Religiosity and Spirituality as Predictors of Subjectively Perceived Happiness in University Students in Slovakia

• Main Authors: Peter Babinčák, driána Parkanská
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: The International Academic Forum 2016-03-01
• Series: IAFOR Journal of Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences
• Subjects: religiosity; spirituality; subjective happiness
• Online Access: https://iafor.org/journal/iafor-journal-of-psychology-and-the-behavioral-sciences/volume-2-issue-1/article-3/

Several research projects discuss the existence of weak to moderately strong positive relation between religiosity/spirituality on the one hand and subjective well-being, life satisfaction or quality of life on the other hand (see Kelley & Miller, 2007). Variables related to religiosity and spirituality of a person may be perceived in two ways: as protective factors of attaining subjective well-being or as barriers limiting its attainment. The objective of this study is verification of mutual relationship between the indicators of religiosity and spirituality with regard to subjectively perceived happiness and verification of predictive strength of these indicators with regard to subjective happiness. The sample of research participants consisted of 194 university students aged 18 to 26. The research used 4 tools: The Expressions of Spirituality Inventory-Revised (MacDonald, 2000), The Salience in Religious Commitment Scale (Roof & Perkins, 1975), Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) and The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (Hills & Argyle, 2002). Using multiple hierarchical linear regression (stepwise), we obtained 2 dimensions of spirituality as significant predictors of subjective happiness – Existential Well-Being and Experiential/Phenomenological Dimension. Demographic data and confession types were not proved as predictors of happiness.