELATIONSHIP IN EARLY ADULTHOOD: TESTING DIRECT AND INDIRECT EFFECT VIA MEANING IN LIFE
Abstract
The study explored the impact of religiosity and spirituality indicators on the subjective, social and psychological well-being of individuals aged 18 to 45 years both directly and indirectly through meaning in life. A total of 199 Bulgarians took part in the study (Mage = 27.58; SD = 8.71; 82.4% females). The instruments of the study were: Brief Mental Health Continuum Short, Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiosity and Spirituality, Meaning in Life Questionnaire. Analyses showed that spiritual forgiveness predicted all domains of well-being and religious support predicted subjective well-being, all performing positive small effects. Meaning in life acted as full mediator in the relationship between daily spiritual experiences, religious support, forgiveness and all the domains of well-being. Meaning in life partially mediated the relationships between religious support and subjective well-being as well as between forgiveness and social well-being. The findings address that religiosity-based social support, daily transcendent experiences, and forgiving to oneself and the others promote well-being in early adulthood, and the underlying mechanism can be explained by meaning in life. Practical implications of the findings and directions for future research were discussed.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
This chapter analyzes the relationship between religiosity, spirituality, and well-being in emerging adulthood. A primary contribution of this analysis is an examination of possible mediators. The examined mediators are satisfaction with life, meaning in life, and perceived health. Participants in the study are 319 Romanian social sciences students, aged between 18 and 24 (Mage = 19,87, SDage = 1,39), urban (82%), mostly female (76%), and orthodox (74%). The results of the study confirm that religiosity and spirituality are important protective factors. Well-being is higher for emerging adults who rate their mental health highly, and this appears to mediate the religiosity-well-being relationship. Implications for therapeutic practice and communication between counselors and clients are discussed at the end of the paper.
The COVID-19 pandemic infection control measures severely impacted mental well-being, allowing insight into possible protective parameters. With religion playing a role during challenging times, this study investigated theism and religiosity on the mental well-being of university students during the COVID19 pandemic and how social support and resilience can mediate this effect. One hundred eighty-five university students between 17 and 42 years old responded to online surveys on their theism, religious affiliations, religiosity, well-being, perceived support, and resilience. Pearson’s correlations and single and sequential mediation analyses showed that theism did not significantly predict well-being (r = 0.049), but religiosity mediated the relationship (r = 0.432, effect size = 0.187). Sequential mediation analysis showed that resilience did not mediate the relationship between religiosity and well-being, but perceived social support significantly positively mediated religiosity and well-being with an effect size of 0.079. The findings reveal that factors, such as religiosity and social support could thus aid in the mental well-being of future challenging times such as the pandemic.
This research aimed to measure the contributing role of resilience and forgiveness in the mental wellbeing of university students with mindfulness as a mediator. A total sample of 1527 postgraduate university students was selected using multistage random sampling from 10 public sector universities in Punjab, Pakistan. Four questionnaires were used to measure the data; the Brief Resilience Scale, the Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised, Heartland Forgiveness Scale, and Mental Health Inventory. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS (Version 25) and AMOS (Version 24). The results showed that resilience and forgiveness found significant positive association with mental wellbeing and psychological wellbeing. Also, resilience and forgiveness revealed a negative relationship with psychological distress. The results of mediation analysis using Structural Equation Modeling showed that resilience and forgiveness confirmed direct and indirect predicting effects on mental wellbeing. However, mindfulness established significant partial mediation between resilience and mental wellbeing. Similarly, mindfulness found significant partial mediation between forgiveness and mental wellbeing. The findings of the present research suggest that resilience and forgiveness contribute as protective factors for mental wellbeing among university students. While mindfulness has a mediating role in the relationship of resilience and forgiveness with mental wellbeing. The results of this research have important contributions in practical implications for the consideration of clinical psychologists, educationists, mental health professionals, and parents.
Keywords: Resilience, Forgiveness, Mental Wellbeing, Mindfulness, University Students.
Human engagement with religion and spirituality is pervasive across the world, yet the extent to which religious and/or spiritual involvement promotes well-being is controversial theoretically and empirically. In the largest meta-analysis of religion/spirituality and life satisfaction to date (k = 256, N = 666,085), an overall effect size was computed (r = .18; 95% CI .16–.19; p < .01). Five dimensions of religion/spirituality were then examined separately to gauge their relationships with life satisfaction. Each dimension of religion/spirituality was significantly and positively associated with life satisfaction: religiosity (r = .16, 95% CI .14–.17, p < .01), spirituality (r = .30, 95% CI .25–.35, p < .01), religious attendance (r = .11, 95% CI .09–.13, p < .01), religious practices (r = .14, 95% CI .10–.18, p < .01), and religious/spiritual experiences (r = .29, 95% CI .24–.33, p < .01). The overall effect was moderated by several study-related variables, with a stronger relationship found in samples with higher average age, in more recent studies, in developing nations, and in countries with a higher percentage of people who consider religion very important in their lives. The theoretical and practical implications of the meta-analysis are discussed.
The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N = 10, 535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered
normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage
procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported b = 0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported b = 0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates.
The most unique aspect of religiosity/spirituality (R/S), supernatural beliefs, and their relationship with SWB has hardly been examined. This study explores the relationship between six R/S supernatural beliefs and SWB, in a case-based comparative cross-national design including two religious and two secular nations. Data were obtained from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) Religion IV module from the religious countries of the USA (n = 1060) and Turkey (n = 1353) and the secular countries of Denmark (n = 1281) and Czech Republic (n = 1112). SWB was measured as happiness and self-rated health. Statistical analyses were performed using binary logistic regression models replicated across countries. Results indicated that the American sample showed no evidence of relationships between R/S and SWB outcomes capable of improving the model over demographic and service attendance covariates. In Turkey, some R/S beliefs were found to be statistically significantly related to SWB, with positive and negative associations with happiness. No associations were found in the secular countries. Findings were discussed in the light of previous research and interpreted from a terror management theory perspective.
The Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES) is a 16-item self-report measure designed to assess a set of experiences that may occur in the context of daily life for many different kinds of people. These include awe, a merciful attitude, giving other-centered love, deep inner peace, finding strength, guidance, or consolation from a transcendent source, among others. The DSES includes theistic and non-theistic language and alternatives, and has proven useful for those from many religions and for the unaffiliated. Since its original publication, it has been translated into over 40 languages, used in hundreds of published studies, and adopted for use in many practical settings. Empirically, the DSES predicts greater resilience, stress buffering, post-traumatic growth, and a sense of meaning in the face of illness, trauma, and daily stressors, as well as less substance abuse and burnout. Intervention studies using the DSES show that a variety of interventions can increase the frequency of these experiences. In this article, we will provide a brief overview of the scale and review its use in the empirical literature with respect to resilience and related outcomes. Findings suggest that the experiences measured by the DSES may serve as a resource for those experiencing distress of various kinds.
Spirituality and religiousness are important factors for adolescents wellbeing. Little is known about the mechanisms underlying the positive relationship between spirituality as well as religiousness and subjective wellbeing. This study aimed to verify, whether, in a sample of Chilean students, religiousness is indirectly related to hope through spiritual experiences, and whether spiritual experiences are indirectly related to subjective wellbeing via hope. The sample consisted of 177 Chilean students and the following measures were applied: the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale, the Herth Hope Index, the Satisfaction With Life Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and one item measuring the frequencies of prayer and Mass attendance. According to obtained results religiousness was indirectly, positively related to hope through spiritual experiences. In turn spiritual experiences were indirectly , positively related to subjective wellbeing through hope. Conducted research confirmed the beneficial role of religious practices, spiritual experiences, and hope for Chilean students' subjective wellbeing and the presence of mechanisms underlying the relationships between religiousness as well as spirituality and subjective wellbeing.
The present study examines and explores the indirect effects of intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity on well-being, namely self-esteem and life satisfaction, through presence of and search for meaning in life, and its gender difference among adolescents. 301 girls and 395 boys from Hong Kong participated in this cross-sectional survey study. Independent t-test, correlation and four mediation model analyses with a bootstrap of 5000 samples were conducted. Girls score higher in extrinsic religiosity (personal) and search for meaning in life; lower in self-esteem compared with boys. Presence of meaning in life was found to positively mediate the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic personal religiosity on self-esteem and life satisfaction for boys but is not significant for girls. However, intrinsic religiosity promotes higher search for meaning in life, which in turn lowers self-esteem only for girls. The indirect effect of extrinsic social religiosity on well-being was not significant for both genders. Finding suggests that boys benefit more from religiosity on well-being.
The objective of this meta-analysis was to determine the longitudinal positive effect of religion or spirituality (R/S) on mental health. We summarized 48 longitudinal studies (59 independent samples) using a random effects model. Mental health was operationalized as a continuous and a dichotomous distress measure, life satisfaction, well-being, and quality of life. R/S included participation in public and private religious activities, support from church members, importance of religion, intrinsic religiousness, positive religious coping, meaningfulness, and composite measures. The meta-analysis yielded a significant, but small overall effect size of r = .08 (95% CI: 0.06 to 0.10). Of eight R/S predictors that were distinguished, only participation in public religious activities and importance of religion were significantly related to mental health (r = .08 and r = .09, respectively; 95% CI: 0.04 to 0.11 and 0.05 to 0.12, respectively). In conclusion, there is evidence for a positive effect of R/S on mental health, but this effect is small.
Most studies report positive associations between religiosity and spirituality and aspects of mental health, while a small proportion report mixed or fully negative associations. The aim of this study was to assess the associations of religiosity measured more specifically, with mental health in a secular environment, using a nationally representative sample of Czech adults (n = 1795). We measured religious affiliation, conversion experience, non-religious attitudes and the stability of these attitudes, mental health problems, and anxiety levels. Compared to stable non-religious respondents, unstable non-religious and converted respondents who perceived God as distant were more likely to experience anxiety in close relationships, and had higher risks of worse mental health. Our findings support the idea that the heterogeneity of findings in associations between religiosity/spirituality and mental health could be due to measurement problems and variation in the degree of secularity. A shift towards religiosity could be expected to be seen in a substantial part of non-religious respondents in problematic times.
Spirituality and religiosity have been found to be positive predictors of subjective well-being, even if results are not altogether consistent across studies. This mixed evidence is probably due to the inadequate operationalization of the constructs as well as the neglect of the moderation effect that the individuals’ religious status can have on the relation between spirituality/religiosity and subjective well-being. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship of spirituality and religiosity with subjective well-being (operationalized as both life satisfaction and balance between positive and negative affect) and to test whether differences exist according to individuals’ religious status (religious, non-religious, and uncertain). Data were collected from 267 Italian adults aged 18–77 (M = 36.68; SD = 15.13), mainly women (59.9%). In order to test the role of spirituality (operationalized as Purpose, Innerness, Interconnection, and Transcendence) and religiosity (operationalized as three dimensions of the religious identity: Commitment, In-depth Exploration, and Reconsideration of Commitment) in subjective well-being, two path analysis models were run, one for each predictor. To test the invariance of the two models across the individuals’ religious status, two multi-group models were run. The models concerning spirituality were tested on the entire sample, finding that spirituality had a positive impact on subjective well-being (except for the dimension of Interconnection) and that this relation is unaffected by the individual’s religious status. The models concerning religiosity were instead tested only on religious and uncertain, finding that the relationship between religiosity and subjective well-being changes across religious status. In particular, the main difference we found was that religious identity commitment positively predicted satisfaction with life among religious, but not among uncertain individuals. An interpretation of the results and their implications are discussed.
We present a study of the dimensionality and factorial invariance of religiosity for 26 countries with a Christian heritage, based on the 1998 and 2008 rounds of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) Religion survey, using both exploratory and multi-group confirmatory factor analyses. The results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that three factors, common to Christian and religiously unaffiliated respondents, could be extracted from our initially selected items and suggested the testing of four different three-factor models using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. For the model with the best fit and measurement invariance properties, we labeled the three resulting factors as “Beliefs in afterlife and miracles”, “Belief and importance of God” and “Religious involvement.” The first factor is measured by four items related to the Supernatural Beliefs Scale (SBS-6); the second by three items related to belief in God and God’s perceived roles as a supernatural agent; and the third one by three items with the same structure found in previous cross-cultural analyses of religiosity using the European Values Survey (ESS) and also by belief in God. Unexpectedly, we found that one item, belief in God, cross-loaded on to the second and third factors. We discussed possible interpretations for this finding, together with the potential limitations of the ISSP Religion questionnaire for revealing the structure of religiosity. Our tests of measurement invariance across gender, age, educational degree and religious (un)affiliation led to acceptance of the hypotheses of metric- and scalar-invariance for these groupings (units of analysis). However, in the measurement invariance tests across the countries, the criteria for metric invariance were met for twenty-three countries only, and partial scalar invariance was accepted for fourteen countries only. The present work shows that the exploration of large multinational and cross-cultural datasets for studying the dimensionality and invariance of social constructs (in our case, religiosity) yields useful results for cross-cultural comparisons, but is also limited by the structure of these datasets and the way specific items are coded.
There has been increased interest in the relationships between religiosity, meditation practice and well-being, but there is lack of understanding as to how specific religious components and distinct meditation practices could influence different positive and negative psychological adjustment outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess the explanatory power of religious beliefs and the practice of prayer, focused attention (FA), open monitoring (OM), and compassion meditation (CM) on psychological adjustment, taking into consideration a number of practice-related variables such as session length, frequency of practice and lifetime practice. Psychological adjustment was assessed by means of happiness, positive affect, depression, negative affect, and emotional overproduction. A cross-sectional design was used, with a final sample comprising 210 Spanish participants who completed an online assessment protocol. Hierarchical regressions were performed, including age, sex and psychotropic medication use in the first step as possible confounders, with the addition of religious beliefs and the practice of prayer, FA, OM, and CM in the second step. FA session length was related to all psychological adjustment outcomes: happiness (ΔR² = 0.09, p = 0.002; β = 0.25, p = 0.001), positive affect (ΔR² = 0.09, p = 0.002; β = 0.18, p = 0.014), depression (ΔR² = 0.07, p = 0.004; β = -0.27, p < 0.001), negative affect (ΔR² = 0.08, p = 0.007; β = -0.27, p < 0.001) and emotional overproduction (ΔR² = 0.07, p = 0.013; β = -0.23, p = 0.001). CM session length was related to positive affect (β = 0.18, p = 0.011). CM practice frequency was associated with happiness (ΔR² = 0.06, p = 0.038; β = 0.16, p = 0.041). Lifetime practice of FA was related to happiness (ΔR² = 0.08, p = 0.007; β = 0.21, p = 0.030) and OM to emotional overproduction (ΔR² = 0.08, p = 0.037; β = -0.19, p = 0.047). Religious beliefs and prayer seemed to be less relevant than meditation practices such as FA, OM, and CM in explaining psychological adjustment. The distinct meditation practices might be differentially related to distinct psychological adjustment outcomes through different practice-related variables. However, research into other forms of institutional religiosity integrating social aspects of religion is required.
The Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES; Underwood & Teresi, 2002) has been used in hundreds of investigations to study the role of everyday spiritual experiences in the lives of the not religious nor spiritual (NRS), spiritual but not religious (SNR), and religious and spiritual (RS). However, there is a lack of measurement equivalence/invariance (ME/I) evidence to support the use of the DSES to compare these three groups. The present study (N = 1,623 U.S. adults) sought to (a) identify the most appropriate factor structure for the DSES within samples of NRS, SNR, and RS persons, (b) examine the ME/I of the DSES factor(s) across the three groups, and (c) investigate the relationship between the DSES and common measures of well-being (e.g., meaning in life, satisfaction with life, physical health, and mental health). Our results indicate that the DSES measured the same 2 independent daily spiritual experience constructs when used with SNR and RS participants but a different array of inadequately defined daily spiritual experience constructs among the NRS participants. This raises questions about the utility of using the DSES with NRS samples and provides evidence that the DSES conforms to a bifactor, rather than unidimensional, structure among SNR and RS participants. Lastly, our findings paint a complex picture of the relationship between daily spiritual experiences and well-being across these 3 groups, such that daily spiritual experiences are not always associated with enhanced well-being. Implications for research and practice use, scoring, and interpretation of the DSES across these 3 groups are discussed.
This study used multi-level modeling in a sample of 952,739 adults across 150 countries to investigate age differences in demographic, psychological, and social predictors of life satisfaction. Based on percentiles of age distribution, the sample was categorized into five age groups (15–24, 25–33, 34–43, 44–57, and ⩾58). The predictors were generally more effective in predicting life satisfaction in older groups (i.e. age ⩾34 years) than in younger groups (i.e. age ⩽33 years). Although the determinants of life satisfaction were generally consistent across the lifespan, the study unraveled differences in the predictive power of some of the predictors across the age groups.
Objective
To evaluate the impact of religiosity on subjective life satisfaction and perceived academic stress in undergraduate pharmacy students.
Materials and Methods
This 1-month descriptive study focused on pharmacy students of a public-sector university and used three survey questionnaires. The questionnaires included: the Duke University Religion Index to assess religiosity, Subjective Happiness Scale for documenting subjective happiness of life, and Perceived Stress Scale for evaluation of perceived stress due to academic load. The data were analyzed through Statistical Package for Social Services software, version 22. Chi-square test, Pearson’s correlation, and logistic regression were used. Study was exempted from ethical review.
Result
Subjective happiness was positively (+) correlated with non-organized religious activity and intrinsic religiosity (P < 0.01). Perceived stress score reported negative (–) correlation with organized religious activity (P < 0.05). Female students appeared more stressed (P < 0.05).
Conclusion
Religiosity may enhance life satisfaction and may relieve academic stress in pharmacy students.
Religion has been implicated as a powerful contributor to physical and mental well-being across the life span; however, its links to aspects of identity and individual differences often obscure its unique contributions. Few empirical efforts have attempted to disentangle the components of religion, particularly its social and personality-related qualities, that might account for its impact. This study examined several domains of religion as contributors to mental health, distinct from personality. A sample of emerging adults ( n = 509) reported on these constructs along with measures of depression, anxiety, aggression, satisfaction with life, and flourishing. As hypothesized, hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that higher levels of religiosity were associated with better mental health outcomes above and beyond demographic characteristics and personality, and religious doubt was associated with poorer outcomes. Religiosity also differed as a function of gender and ethnicity. Clinical implications of these results are discussed along with recommendations for further research.
Objective:
To assess associations between subjective well-being (SWB), religiosity, anxiety and other factors in a sample of Brazilian medical students from a public university in northeastern Brazil.
Methods:
The present study followed a cross-sectional, observational, analytical approach. Data were collected by administering a self-applicable questionnaire composed of questions focused on sociodemographic data and based on the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWL), Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), and the Duke Religiosity Index (DUREL).
Results:
The sample comprised 417 medical school students (73.54% of all the enrolled students). The medical students assessed presented a medium level of satisfaction with life, low mean positive emotion levels and high anxiety/uneasiness levels. Surprisingly, lower anxiety and intrinsic religiosity (IR) scores were associated with higher scores in the two SWB parameters (positive emotions and satisfaction with life). Furthermore, the factors leisure activities, good sleep quality, financial support, age, and gender were associated with the highest SWB scores (with emotional and cognitive components, or with only one of these two components).
Conclusions:
Data in the current study corroborated the negative association between SWB and anxiety; however, in opposition to the literature, they also evidenced a negative association between SWB and IR. In addition, the present research signaled the need for creating preventive intervention programs to increase SWB through positive psychological techniques and/or to decrease anxiety by applying, for instance, cognitive-behavioral therapy paradigms and/or mindfulness techniques to medical students.
Objective
Previous research has demonstrated a robust relationship between religion and well‐being, and it has been proposed that positive emotions are important mediators of this effect. Yet the mechanism via which religion promotes positive emotions has not been widely studied. We sought to examine whether teleological explanations of daily events and resulting positive emotions serially mediated the effects of religion on well‐being.
Method
These hypotheses were tested over three studies. In study 1, participants completed measures of religiousness and well‐being, and explained and described three recent personally significant events and their resulting emotions. Studies 2 and 3 adopted an ecological momentary assessment approach to measure teleological explanations, resulting emotions, and well‐being in almost real time.
Results
In study 1, teleological explanations and positive emotions serially mediated the effects of religiousness on well‐being. In study 2, momentary teleological explanations of daily events mediated the positive relationship between religiousness and the momentary positive emotions. In Study 3, serial mediation of the relationship between religiousness and momentary well‐being by momentary teleological explanations and positive emotions was observed.
Conclusions
These results provide evidence of the importance of teleological explanations of daily events in religious enhancement of well‐being.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Objectives
Religion plays an important role in the lives of people in the United States. We examined the prevalence of religiosity among Hispanic/Latinos in four regions of the United States and looked at its correlation to depression and anxiety symptoms.
Design
The population-based Hispanic Community Health Study/ Study of Latinos enrolled a cohort of Hispanic/Latino adults (N = 16,415) ages 18–74 in four US cities from June 2008 to June 2011. Participants with complete data on religiosity (i.e., religious affiliation, frequency of attending religious activities and importance of religion), depression (assessed with the CESD-10), and trait anxiety (assessed with the STAI-10) were included in the present study. Distribution of religiosity is described by sociodemographic characteristics. Associations between religiosity with depression and anxiety were examined with logistic regression models controlling for sex, age group, education, Hispanic/Latino background, clinical center, and nativity.
Results
The majority of the population (89.5%) reported having a religious affiliation. Weekly attendance at religious activities was reported by 41.6% of participants, while 20.6% did not attend any religious activities. Religion was very important to 63.9% and not at all important to 6.7% of the population. The CES-D scores and trait anxiety scores were not significantly related in the overall group to frequency of attending religious activity or perceived importance of religion. However, in age-stratified analyses, among older individuals (65+ years old) reporting “never” participating in religious activities compared to more than once per week was associated with an 80% higher likelihood of having high depressive symptomatology. Similarly, in the older age group, no religious affiliation or reporting that religion is “not at all important” was associated with greater anxiety symptomatology.
Conclusion
Religiosity varied by Hispanic/Latino background. Lack of religiosity was associated with elevated depressive or anxiety symptomology in older adults but not in young or middle-aged adults.
The goal of this study was to extend the existing literature regarding the intersection between belief systems shaping psychological processes and subjective well-being among emerging adults. A nationwide sample of 3966 college students reported on their political affiliation, spirituality, and religiosity in relation to their subjective well-being. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that politically conservative participants were significantly more optimistic and satisfied with life than their liberal counterparts and Republican emerging adults reported significantly higher life satisfaction than Democrats. Republican emerging adults also reported significantly higher rates of religiosity and spirituality than Democratic and Independent politically affiliated emerging adults. Our findings corroborate and expand upon existing literature regarding belief systems and political identity as determinants of subjective well-being in emerging adults.
Happiness is a feeling that is desired by every human being. To achieve happiness, human try various routes like, to gain financial superiority, fame, entertainment, assets and so on. But on the contrary, religiosity is claimed to be a technique to attain purpose in life, mental health, physical well-being and internal peace, which ultimately leads to happiness in life. This study analyses the studies conducted in last two decades toward understanding the relationship between religiousness and happiness. These studies have been organised in terms of the religions, geographic locations, scales and significance. The study shows that the claim has proven to be true by a vast majority of the surveys irrespective of religion, gender, nationality or race. Although Muslims seems to be the happiest, it requires further verification.
Despite the extensive literature assessing associations between religiosity/spirituality and health, few studies have investigated the clinical applicability of this evidence. The purpose of this paper was to assess the impact of religious/spiritual interventions (RSI) through randomized clinical trials (RCTs). Method A systematic review was performed in the following databases: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Cochrane Collaboration, Embase and SciELO. Through the use of a Boolean expression, articles were included if they: (i) investigated mental health outcomes; (ii) had a design consistent with RCTs. We excluded protocols involving intercessory prayer or distance healing. The study was conducted in two phases by reading: (1) title and abstracts; (2) full papers and assessing their methodological quality. Then, a meta-analysis was carried out.
Through this method, 4751 papers were obtained, of which 23 remained included. The meta-analysis showed significant effects of RSI on anxiety general symptoms (p < 0.001) and in subgroups: meditation (p < 0.001); psychotherapy (p = 0.02); 1 month of follow-up (p < 0.001); and comparison groups with interventions (p < 0.001). Two significant differences were found in depressive symptoms: between 1 and 6 months and comparison groups with interventions (p = 0.05). In general, studies have shown that RSI decreased stress, alcoholism and depression.
RCTs on RSI showed additional benefits including reduction of clinical symptoms (mainly anxiety). The diversity of protocols and outcomes associated with a lack of standardization of interventions point to the need for further studies evaluating the use of religiosity/spirituality as a complementary treatment in health care.
This article discusses some problems of Christian-Muslim dialogue in postcommunist Bulgaria. It reveals the difficulty most people have in distinguishing the religious from the national and the secular from the atheist. It points to a tendency to regard the revival of minority religions, especially Islam, chiefly in terms of a threat to national unity. It also sheds light on the discrepancy between the high degree of tolerance of Orthodox rituals shared by the majority of Bulgarian citizens and the prevailing concerns about religious teachings of any kind as endangering scientific knowledge.
Counseling psychologists often work with clients to increase their well-being as well as to decrease their distress. One important aspect of well-being, highlighted particularly in humanistic theories of the counseling process, is perceived meaning in life. However, poor measurement has hampered research on meaning in life. In 3 studies, evidence is provided for the internal consistency, temporal stability, factor structure, and validity of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), a new 10-item measure of the presence of, and the search for, meaning in life. A multitrait-multimethod matrix demonstrates the convergent and discriminant validity of the MLQ subscales across time and informants, in comparison with 2 other meaning scales. The MLQ offers several improvements over current meaning in life measures, including no item overlap with distress measures, a stable factor structure, better discriminant validity, a briefer format, and the ability to measure the search for meaning.
Well-being is a complex construct that concerns optimal experience and functioning. Current research on well-being has been derived from two general perspectives: the hedonic approach, which focuses on happiness and defines well-being in terms of pleasure attainment and pain avoidance; and the eudaimonic approach, which focuses on meaning and self-realization and defines well-being in terms of the degree to which a person is fully functioning. These two views have given rise to different research foci and a body of knowledge that is in some areas divergent and in others complementary. New methodological developments concerning multilevel modeling and construct comparisons are also allowing researchers to formulate new questions for the field. This review considers research from both perspectives concerning the nature of well-being, its antecedents, and its stability across time and culture.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the structure and measurement invariance of the religious identity, religious practice, and religious beliefs across cultures in six world regions (Asia, non-Western Europe, North America, Oceania, South America, and Western Europe) and across Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic regions (WEIRD) and non-WEIRD world regions. Confirmatory factory analysis examined whether the hypothesized measurement model fits the data; several multi-group confirmatory factor analyses were performed to examine measurement invariance through a progressive analytic strategy involving three invariance conditions of configural, metric, and scalar invariance. The results generally supported the adequate fit to the data of the three correlated factors model (religious identity-RII, religious practice-RPI, and religious beliefs—RBI); it was found to be full metric invariance for WEIRD regions (RII), North America (RII and RBI), Western Europe (RII) and Non-Western Europe (RII), and South America (RII and RBI). Finally, for RII, it was found to be full configural invariance in almost all regions, except North America and Oceania; for RPI, it was found to be full configural only in North America and Non-WEIRD regions; and for RBI, it was found to be full configural only in North America, Asia, and South America, being that women scored significantly higher than men in all three indices all over the world; finally, it was found to be configural, but not metric or scalar invariance across WEIRD and non-WEIRD world regions.
A sample of emerging adults (N = 188; mean age = 22.58 years) at a large public university in the United States participated in survey research investigating the relationship of several religious variables to academic and psychosocial well-being. Analyses indicated that self-rated religiosity, frequency of attendance at religious services, frequency of prayer, and having a sense of mission or calling for one’s life were all related to a better mood. At the same time, participants with higher grade point averages were more likely to report attending religious services more frequently and to agree that their lives unfolded according to a divine or greater plan. Finally, the analysis showed that: (1) participants who agreed that their lives unfold according to a divine or greater plan had lower anxiety scores, and (2) frequency of prayer was related to having goals or a more solid sense of direction for one’s life.
The pressured experienced due to COVID-19 for young people has become clearly visible in the domain of well-being. Although the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on emerging adults have been examined, little is known about the role played by risk perception and religiosity for their well-being. In addition, the mediating effects of meaning-making and perceived stress still need to be investigated. A total of 316 emerging adults (143 males and 173 females) participated in the present study. Using structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, we showed that the relationship of risk perception of COVID-19 and religiosity with subjective well-being was largely mediated by meaning-making and perceived stress. However, their mediational roles were different and depended on the interplay of perceptual and religious factors, which can be more fully understood within the meaning-making model. Emerging adults tend to rely on both their personal evaluation of COVID-related risks and religious beliefs to the extent that it helps them understand current life situations and restore cognitive and emotional balance.
This article reports a meta-analysis on the relationship between forgiveness and subjective well-being. After searching and screening the literature, a total of 83 studies involving 39,104 participants were included in the analysis. Using the random-effects model, results indicated that people with forgiveness had higher subjective well-being, greater life satisfaction, more positive emotions, and fewer negative emotions. The relationship between personality tendency forgiveness and negative emotion was regulated by gender. Specifically, the higher the proportion of females in personality tendency forgiveness, the weaker the relationship between personality tendency forgiveness and negative emotion.
Previous research finds an association between spirituality and subjective well-being. However, the widespread use of poorly defined concepts of spirituality, tautological spirituality scales, and heavy reliance on cross-sectional samples cast doubts on prior findings. Here, we leverage ten waves of panel data from a nationally diverse longitudinal study to systematically test whether having spiritual beliefs leads to growth in personal well-being and life satisfaction ( N = 3257, New Zealand, 2010–2020). Contrary to previous research, we find that belief in a spirit or life force predicts lower personal well-being and life satisfaction. However, in support of previous speculation, belief (relative to disbelief) in a spirit or life force predicts increasing personal well-being and life satisfaction over time. These findings are robust even while accounting for known demographic influences; they even hold among those who believe in a God but disbelieve in a spirit or life force. The recent growth in spiritual beliefs and decline in traditional religion across many industrial societies motivates further causal investigations of the mechanisms by which spiritual beliefs lead to growth in subjective well-being.
This research explored the moderating role of age in the relationships between time perspective and meaning in life in Chinese adults. The Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (short version) and the Meaning in Life Questionnaire were distributed to 334 participants aged 18–65 who were divided into three groups: emerging (aged 18–24), young (aged 25–44), and middle-aged (aged 45–65). Our results indicated that middle-aged adults showed a higher present-hedonistic time perspective and a lower future time perspective than young adults. Middle-aged adults also had a higher presence of meaning in life and a lower search for meaning in life than emerging adults. Importantly, the relationship between time perspective and search for meaning in life was moderated by age. For emerging and young adults, the future time perspective was positively related to the search for meaning in life. In contrast, for middle-aged adults, the present-hedonistic time perspective was positively related to the search for meaning in life, and the future time perspective was negatively related to the search for meaning in life. The findings suggest that the associations between time perspective and meaning in life differ across age in adulthood.
With a range of spiritual and religious factors demonstrated positive qualities in adolescents and young adults, very few studies were made considering emerging adults. Individuals at this stage, explore a variety of life directions in work, religious and spiritual beliefs, social support and different views about the world which can impact their life satisfaction. Interestingly the previous studies explored that the stage of emerging adulthood was noticed mainly in developed and industrialised countries. A developing country like India is also witnessing a pandemic revolution in the fields of information technology and industrialisation like any other developed country which is leading to the greater prevalence of emerging adulthood and thereby seeking up new revolution in this field. The purpose of the current study was to explore the impact of daily spiritual experience and perceived social support on life satisfaction among emerging adults from an Indian Perspective. The results of the study showed that there is a significant relationship between daily spiritual experience, perceived social support and life satisfaction and both daily spiritual experience and perceived social support significantly predicted life satisfaction.
Drawing on Erikson’s and Marcia’s identity development theories, this study examined (a) the interrelations of religious/spiritual identity formation and meaning in life (MIL) and (b) their relations to mental health (i.e. life satisfaction, depression, anxiety) by including age as a moderator. Web-survey data of 132 US American adults were analyzed using correlations, a multinominal-logistic regression, and hierarchical multiple regressions. Religiousness/spirituality (R/S) and MIL indicated slight to moderate associations with each other across current search, search history, and presence. The overlap between the four identity statuses (i.e. diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, achievement) of R/S and MIL further supported the interconnectedness of the two identities. R/S current search and search history were positively associated with both R/S presence and MIL presence, whereas MIL current search and search history were not related to either variable. The associations of MIL and mental health were especially salient. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses further supported that MIL, compared to R/S, better predicted mental health outcomes. MIL presence was favorable, while MIL current search was unfavorably related to mental health. Although MIL presence was important for life satisfaction across ages, it was particularly important later in life. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.
Objectives
Prior research found that the positive association between wisdom and subjective well-being might at least partially be explained by a greater sense of mastery and purpose in life. This study tested whether religiosity provides an alternative pathway to well-being and whether the associations are moderated by age cohort and nation of residency.
Design and Participants
A quota sample design was used, stratified by age group, sex, and nation of residency, to collect cross-sectional survey data of 111 older adults (age range 62–99 years, M = 77.20, SD = 8.98) and 100 young adults (age range 21–30 years, M = 24.05, SD = 2.69) from Canada and the United States.
Measurements
Face-to-face interviews were conducted to administer the survey. All measures consisted of validated scales and items.
Results
Multi-group path analysis confirmed that mastery and purpose in life partially mediated the association between wisdom and well-being. Religiosity offered an alternative pathway to well-being, also partially through a greater sense of mastery and purpose in life. Wisdom was statistically more strongly related to mastery among older adults, whereas the association between mastery and purpose in life was statistically stronger among young adults. The mediated pathways from wisdom and religiosity to well-being did not differ by nation of residency.
Conclusions
These results highlight the importance of internal strengths for subjective well-being among both young and older adults and add confidence to the generalizability of the mediated path model for North America.
The present study concerns the relationship between religious orientation, meaning in life, and subjective well-being, as well as the mediating influence of meaning in life on the relationship between religious orientation and subjective well-being. Gender differences in this relationship are also examined. The subjects of the study were 579 university students (33.5% male; Mage = 21.98, SDage = 4.33). Intrinsic religious orientation was found to be a significant predictor of subjective well-being via meaning in life in both the male and female groups. Furthermore, extrinsic religious orientation was found to be a significant predictor of subjective well-being via meaning in life in the female group only.
We examine aging patterns and generational trends in religion using 35 years of survey data from 420 four-generation families and in-depth interviews with a subset of 25 families. Results indicate the importance of three time-related effects on religiosity: individual aging and religious development over the life course; cohort influences; and effects of historical trends in religion. Results indicate an overall aging effect with an upward drift in religious intensity and strength of beliefs over the adult lifespan, though religious attendance remains generally stable over adulthood until it drops in late life. Growth curves show that the oldest generations (G1 and G2) display a “retirement surge” in religiosity. Trajectories of change for G3s and G4s reflect both lifecycle and cohort effects. Qualitative analysis provides insight concerning the generational differences identified in the survey, suggesting two trends: (1) from older- to later-born age groups, spirituality becomes increasingly decoupled from religion; (2) conceptualizations of the divine show a shift from a God who is primarily transcendent (“out there”) for the G1s to one that is more imminent and personal in the G4s.
This article summarizes research prior to 2010 and more recent research on religion, spirituality, and health, including some of the latest work being done by research teams at Columbia University, Harvard University, Duke University, and other academic medical centers. First, terms such as religion, humanism, and spirituality are defined. Second, based on his research team's previous systematic review of quantitative studies published in the peer-reviewed literature prior to 2010, the author discusses the findings from that research on the effects of religion and spirituality (R/S) on (1) mental health-well-being, purpose in life, hope, optimism, self-esteem, depression, anxiety, suicide, and substance abuse; (2) health behaviors-exercise, diet, cigarette smoking, and risky sexual activity; and (3) physical health-coronary artery disease, cancer, and all-cause mortality. Third, the author examines the latest research on the prevalence of spiritual needs among individuals with serious or terminal medical illnesses, the consequences of ignoring those needs, and the results of clinical trials that have examined the effects of spiritual assessments by physicians. Finally, the author reviews the research currently being conducted at Duke University on the efficacy of religious cognitive-behavioral therapies and on the effects of religious involvement on telomere length in stressed caregivers. Resources are provided that will assist seasoned researchers and clinicians who might be interested in doing research in this novel and expanding area of whole-person medicine.
This article considers the question of whether our field should relabel itself the psychology of religion and spirituality. The meanings of religion and spirituality appear to be evolving. Religion is moving from a broadband construct—one that includes both the institutional and the individual, and the good and the bad—to a narrowband institutional construct that restricts and inhibits human potential. Spirituality, on the other hand, is becoming differentiated from religion as an individual expression that speaks to the greatest of human capacities. Several dangers in these trends are considered, including the danger of losing the sacred core of our field. An alternate approach to defining religion and spirituality is presented that preserves the heart of our discipline while encouraging the study of new pathways to the sacred and new meanings of the sacred itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cpp.572 http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/119227892/PDFSTART
Religion and wellbeing: Devotion, happiness and life satisfaction in Turkey
- R Aydogdu
- M Yildiz
- U Orak
Aydogdu R., Yildiz M., Orak U. (2021). Religion and wellbeing: Devotion, happiness and life
satisfaction in Turkey. Ment. Health Relig. Cult., 24: 961-975. https://doi.org/
10.1080/13674676.2021.1969353.
Religion and aging: exploring the effects of religiosity on mental wellbeing across age cohorts (Doctoral dissertation
- N C Gordon
Gordon, N. C. (2019). Religion and aging: exploring the effects of religiosity on mental wellbeing across age cohorts (Doctoral dissertation, Wichita State University).
Faith concepts in psychology: Three 30-year definitional content analyses
- K A Harris
- D S Howell
- D W Spurgeon
Harris, K. A., Howell, D. S., & Spurgeon, D. W. (2018). Faith concepts in psychology: Three
30-year definitional content analyses. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 10(1),
1-29. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000134
Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: A Regression-Based Approach
- A F Hayes
Hayes, A. F. (2018). Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process
Analysis: A Regression-Based Approach (Methodology in the Social Sciences) (2nd
ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Psychological Thought
South-West University "Neofit Rilski"
2024, Vol. 17(2), 550-570
Religion in Bulgaria after 1989: historical and sociocultural aspects
- P Kanev
Kanev P. (2002). Religion in Bulgaria after 1989: historical and sociocultural aspects. SEER -South-East Europe Review for Labour and Social Affairs, 1, 75-95.
- S Lerman
- M Jung
- E M Arredondo
- J M Barnhart
- J Cai
- S F Castañeda
- M L Daviglus
- R A Espinoza
- A L Giachello
- K M Molina
- K Perreira
- H Salgado
Lerman, S., Jung, M., Arredondo, E. M., Barnhart, J. M., Cai, J., Castañeda, S. F., Daviglus,
M. L., Espinoza, R. A., Giachello, A. L., Molina, K. M., Perreira, K., Salgado, H.,
Psychological Thought
South-West University "Neofit Rilski"
2024, Vol. 17(2), 550-570
Being Christian in Western Europe
Pew Research Center (2018). Being Christian in Western Europe. Pew Research Center.
https://www.pewforum.org/2018/05/29/being-christian-in-western-europe/
Psychological Thought
South-West University "Neofit Rilski"
2024, Vol. 17(2), 550-570