Abstract
Researchers have consistently advocated positive associations between religion and well-being. The present research takes a step forward and explores potential mechanisms behind the same. The mediating role of a surprisingly neglected mechanism, positive virtues, specifically gratitude, forgiveness and altruism, is studied through a quantitative study on a sample of 220 adult respondents residing in Delhi NCR. The participants adhered to one of the six major religions present in India. Mediational analysis revealed that gratitude mediated the relationship between religiosity, spirituality and well-being via two pathways of forgiveness and altruism. The implications for researchers and practitioners working in the field of mental health are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aghababaei, N., Sohrabi, F., Eskandari, H., Borjali, A., Farrokhi, N., & Chen, Z. J. (2016). Predicting subjective well-being by religious and scientific attitudes with hope, purpose in life, and death anxiety as mediators. Personality and Individual Differences, 90, 93–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.10.046.
Akhtar, S., Dolan, A., & Barlow, J. (2017). Understanding the relationship between state forgiveness and psychological wellbeing: A qualitative study. Journal of Religion and Health, 56(2), 450–463. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-016-0188-9.
Arya, N. K., Singh, K., & Malik, A. (2017). Impact of five days spiritual practice in Himalayan Ashram of Sahaj Marg on well-being related parameters and selected physiological indicators. The International Journal of Indian Psychology, 4(2/88), 36–50.
Atran, S., & Norenzayan, A. (2004). Religion’s evolutionary landscape: Counterintuition, commitment, compassion, communion. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x04000172.
Bartlett, M. Y., & DeSteno, D. (2006). Gratitude and prosocial behavior: Helping when it costs you. Psychological Science, 17, 319–325.
Begum, G. T., & Osmany, M. (2016). Religiosity, social distance and well-being among Hindu and Muslim Young adults. The International Journal of Indian Psychology, 3(2/7), 30–39.
Bono, G., & McCullough, M. E. (2006). Positive responses to benefit and harm: Bringing forgiveness and gratitude into cognitive psychotherapy. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 20, 147–158. https://doi.org/10.1891/jcop.20.2.147.
Boyer, P. (2003). Religious thought and behaviour as by-products of brain function. Trends In Cognitive Sciences, 7(3), 119–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1364-6613(03)00031-7.
Brodsky, A. E. (2000). The role of religion in the lives of resilient, urban, African American, single mothers. Journal of Community Psychology, 28(2), 199–219.
Brown, R. P. (2003). Measuring individual differences in the tendency to forgive: Construct validity and links with depression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 759–771.
Carman, J. B., & Streng, F. J. (1989). Spoken and unspoken thanks: Some comparative soundings. Dallas, TX: Center for World Thanksgiving.
Census of India. (2011). Retrieved June 21, 2016, from http://www.census2011.co.in/religion.php.
Cicero, M. T. (1851). The orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Vol. III (C.D. Younge, Trans.). London: George Bell & Sons.
Currier, J. M., Drescher, K. D., Holland, J. M., Lisman, R., & Foy, D. W. (2016). Spirituality, forgiveness, and quality of life: Testing a mediational model with military veterans with PTSD. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 26(2), 167–179.
David, J. A., Smith, T. W., & Marsden, P. V. (2001). General Social Surveys, 1972–2000: Cumulative codebook. Chicago: National Opinion Research Center.
Davis, D. E., Worthington, E. L., Jr., Hook, J. N., & Hill, P. C. (2013). Research on religion/spirituality and forgiveness: A meta-analytic review. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 5(4), 233–241. https://doi.org/10.1037/a003363.
Delaney, H. D., Miller, W. R., & Bisono, A. M. (2007). Religiosity and spirituality among psychologists: A survey of clinician members of the American Psychological Association. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 38(5), 538–546. https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7028.38.5.538.
DeShea, L. (2003). A scenario-based scale of willingness to forgive. Individual Differences Research, 1, 201–217.
Duerden, M. D., Witt, P. A, Fernandez, M., Jolliff, M., & Theriault, D. (2012). Measuring life skills: Standardizing the assessment of youth development indicators. Journal of Youth Development, 7(1). Retrieved from http://data.memberclicks.com/site/nae4a/JYD_0701final.pdf.
Ellison, C. G., & Fan, D. (2008). Daily spiritual experiences and psychological well-being among US adults. Social Indicators Research, 88(2), 247–271.
Emmons, R. A., & Crumpler, C. A. (2000). Gratitude as a human strength: Appraising the evidence. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19, 56–69.
Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 377–389.
Emmons, R. A., & Mishra, A. (2011). Why gratitude enhances well-being: What we know, what we need to know. In K. M. Sheldon, T. B. Kashdan, & M. F. Steger (Eds.), Designing positive psychology: Taking stock and moving forward (pp. 248–262). New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). Gratitude, like other positive emotions, broadens and builds. In R. A. Emmons & M. E. McCullough (Eds.), The psychology of gratitude (pp. 145–166). New York: Oxford University Press.
Friedman, P. H., & Toussaint, L. L. (2006). The relationship between forgiveness, gratitude, distress, and well-being: An integrative review of the literature. The International Journal of Healing and Caring, 6, 1–10. Retrieved August 11, 2006, from www.ijhc.org.
Greeley, A. M., & Hout, M. (2006). The truth about conservative Christians—What they think and what they believe. Chicago: University Chicago Press.
Hayes, A. F. (2012). PROCESS: A versatile computational tool for observed variable mediation, moderation, and conditional process modeling [White paper]. Retrieved from http://www.afhayes.com/public/process2012.pdf.
Hayward, R. D., & Krause, N. (2014). Religion, mental health and well-being: Social aspects. In V. Saroglou (Ed.), Religion, personality, and social behavior (pp. 255–280). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
Herek, G. (1987). Religious orientation and prejudice: A comparison of racial and sexual attitudes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 13(1), 34–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167287131003.
Hood, R. W. (2003). The relationship between religion and spirituality. In A. L. Greil & D. Bromley (Eds.), Defining religion: Investigating the boundaries between the sacred and the secular: Vol. 10. Religion and the social order (Vol. 10, pp. 241–265). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Hood, R. W., Jr., Hill, P. C., & Spilka, B. (2009). The psychology of religion: An empirical approach (4th ed.). New York: The Guilford Press.
Jackson, L. A., Lewandowski, D. A., Fleury, R. E., & Chin, P. P. (2001). Effects of affect, stereotype consistency, and valence of behavior on causal attributions. Journal of Social Psychology, 141, 31–48.
Kahana, E., Bhatta, T., Lovegreen, L. D., Kahana, B., & Midlarsky, E. (2013). Altruism, helping, and volunteering: Pathways to well-being in late life. Journal of Aging and Health, 25(1), 159–187. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264312469665.
Karremans, J. C., Van Lange, P. A. M., Ouwerkerk, J. W., & Kluwer, E. S. (2003). When forgiving enhances psychological wellbeing: The role of interpersonal commitment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 1011–1026.
Keyes, C. L. M. (2005). The subjective well-being of America’s youth: Toward a comprehensive assessment. Adolescent and Family Health, 4, 3–11.
Keyes, C. L. M., Wissing, M., Potgieter, J. P., Temane, M., Kruger, A., & van Rooy, S. (2008). Evaluation of the Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF) in Setswana speaking South Africans. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 15, 181–192.
Khan, S. S., Hopkins, N., Reicher, S., Tewari, S., Srinivasan, N., & Stevenson, C. (2015). Shared identity predicts enhanced health at a mass gathering. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430214556703.
Khanna, P., & Singh, K. (2016). Effect of gratitude educational intervention on well-being indicators among North Indian adolescents. Contemporary School Psychology, 20(4), 305–314. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-016-0087-9.
Kim-Prieto, C. (2014). Religion and spirituality across cultures. NY: Springer.
Klein, M. (1957). Envy and gratitude. New York: Basic Books.
Koenig, H. G., King, D., & Carson, V. (2012). Handbook of religion and health (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Krause, N. (2009). Religious involvement, gratitude, and change in depressive symptoms over time. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 19(3), 155–172. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508610902880204.
Krause, N., & Hayward, R. (2013). Religious involvement and feelings of connectedness with others among older Americans. Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 35(2), 259–282. https://doi.org/10.1163/15736121-12341266.
Levin, J. (2010). Religion and mental health: Theory and research. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 7, 102–115.
Levin, J. S., & Chatters, L. M. (1998). Research on religion and mental health: An overview of empirical findings and theoretical issues. In H. G. Koenig (Ed.), Handbook of religion and mental health. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Lupfer, M. B., De Paola, S. J., Brock, K. F., & Clement, L. (1994). Making secular and religious attributions: The availability hypothesis revisited. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 33, 162–171.
Lupfer, M. B., Tolliver, D., & Jackson, M. (1996). Explaining life-altering occurrences: A test of the “God-of-the-gaps” hypothesis. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 35, 379–391.
Mathur, A. (2012). Measurement and meaning of religiosity: A cross-cultural comparison of religiosity and charitable giving. Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, 20, 84–95. https://doi.org/10.1057/jt.2012.6.
McCullough, M. E., Emmons, R. A., & Tsang, J. (2002). The grateful disposition: A conceptual and empirical topography. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 112–127.
McCullough, M. E., Kilpatrick, S. D., Emmons, R. A., & Larson, D. B. (2001). Is gratitude a moral affect? Psychological Bulletin, 127, 249–266.
McCullough, M. E., & Snyder, C. (2000). Classical sources of human strength: Revisiting an old home and building a new one. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2000.19.1.1.
Miller, W. (1998). Researching the spiritual dimensions of alcohol and other drug problems. Addiction, 93(7), 979–990.
Myers, D. G., & Diener, E. (1995). Who is happy? Psychological Science, 6, 10–17.
Pargament, K. I. (1999). The psychology of religion and spirituality? Yes and no. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 9, 3–16.
Patrick, J. H., & Kinney, J. M. (2003). Why believe? The effects of religious beliefs on emotional well being. Journal Of Religious Gerontology, 14(2–3), 153–170.
Rentala, S., Lau, B., & Chan, C. (2017). Association between spirituality and depression among depressive disorder patients in India. Journal Of Spirituality In Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1080/19349637.2017.1286962.
Rushton, J. P., Chrisjohn, R. D., & Fekken, G. C. (1981). The altruistic personality and the self-report altruism scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 2(4), 293–302.
Saroglou, V. (2006). Religion’s role in prosocial behavior: Myth or reality? Psychology of Religion Newsletter, 31(2), 1–8.
Selin, H., & Davey, G. (Eds.). (2012). Happiness across cultures. New York: Springer.
Shariff, A. F., & Norenzayan, A. (2007). God is watching you: Priming god concepts increases prosocial behavior in an anonymous economic game. Psychological Science, 18, 803–809.
Singh, K., Jain, A., & Singh, D. (2014a). Satsang: A culture specific effective practice for well-being. In H. A. Marujo & L. M. Neto (Eds.), Positive nations and communities, cross-cultural advancements in positive psychology (pp. 79–100). New York: Springer.
Singh, K., Junnarkar, M., Singh, D., Suchday, S., Mitra, S., & Dayal, P. (2018). Effect of spiritual practices on well-being of Indian elderly rural women (Manuscript is under review in Psychology of Religion and Spirituality).
Singh, K., Kaur, J., Singh, D., & Suri, S. (2014b). Correlates of well-being: A rural women study. Journal of Indian Health Psychology, 8(2), 31–42.
Singh, A., & Modi, R. (2011). Indian ancient thought and well-being (happiness). Shodh Sanchayan, 2(1&2), 1–4.
Singh, K., Sigroha, S., Singh, D., & Shokeen, D. (2017). Religious and spiritual messages in folk songs: A study of women from rural India. Mental Health, Religion and Culture. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2017.1356812.
Smith, A. (1790/1976). The theory of moral sentiments, The Glasgow edition of the works and correspondence of Adam Smith (D. Raphael, Ed.), Glasgow: Glasgow Publishers.
Snyder, C., & Lopez, S. (2007). Positive psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Sohi, K. K., Singh, P., & Bopanna, K. (2017). Ritual participation, sense of community, and social well-being: A study of Seva in the Sikh community. Journal of Religion and Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0424-y.
Spilka, B., & McIntosh, D. N. (1996, August). Religion and spirituality: The known and the unknown. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association annual conference, Toronto, Canada.
Steger, M. F., & Frazier, P. (2005). Meaning in life: One link in the chain from religion to well-being. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52, 574–582.
Strawbridge, W. J., Shema, S. J., Cohen, R. D., & Kaplan, G. A. (2001). Religious attendance increases survival by improving and maintaining good health behaviors, mental health, and social relationships. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 23, 68–74.
Sundar, S., Qureshi, A., & Galiatsatos, P. (2016). A positive psychology intervention in a Hindu Community: The Pilot Study of the Hero Lab Curriculum. Journal of Religion and Health, 55(6), 2189–2198. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-016-0289-5.
Tewari, S., Khan, S. S., Hopkins, N. P., Srinivasan, N., & Reicher, S. D. (2012). Participation in mass gatherings can benefit well-being: Longitudinal and control data from a North Indian Hindu pilgrimage event. PLoS ONE, 7(10), e47291. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047291.
Thirthalli, J., Zhou, L., Kumar, K., Gao, J., Vaid, H., Liu, H., et al. (2016). Traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine approaches to mental health care and psychological wellbeing in India and China. The Lancet Psychiatry, 3(7), 660–672. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2215-0366(16)30025-6.
Thompson, L.Y., Snyder, C. R., & Hoffman, L. (2005). Heartland Forgiveness Scale. Faculty Publications, Department of Psychology. Paper 452. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/psychfacpub/452. Accessed 25 July 2016.
Thompson, L. Y., Snyder, C. R., Hoffman, L., Michael, S. T., Rasmussen, H. N., & Billings, L. S. (2005b). Dispositional forgiveness of self, others, and situations. Journal of Personality, 73, 313–359.
Thoresen, C. E., Harris, A. H. S., & Luskin, F. (2000). Forgiveness and health: An unanswered question. In M. E. McCullough & K. I. Pargament (Eds.), Forgiveness: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 254–280). New York: Guilford Press.
Tsang, J. (2006). Gratitude and prosocial behavior: An experimental test of gratitude. Cognition and Emotion, 20, 138–148.
Tsang, J., Schulwitz, A., & Carlisle, R. (2012). An experimental test of the relationship between religion and gratitude. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 4(1), 40–55. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025632.
Van Cappellen, P., Saroglou, V., & Toth-Gauthier, M. (2014). Religiosity and prosocial behavior among churchgoers: Exploring underlying mechanisms. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 26, 19–30.
Van Cappellen, P., Toth-Gauthier, M., Saroglou, V., & Fredrickson, B. (2016). Religion and well-being: The mediating role of positive emotions. Journal of Happiness Studies, 17(2), 485–505. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9605-5.
Watkins, P. C. (2004). Gratitude and subjective well-being. In R. A. Emmons & M. E. McCullough (Eds.), Psychology of gratitude (pp. 167–192). New York: Oxford University Press.
Westerhof, G. J., & Keyes, C. L. M. (2010). Mental illness and mental health: The two continua model across the lifespan. Journal of Adult Development, 17, 110–119.
Wilkes, R. E., Burnett, J. J., & Howell, R. D. (1986). On the meaning and measurement of religiosity in consumer research. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 14, 47–56.
Witt, P., & Boleman, C. (2009). Adapted Self-Report Altruism Scale. CYFAR Vetted Additional Instruments 4-H Healthy Living. http://dcyfernetsearch.cehd.umn.edu/sites/default/files/InstrumentFiles/Adapted%20Self-Report%20Altruism%20%28Youth%20-%20All%20Ages%29_0.pdf. Accessed 25 July 2016.
Wohl, M. J. A., DeShea, L., & Wahkinney, R. L. (2008). Looking within: Measuring state self-forgiveness and its relationship to psychological well-being. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 40, 1–10.
Worthington, E. L., Jr., Bursley, K., Berry, J. T., McCullough, M., Baier, S. N., Berry, J. W., et al. (2001). Religious commitment, religious experiences, and ways of coping with sexual attraction. Marriage and Family: A Christian Journal, 4, 411–423.
Worthington, E. L., Jr., & Wade, N. G. (1999). The psychology of unforgiveness and forgiveness and implications for clinical practice. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 18, 385–418.
Zinnbauer, B. J., Pargament, K. I., & Scott, A. B. (1999). The emerging meanings of religiousness and spirituality: Problems and prospects. Journal of Personality, 67, 889–919.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sharma, S., Singh, K. Religion and Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Positive Virtues. J Relig Health 58, 119–131 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0559-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-0559-5