Abstract
The relation between spirituality and happiness was assessed in 320 children aged 8–12 from public and private (i.e., faith-based) schools. Children rated their own spirituality using the Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire and 11 items selected and modified from the Brief Multidimensional Measurement of Religiousness/Spirituality which reflected the children’s practices and beliefs. Children’s happiness was assessed using self-reports based on the Oxford Happiness Scale short form, the Subjective Happiness Scale, and a single-item measure. Parents also rated their children’s happiness. Children and parents rated the children’s temperament using the emotionality, activity, and sociability temperament survey. Children’s spirituality, but not their religious practices (e.g., attending church, praying, and meditating), was strongly linked to their happiness. Children who were more spiritual were happier. Spirituality accounted for between 3 and 26% of the unique variance in children’s happiness depending on the measures. Temperament was also a predictor of happiness, but spirituality remained a significant predictor of happiness even after removing the variance associated with temperament. The personal (i.e., meaning and value in one’s own life) and communal (quality and depth of inter-personal relationships) domains of spirituality were particularly good predictors of children’s happiness. These results parallel studies of adult happiness and suggest strategies to enhance happiness in children.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abdel-Khalek, A. M. (2006). Measuring happiness with a single-item scale. Social Behavior and Personality, 34, 139–150.
Abdel-Khalek, A. M. (2007). Religiosity, happiness, health, and psychopathology in a probability sample of Muslim adolescents. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 10, 571–583.
Argyle, M. (1999). Causes and correlates of happiness. In D. H. Kahnema, E. Diener, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 353–373). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Argyle, M. (2001). Religion. In The psychology of happiness (2nd ed., pp. 164–177). New York: Routledge.
Bagley, C., & Mallick, K. (1997). Self-esteem and religiosity: Comparison of 13- to 15-year-old students in catholic and public junior high schools. Canadian Journal of Education/Revue canadienne de l’éducation, 22(1), 89–92.
Berry, D. (2005). Methodological pitfalls in the study of religiosity and spirituality. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 27, 628–647.
Boer, F., & Westenberg, P. M. (1994). The factor structure of the Buss and Plomin EAS temperament survey (parental ratings) in a Dutch sample of elementary school children. Journal of Personality Assessment, 62, 537–551.
Brebner, J. U., Donaldson, J., Kirby, N., & Ward, L. (1995). Relationships between happiness and personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 19, 251–258.
Buss, A. H., & Plomin, R. (1984). Temperament: Early developing personality traits. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Campbell, A., Convers, P. E., & Rodgers, W. L. (1976). The quality of American life. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Chang, L., McBride-Chang, C., Stewart, S. M., & Au, E. (2003). Life satisfaction, self-concept, and family relations in Chinese adolescents and children. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27, 182–189.
Cheng, H., & Furnham, A. (2001). Attributional style and personality as predictors of happiness and mental health. Journal of Happiness Studies, 2, 307–327.
Cheng, H., & Furnham, A. (2003). Personality, self-esteem, and demographic predictions of happiness and depression. Personality and Individual Differences, 34, 921–942.
Ciarrocchi, J. W., & Deneke, E. (2005). Happiness and the varieties of religious experience: Religious support, practices, and spirituality as predictors of well-being. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 15, 209–233.
Ciarrocchi, J. W., & Deneke, E. (2006). Hope, optimism, pessimism, and spirituality as predictors of well-being controlling for personality. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 16, 161–183.
Cohen, A. B. (2002). The importance of spirituality in well-being for Jews and Christians. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3, 287–310.
Cotton, S., Larkin, E., Hoopes, A., Cromer, B. A., & Rosenthal, S. L. (2005). The impact of adolescent spirituality on depressive symptoms and health risk behaviors. Journal of Adolescent Health, 36, 529.e7–529.e14.
Cruise, S. M., Lewis, C. A., & McGuckin, C. (2006). Internal consistency, reliability, and temporal stability of the Oxford happiness questionnaire short-form: Test-retest data over two weeks. Social Behavior and Personality, 34, 123–126.
Demir, M., & Weitekamp, L. A. (2007). I am so happy cause today I found my friend: Friendship and personality and predictors of happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 8, 181–211.
DeNeve, K. M., & Cooper, H. (1998). The happy personality: A meta-analysis of 137 personality traits and subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 197–229.
Denham, S. A. (1998). Emotional development in young children. New York: The Guilford Press.
Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95, 542–575.
Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276–302.
Ellison, C. G. (1991). Religious involvement and subjective well-being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 32, 80–99.
Emmons, R. A. (2006). Spirituality: Recent progress. In M. Csikszentmihalyi & I. S. Csikszentmihalyi (Eds.), A life worth living: Contributions to positive psychology (pp. 62–81). New York: Oxford University Press.
Ferriss, A. L. (2002). Religion and the quality of life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3, 199–215.
Fetzer Institute (1999). Multidimensional measurement of religiousness/spirituality for use in health research: A report of the Fetzer Institute/National Institute on Aging Working Group. Kalamazoo: John E. Fetzer Institute.
Fisher, J. W. (1999). Helps to fostering students’ spiritual health. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 4, 29–49.
Fisher, J. W., Francis, L. J., & Johnson, P. (2000). Assessing spiritual health via four domains of spiritual wellbeing: The SH4DI. Pastoral Psychology, 49, 133–145.
Francis, L. J., Jones, S. H., & Wilcox, C. (2000). Religiosity and happiness: During adolescence, young adulthood, and later life. Journal of Psychology & Christianity, 19, 245–257.
Francis, L. J., Robbins, M., & White, A. (2003a). Correlation between religion and happiness: A replication. Psychological Reports, 92, 51–52.
Francis, L. J., Ziebertz, H., & Lewis, C. A. (2003b). The relationship between religion and happiness among German students. Pastoral Psychology, 51, 273–281.
French, S., & Joseph, S. (1999). Religiosity and its association with happiness, purpose in life, and self-actualisation. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 2, 117–120.
Funder, D. C. (1991). Global traits: A neo-Allportian approach to personality. Psychological Science, 2, 31–39.
Furnham, A., & Brewin, C. R. (1990). Personality and happiness. Personality and Individual Differences, 11, 1093–1096.
Furnham, A., & Cheng, H. (2000a). Lay theories of happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1, 227–246.
Furnham, A., & Cheng, H. (2000b). Perceived parental behaviour, self-esteem and happiness. Society of Psychiatric Epidemiology, 35, 463–470.
Gomez, R., & Fisher, J. W. (2003). Domains of spiritual well-being and development and validation of the spiritual well-being questionnaire. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 1975–1991.
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.
Harry, J. (1976). Evolving sources of happiness for men over the life cycle: A structural analysis. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 38, 289–296.
Hayes, N., & Joseph, S. (2003). Big 5 correlates of three measures of subjective well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 34, 723–727.
Headey, B., Veenhoven, R., & Wearing, A. (1991). Top–down versus bottom–up theories of subjective well-being. Social Indicators Research, 24, 81–100.
Hills, P., & Argyle, M. (2001a). Emotional stability as a major dimension of happiness. Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 1357–1364.
Hills, P., & Argyle, M. (2001b). Happiness, introversion–extraversion and happy introverts. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 595–608.
Hills, P., & Argyle, M. (2002). The Oxford happiness questionnaire: A compact scale for the measurement of psychological well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 33, 1071–1082.
Holder, M. D., & Coleman, B. (2008a). The contribution of social relationships to children’s happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies. doi:10.1007/s10902-007-9083-0.
Holder, M. D., & Coleman, B. (2008b). The contribution of temperament, popularity, and physical appearance to children’s happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9, 279–302.
Houskamp, B. M., Fisher, L. A., & Stuber, M. L. (2004). Spirituality in children and adolescents: Research findings and implications for clinicians and researchers. Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 13, 221–230.
Huebner, E. S. (1991). Correlates of life satisfaction in children. School Psychology Quarterly, 6, 103–111.
Idler, E. L., Musick, M. A., Ellison, C. G., George, L. K., Krause, N., Ory, M. G., et al. (2003). Measuring multiple dimensions of religion and spirituality for health research: Conceptual background and findings from the 1998 general social survey. Research on Aging, 25, 327–365.
Kashdan, T. B. (2004). The assessment of subjective well-being (issues raised by the Oxford happiness questionnaire). Personality and Individual Differences, 36, 1225–1232.
Kelley, B. S., & Miller, L. (2007). Life satisfaction and spirituality in adolescents. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 18, 233–262.
Keyes, C. L. M., & Waterman, M. B. (2003). Dimensions of well-being and mental health in adulthood. In M. H. Bornstein, L. Davidson, C. L. M. Keyes, & K. Moore (Eds.), Well-being: Positive developments across life course (pp. 477–497). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Lepper, H. (1998). Use of other-reports to validate subjective well-being measures. Social Indicators Research, 44, 367–379.
Lewis, A. L. (2002). Church attendance and happiness among Northern Irish undergraduate students: No association. Pastoral Psychology, 50, 191–195.
Lewis, C. A., Lanigan, C., Joseph, S., & de Fockert, J. (1997). Religiosity and happiness: No evidence for an association among undergraduates. Personality and Individual Differences, 22, 119–121.
Lewis, C. A., Maltby, J., & Burkinshaw, S. (2000). Religion and happiness: Still no association. Journal of Beliefs & Values, 21, 233–236.
Lyubomirsky, S., King, L., & Diener, E. (2005). The benefits of frequent positive affect: Does happiness lead to success? Psychological Bulletin, 131, 803–855.
Lyubomirsky, S., & Lepper, H. (1999). A measure of subjective happiness: Preliminary reliability and construct validation. Social Indicators Research, 46, 137–155.
MacDonald, P. M., Kirkparick, S. W., & Sullivan, L. A. (1996). Schematic drawings of facial expression for emotion recognition and interpretation by preschool-aged children. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 122, 373–388.
Masi, G., Mucci, M., Favilla, L., Brovedani, P., Millepiedi, S., & Perugi, G. (2003). Temperament in adolescents with anxiety and depressive disorders and in their families. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 33, 245–259.
Neto, F. (2001). Personality predictors of happiness. Psychological Reports, 88, 817–824.
Otake, K., Shimai, S., & Tanaka-Matsumi, J. (2006). Happy people become happier through kindness: A counting kindness intervention. Journal of Happiness Studies, 7, 361–375.
Pavot, W., Diener, E., & Fujita, F. (1990). Extraversion and happiness. Personality and Individual Differences, 11, 1299–1306.
Pearce, M. J., Little, T. D., & Perez, J. E. (2003). Religiousness and depressive symptoms among adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 32, 267–276.
Post, S. G. (2005). Altruism, happiness, and health: It’s good to be good. International Journal of Behavioural Medicine, 12, 66–77.
Rebok, G., Riley, A., Forrest, C., Starfield, B., Green, B., Robertson, J., et al. (2001). Elementary school-aged children’s reports of their health: A cognitive interviewing style. Quality of Life Research, 10, 59–70.
Richards, P. S., & Bergin, A. E. (Eds.). (1997). A spiritual strategy for counselling and psychotherapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Rothbart, M. K., Ahadi, S. A., & Evans, D. E. (2000). Temperament and personality: Origins and outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 122–135.
Schultz, D., Izard, C. E., & Bear, G. G. (2004). Emotionality, emotion information processing, and aggression. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 371–387.
Shields, B. J., Cohen, D. M., Harbeck-Weber, C., Powers, J. D., & Smith, G. A. (2003). Pediatric pain measurement using a visual analogue scale: A comparison of two teaching methods. Clinical Pediatrics, 42, 227–234.
Spilka, B., Shaver, P., & Kirkpatrick, L. A. (1985). A general attribution theory for the psychology of religion. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 24(1), 1–118.
Stallings, M. C., Dunham, C. C., Gatz, M., Baker, L. A., & Bengston, V. L. (1997). Relationships among life events and psychological well-being: More evidence for a two-factor theory of well-being. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 16, 104–119.
Steger, M. F., Kawabata, Y., Shimai, S., & Otake, K. (2008). The meaningful life in Japan and the United States: Levels and correlates of meaning in life. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 660–678.
Stull, D. E. (1988). A dyadic approach to predicting well-being in later life. Research of Aging, 10, 81–101.
Swinyard, W. R., Kau, A., & Phua, H. (2001). Happiness, materialism, and religious experience in the US and Singapore. Journal of Happiness Studies, 2, 13–32.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2001). Using multivariate statistics (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Tait, M., Padget, M. Y., & Baldwin, T. T. (1989). Job and life satisfaction: A re-examination of the strength of the relationship and gender effects as a function of the date of the study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 34, 502–507.
Tkach, C., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2006). How do people pursue happiness? Relating personality, happiness-increasing strategies and well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 7, 183–225.
Underwood, L. G., & Teresi, J. A. (2002). The daily spiritual experience scale: Development, theoretical description, reliability, exploratory factor analysis, and preliminary construct validity using health-related data. Annals of Behavioural Medicine, 24, 22–33.
Whitesell, N. R., & Harter, S. (1989). Children’s reports of conflict between simultaneous opposite-valence emotions. Child Development, 60, 673–682.
Worthington, E. L., Jr., Kurusu, T. A., McCullough, M. E., & Sandage, S. J. (1996). Empirical research on religion and psychotherapeutic processes and outcomes: A 10-year review and research prospectus. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 448–487.
Zullig, K. J., Ward, R. M., & Horn, T. (2006). The association between perceived spirituality, religiosity, and life satisfaction: The mediating role of self-rated health. Social Indicators Research, 79, 255–274.
Acknowledgments
Preparation of this article was supported by grants from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, and UBC Okanagan, awarded to Mark Holder. We are grateful to Andrea Klassen for her expert help with the data collection and the Methods section of this paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Holder, M.D., Coleman, B. & Wallace, J.M. Spirituality, Religiousness, and Happiness in Children Aged 8–12 Years. J Happiness Stud 11, 131–150 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-008-9126-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-008-9126-1