Abstract
Religiosity has been associated with positive psychological adjustment during emerging adulthood. However, the unique effects of specific dimensions of religiosity on emerging adults’ mental health and the underlying mechanisms are less understood. This study examined the mediating role of self-regulation between three dimensions of religiosity (religious commitment, religious engagement, and religious struggle) and psychological adjustment among 258 Christian emerging adults (Mage = 20.09 years, SD = 1.58; 74% female) in the United States. Participants reported on their religiosity, self-regulation, psychological well-being, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. The three dimensions of religiosity were uniquely associated with psychological adjustment through self-regulation. Specifically, religious commitment was associated with higher levels of self-regulation, and in turn, more positive psychological adjustment; whereas religious engagement and religious struggle were associated with lower levels of self-regulation, and in turn, more negative psychological adjustment. Our findings suggest that acceptance and internalization may be essential for religiosity to promote emerging adults’ self-regulation abilities, and in turn, benefit their mental health. In contrast, behavioral participation in religious activities without internal identification may be detrimental for emerging adults’ self-regulation and hinder their psychological adjustment. These findings highlight the importance of examining religiosity as a multidimensional construct to better understand the distinct effects of different religious dimensions on emerging adults’ mental health.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Abu-Raiya, H., & Agbaria, Q. (2016). Religiousness and subjective well-being among Israeli-Palestinian college students: Direct or mediated links? Social Indicators Research, 126(2), 829–844. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-0913-x.
Abu-Raiya, H., Pargament, K. I., Krause, N., & Ironson, G. (2015). Robust links between religious/spiritual struggles, psychological distress, and well-being in a national sample of American adults. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 85(6), 565–575. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000084.
Ano, G. G., & Vasconcelles, E. B. (2005). Religious coping and psychological adjustment to stress: A meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61(4), 461–480. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20049.
Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55(5), 469–480. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.5.469.
Arnett, J. J., & Jensen, L. A. (2002). A congregation of one: Individualized religious beliefs among emerging adults. Journal of Adolescent Research, 17(5), 451–467. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558402175002.
Astin, A. W., Astin, H. S., & Lindholm, J. A. (2011). Assessing students' spiritual and religious qualities. Journal of College Student Development, 52(1), 39–61. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2011.0009.
Barry, C. M., Nelson, L., Davarya, S., & Urry, S. (2010). Religiosity and spirituality during the transition to adulthood. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 34(4), 311–324. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025409350964.
Baumeister, R. F., Bauer, I. M., & Lloyd, S. A. (2010). Choice, free will, and religion. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 2(2), 67–82. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018455.
Benson, P. L., Scales, P. C., Hamilton, S. F., & Sesma, A. (2007). Positive youth development: Theory, research and application. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of Child Psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development. (6th ed., pp. 894–941). Wiley.
Bergan, A., & McConatha, J. T. (2001). Religiosity and life satisfaction. Activities, Adaptation & Aging, 24(3), 23–34. https://doi.org/10.1300/J016v24n03_02.
Bornstein, M. H. (2017). The specificity principle in acculturation science. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12(1), 3–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616655997.
Braam, A. W., & Koenig, H. G. (2019). Religion, spirituality and depression in prospective studies: A systematic review. Journal of Affective Disorders, 257, 428–438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.06.063.
Button, K. S., Ioannidis, J. P., Mokrysz, C., Nosek, B. A., Flint, J., Robinson, E. S., & Munafò, M. R. (2013). Power failure: Why small sample size undermines the reliability of neuroscience. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 14(5), 365–376. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3475.
Carey, K. B., Neal, D. J., & Collins, S. E. (2004). A psychometric analysis of the self-regulation questionnaire. Addictive Behaviors, 29(2), 253–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2003.08.001.
Carter, E. C., McCullough, M. E., & Carver, C. S. (2012). The mediating role of monitoring in the association of religion with self-control. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3(6), 691–697. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550612438925.
Damon, W. (2004). What is positive youth development? The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 591(1), 13–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716203260092.
Davis III, R. F., & Kiang, L. (2016). Religious identity, religious participation, and psychological well-being in Asian American adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 45(3), 532–546. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0350-9.
Emmons, R. A., & Paloutzian, R. F. (2003). The psychology of religion. Annual Review of Psychology, 54(1), 377–402. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145024.
Francis, L. J., Robbins, M., Lewis, C. A., Quigley, C. F., & Wheeler, C. (2004). Religiosity and general health among undergraduate students: A response to O'Connor, cobb, and O'Connor (2003). Personality and Individual Differences, 37(3), 485–494. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2003.09.017.
French, D. C., Purwono, U., Zhao, S., Shen, M., & Eisenberg, N. (2019). Religiosity and effortful control as predictors of Indonesian adolescents’ tobacco and alcohol use: Moderation and mediation. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 29(2), 321–333. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12446.
Galambos, N. L., Barker, E. T., & Krahn, H. J. (2006). Depression, self-esteem, and anger in emerging adulthood: Seven-year trajectories. Developmental Psychology, 42(2), 350–365. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.2.350.
Green, M., & Elliott, M. (2010). Religion, health, and psychological well-being. Journal of Religion and Health, 49(2), 149–163. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-009-9242-1.
Hackney, C. H., & Sanders, G. S. (2003). Religiosity and mental health: A meta–analysis of recent studies. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 42(1), 43–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5906.t01-1-00160.
Hardy, S. A., Baldwin, C. R., Herd, T., & Kim-Spoon, J. (2020). Dynamic associations between religiousness and self-regulation across adolescence into young adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 56(1), 180–197. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000841.
Holmes, C., Brieant, A., King-Casas, B., & Kim-Spoon, J. (2019). How is religiousness associated with adolescent risk-taking? The roles of emotion regulation and executive function. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 29(2), 334–344. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12438.
Institute of Politics, Harvard University. (2019). Survey of young Americans' attitudes toward politics and public service: 37th edition. Retrieved from: http://iop.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/content/190419_Harvard%20IOP%20Spring%202019_Topline.pdf. Accessed 12 Oct 2020.
Johnson, C. V., & Hayes, J. A. (2003). Troubled spirits: Prevalence and predictors of religious and spiritual concerns among university students and counseling center clients. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50(4), 409–419. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.50.4.409.
Krok, D. (2014). The mediating role of coping in the relationships between religiousness and mental health. Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2, 5–13. https://doi.org/10.12740/APP/26313.
Laird, R. D., Marks, L. D., & Marrero, M. D. (2011). Religiosity, self-control, and antisocial behavior: Religiosity as a promotive and protective factor. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 32(2), 78–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2010.12.003.
Lee, J. J. (2002). Religion and college attendance: Change among students. The Review of Higher Education, 25(4), 369–384. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2002.0020.
Marcus, Z. J., & McCullough, M. E. (2021). Does religion make people more self-controlled? A review of research from the lab and life. Current Opinion in Psychology, 40, 167–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.12.001.
McConnell, K. M., Pargament, K. I., Ellison, C. G., & Flannelly, K. J. (2006). Examining the links between spiritual struggles and symptoms of psychopathology in a national sample. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62(12), 1469–1484. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20325.
McCullough, M. E., & Willoughby, B. L. (2009). Religion, self-regulation, and self-control: Associations, explanations, and implications. Psychological Bulletin, 135(1), 69–93. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014213.
Miller, A. S., & Hoffmann, J. P. (1995). Risk and religion: An explanation of gender differences in religiosity. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 34(1), 63–75. https://doi.org/10.2307/1386523.
Nigg, J. T. (2017). Annual research review: On the relations among self-regulation, self-control, executive functioning, effortful control, cognitive control, impulsivity, risk-taking, and inhibition for developmental psychopathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58(4), 361–383. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12675.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2001). Gender differences in depression. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10(5), 173–176. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00142.
Pargament, K. I. (2002). The bitter and the sweet: An evaluation of the costs and benefits of religiousness. Psychological Inquiry, 13(3), 168–181. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1303_02.
Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1(3), 385–401. https://doi.org/10.1177/014662167700100306.
Raftery, A. E. (1995). Bayesian model selection in social research. Sociological Methodology, 25, 111–163. https://doi.org/10.2307/271063.
Robson, D. A., Allen, M. S., & Howard, S. J. (2020). Self-regulation in childhood as a predictor of future outcomes: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 146(4), 324–354. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000227.
Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 719–727. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.69.4.719.
Salas-Wright, C. P., Lombe, M., Vaughn, M. G., & Maynard, B. R. (2016). Do adolescents who regularly attend religious services stay out of trouble? Results from a national sample. Youth & Society, 48(6), 856–881. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X14521222.
Schnittker, J. (2001). When is faith enough? The effects of religious involvement on depression. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 40(3), 393–411. https://doi.org/10.1111/0021-8294.00065.
Schwarz, G. (1978). Estimating the dimension of a model. The Annals of Statistics, 6(2), 461–464. https://doi.org/10.1214/aos/1176344136.
Spielberger, C. D. (1983). Manual for the state-trait anxiety inventory: STAI (form Y). Consulting Psychologists Press.
Stoppa, T. M., & Lefkowitz, E. S. (2010). Longitudinal changes in religiosity among emerging adult college students. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 20(1), 23–38. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2009.00630.x.
Tey, S. E., Park, M. S.-A., & Golden, K. J. (2018). Religiosity and healthy lifestyle behaviours in Malaysian Muslims: The mediating role of subjective well-being and self-regulation. Journal of Religion and Health, 57(6), 2050–2065. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0420-2.
Yonker, J. E., Schnabelrauch, C. A., & DeHaan, L. G. (2012). The relationship between spirituality and religiosity on psychological outcomes in adolescents and emerging adults: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Adolescence, 35(2), 299–314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2011.08.010.
Funding
No funding was received for conducting this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
XZ participated in the study design, performed data analyses, interpreted the data, and drafted the manuscript. CC designed the overall project, participated in the study design and data collection, interpreted the data, and critically revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics Approval
All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Boards of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Conflict of Interest
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zong, X., Cheah, C.S.L. Multiple dimensions of religiosity, self-regulation, and psychological adjustment among emerging adults. Curr Psychol 42, 4133–4142 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01780-x
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01780-x