Understanding the relationship between religion and well-being : a mixed methods investigation into religious maturity and psychological well-being

Abstract

Despite a recent resurgence of interest in the field of religion and well-being, the psychological understanding of the relationship between these 2 phenomena remains limited. A review of relevant literature indicated that focusing on the potential relationship between religious maturity (RM) as conceptualised by Allport (1950) and a multidimensional conceptualisation of psychological well-being (PWB) might represent a fruitful way forward. The mixed parallel design adopted by this research was composed of a quantitative strand (Study-I) investigating the extent to which RM predicted PWB and the mediating impact of self-actualisation, meaning in life and self-esteem and a qualitative strand (Study-2) exploring the hypothesized relationship and possible intermediary mechanisms and processes in a more open-ended manner. A sample of 138 adult UK residents from a Catholic or Protestant religious background were recruited for Study-I 's purposes while, using maximum variation sampling, 4 interviewees were selected for Study-2 from the initial pool of participants. Study-I 's findings indicated that, although RM was not a significant predictor of PWB, higher levels of master-motive predicted higher levels of PWB, mainly through meaning in life, while higher levels of openness predicted lower levels of PWB, mainly through selfesteem. Study-2 yielded a theoretical model postulating a set of diverse religiosity facets impacting well-being through a series of intermediary processes involving multiple psychological domains. In conjunction, both studies seemed to point towards affording religiosity a central and pervasive role in life as having a salubrious effect, offered support for the explanatory benefits of employing a humanistic-existential theoretical frame in this inquiry field and placed an emphasis on meaning-making playing a primary intermediary role in the relationship of interest. Finally, suggestions for future research are proposed and implications for both the theory and practice of CoP are explored.