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Religious/Spiritual Well-Being, Personality and Mental Health: A Review of Results and Conceptual Issues

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Abstract

The current paper provides background to the development of the Multidimensional Inventory for Religious/Spiritual Well-being and then summarises findings derived from its use with other measures of health and personality. There is substantial evidence for religiosity/spirituality being positively related to a variety of indicators of mental health, including subjective well-being and personality dimensions. Furthermore, religiosity/spirituality can play an important role in the process of recovering from mental illness as well as providing a protective function against addictive or suicidal behaviours. However, further research is needed to examine the mechanisms through which religiosity/spirituality have an impact on health-related conditions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Integrative Addiction Research (Grüner Kreis Society/ARS), Vienna, Austria

    H. F. Unterrainer

  2. Institute of Psychology, Karl-Franzens-University, Geidorfgürtel 20/4/10, 8010, Graz, Austria

    H. F. Unterrainer

  3. Faculty of Health, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    A. J. Lewis

  4. Biological Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Karl-Franzens-University, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010, Graz, Austria

    A. Fink

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  1. H. F. Unterrainer
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  2. A. J. Lewis
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  3. A. Fink
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Correspondence to H. F. Unterrainer.

Additional information

This article is based on: Unterrainer, H.-F. (2012). Religious/Spiritual Well-Being, Personality and Mental Health: A Review of Results and Conceptual Issues. Unpublished Habilitation thesis, Karl-Franzens-University, Graz.

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Unterrainer, H.F., Lewis, A.J. & Fink, A. Religious/Spiritual Well-Being, Personality and Mental Health: A Review of Results and Conceptual Issues. J Relig Health 53, 382–392 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-012-9642-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-012-9642-5

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