Archive for the Psychology

of Religion 40 (2018) 80-103

brill.com/arp

Perceived Stress as a Mediator Between Social

Support, Religiosity, and Flourishing Among
Older Adults
The Moderating Roles of Religiosity and Gender

Abbas Abdollahi
Corresponding author; Department of Counseling, Faculty of Educational
Sciences and Psychology, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran; Tel 00989126585744
Abdollahi.abbas58@gmail.com

Simin Hosseinian
Department of Counseling, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology,
Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

Hassan Sadeghi
Shiraz Geriatric Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences,
Shiraz, Iran

Tengku Aizan Hamid

Malaysian Research Institute on Aging (My Aging), Universiti Putra Malaysia,
Selangor, Malaysia

Summary

This study was designed to examine the relationships between social support, per-
ceived stress, religiosity, and flourishing and to test the mediating role of perceived
stress in the relationships between social support and religiosity with flourishing. This
study also examines the moderating roles of religiosity and gender in the relationship
between social support and flourishing among 2301 Malaysian older adults. Structural
Equation Modelling showed that older adults with high levels of social support, high
levels of intrinsic religious motivation, high levels of extrinsic religious motivation, and
low levels of perceived stress were more likely to experience flourishing. Bootstrapping
analysis provided evidence of perceived stress as a significant partial mediator in the
links between social support, intrinsic religious motivation, and extrinsic religious
motivation with flourishing. Multi-group analysis revealed that religiosity and gender

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PERCEIVED STRESS, SOCIAL SUPPORT, RELIGIOSITY, AND WELL-BEING 81

acted as significant moderators in the links between social support, perceived stress,
and flourishing.

Keywords

flourishing – social support – religiosity – perceived stress – older adults

Introduction

The world’s population is rapidly aging due to a decline in fertility and mortal-
ity rates (McCutcheon & Pruchno, 2011). The Malaysian population is similarly
aging, and it is estimated that Malaysia will become an aged population by
2030, when 15% of the population is classified as older adults (Department of
Statistics Malaysia, 2014). Older individuals are at greater risk of mental health
problems, such as depression (Unalan, Gocer, Basturk, Baydur, & Ozturk, 2015),
death anxiety (Johnstone, Hutchinson, Rawson, & Redley, 2016), and suicidal
ideation (Gustavson et al., 2016). Older adults’ flourishing and causative fac-
tors play central roles in maintaining and improving the quality of their lives.
Considerable attention has been paid to the investigation of well-being in
adolescents and emerging adults (Abdollahi, Talib, & Motalebi, 2015), while re-
search on elders’ flourishing has lagged behind. Therefore, this study was con-
ducted to understand flourishing and the variables associated with flourishing
among Malaysian elders.
Subjective well-being has been discussed from two perspectives, namely
hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives (Ryan & Deci, 2001). A hedonic perspec-
tive reflects feeling good, pleasure, and positive emotions, while an eudamonic
perspective reflects functioning well in life as an individual (Joshanloo, 2016).
Some scholars use hedonic measures to evaluate well-being in terms of emo-
tional well-being (Abdollahi, Talib, Yaacob, & Ismail, 2014), whereas others
use eudaimonic measures to evaluate well-being in terms of personal growth
(Huppert & So, 2013). Theorists have found that a combination of hedonic and
eudaimonic perspectives can better assess well-being as a multi-dimensional
phenomenon (Huta & Ryan, 2010). Thus, the term flourishing was developed as
a combination of feeling good and functioning impressively. Individuals with
flourishing mental health experience positive emotions, great enthusiasm for
life, personal growth, positive social relationships with others, and feeling con-
nectedness to others (Keyes, 2013) as they actively and productively contribute
to the world (Keyes, Kendler, Myers, & Martin, 2015). Flourishers are not only

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82 Abdollahi et al.

free of mental illness but have full emotional vitality and function positively in
their live (Keyes, 2002b).
Social support, or receiving and seeking help from others, plays an impor-
tant role in maintaining and promoting an experience of flourishing among
older persons (Keyes, 2002b). The conceptualization of social support compris-
es four facets: informational support (e.g., provision of guidance, information,
and advice during the stressful time), instrumental support (e.g., great help or
tangible support), emotional support (e.g., provision of caring, empathy, and
affection), and appraisal support (e.g., communication and information that
are relevant for self-evaluation) (Berkman, Glass, Brissette, & Seeman, 2000;
Hupcey, 1998). Deci and Ryan’s (2000) self-determination theory lends further
support to the premise that social interactions help to experience greater well-
being. According to Deci and Ryan (2000), there are three types of psychologi-
cal need satisfaction: (i) autonomy, the need to act freely in favour of one’s own
volition, will, or choice, (ii) competence, the need to perform successful social
interaction with skills and ability, and (iii) relatedness, the need to establish
positive emotional attachments with others. Deci and Ryan (2000) posit that
if an individual’s social context is supportive of meaningful relationships, then
that individual will experience a heightened sense of well-being. Studies have
suggested that social support was associated with a high quality of life, positive
feeling (Helgeson, 2003; Kwan, Ali, & Deuri, 2016), healthy sleep (Kishimoto et al.,
2016), freedom from depressive symptoms (Unalan et al., 2015), and cognitive
abilities (La Fleur & Salthouse, 2016) in older persons. On the other hand, some
studies have shown that social isolation has been linked with depression and
suicidal ideation (Findlay, 2003; Franck, Molyneux, & Parkinson, 2016). There
is empirical evidence of the positive effects of social support for older persons.
Older people are more likely to experience a variety of physical and mental
problems (Abolfathi Momtaz, Ibrahim, & Hamid, 2014). Social support plays
an important role in receiving help from others; older persons with physical
and mental problems may find that the quality of their social relationships
affects their flourishing experience. Understanding the role of social sup-
port on flourishing in older persons is essential in order to develop mental
health intervention and prevention programs. Hence, social support was in-
cluded as one of the studied variables in clarifying flourishing among older
persons.
Perceived stress has a great influence on the older adults experience of
stress, an idea which stems from studies indicating that negative appraisals of
stressful situations increase the detrimental effects of stress (Korten, Comijs,
Penninx, & Deeg, 2017) and negatively impact well-being (Abdollahi, Abu
Talib, Yaacob, & Ismail, 2014). Studies showed that greater negative levels of

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PERCEIVED STRESS, SOCIAL SUPPORT, RELIGIOSITY, AND WELL-BEING 83

perceived stress were associated with psychological problems in older persons,

such as depression (Tsai, Chi, & Wang, 2015), verbal memory deficits (Rubin
et al., 2015), and sexual dysfunction (Wang et al., 2015). However, to date, the
relationship between perceived stress and flourishing in older persons in
Malaysia has received no research attention. Previous research on this topic
only has examined the direct relationship between social support and well-
being (McAuley et al., 2000) but has not yet examined the possible mediating
influence of perceived stress on the relationship between social support and
flourishing among older persons. The mediating role of perceived stress in the
relation between social support and flourishing can be understood in the light
of the cognitive-transactional theory of stress.
According to cognitive-transactional stress theory (Lazarus & Folkman,
1984), perceived stress is defined as differences in individuals’ evaluations to
the same potential stressors and whether those individuals find the situation
as unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded; these differences affect both
the level of appraisal and the ability to cope with stress. This theory states that
social environment is not harmful, per se, and that the result of individuals’ ap-
praisal is more important. Lazarus and Folkman (1984) posit that the appraisal
process can modify the detrimental impact of the psychosocial environment
and provide an adaptive response to a threat in the environment. A mecha-
nism for the mediating role of perceived stress in the relationship between
social support and flourishing can be derived from research postulating that
individuals who negatively apprised the quality of their social support, such
as losing social ties due to the death or separation, and apprised the stress-
ful situations as less controllable and more threatening are less likely to expe-
rience flourishing (Keyes, 2014; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). However, despite
these empirical and theoretical explanations suggesting perceived stress as a
potential mediator between social support, religiosity, and flourishing, to our
knowledge no study has examined such possible mediation so far. In the light
of this knowledge gap, this study attempts to explicate the mediating influence
of perceived stress in the relationship between social support and flourishing
among older persons.
Generally, as people become older, they lose their social support resources
through the deaths of partners, relatives, and friends, and they might lose so-
cial support resources. At that point, older adults are more likely to experience
a decline in well-being (Abolfathi Momtaz, Hamid, Ibrahim, Yahaya, & Tyng
Chai, 2011). Although a large number of social support resources are lost in
older adults, many older adults experience well-being (Abolfathi Momtaz et al.,
2011). Previous studies (Pargament, 1996; Pargament & Park, 1995; Smith, 2003)
have shown that religiosity acts as a coping mechanism on the relationship

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84 Abdollahi et al.

between declining social support resources and perceived stress with well-
being (Abolfathi Momtaz et al., 2011; Chaaya, Sibai, Fayad, & El-Roueiheb,
2007). Religiosity can help to enhance flourishing and reduce perceived stress
by conferring a sense of purpose for living, meaning in life, hope for a good
life, hope for a pleasant future, strength for today, spiritual experience, coping
skills, meaningful death, actual immortality (an afterlife), and a reduction in
death anxiety (Aghababaei et al., 2016; Koenig, 2009; Smith, 2003; Vail et al.,
2010). Therefore, religiosity can promote and enhance a sense of flourishing in
older adults (Abolfathi Momtaz et al., 2011).
Allport and Ross (1967) categorized two types of religious motivation:
extrinsic religious motivation (as a type of religiousness that serves practi-
cal and instrumental purposes, like personal security, social connectedness,
and sociability) and intrinsic religious motivation (as a type of religiousness
is associated with meaning in life, intrinsic values, internalized beliefs, and
transcendence). Findings regarding the nature of the relationship between
religiosity and well-being are complex. Some studies revealed that religios-
ity (intrinsic and extrinsic religious motivation) was used as a substitute re-
source by older persons, and it had a positive influence on their well-being
(Abolfathi Momtaz et al., 2011; Byrd, Hageman, & Isle, 2007; Van Camp, Barden,
& Sloan, 2016). Other studies have failed to find a negative relationship be-
tween religiosity (intrinsic and extrinsic religious motivation) and well-being
(Ryan & Deci, 2000; Ryan, Rigby, & King, 1993). These contradictory results in
the relationship between religiosity and well-being may be related to the loca-
tions of the studies, which were performed in developing nations (Abolfathi
Momtaz et al., 2011; Aghababaei et al., 2016) and economically developed na-
tions (Francis, Ziebertz, & Lewis, 2003; Lewis, 2002). One possible explanation
for the lack of a significant relationship between religiosity and well-being in
economically developed nations is that they have better infrastructure, educa-
tion systems, and safety that limits harm due to natural disasters and epidemic
diseases; therefore, individuals may surmise that they are better able to obtain
a high level of well-being without the help of organized religion (Diener, Tay,
& Myers, 2011). Previous research has shown that perceived stress is negatively
associated with well-being (Abdollahi, Abu Talib, et al., 2014; Maschi, Viola,
Morgen, & Koskinen, 2015).
According to the inverse association between perceived stress and flourish-
ing, there is a gap in the literature. The reasons why some individuals high in
perceived stress experience high flourishing are unclear, because the previous
findings in this area have only examined the direct relationship between per-
ceived stress and flourishing (Abdollahi, Talib, et al., 2014) without considering
the moderating role of religiosity. Therefore, this study examines the moderat-
ing function of religiosity on the proposed model.

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Gender differences in elders’ well-being has been recorded in the litera-

ture (González-Carrasco, Casas, Malo, Viñas, & Dinisman, 2017; Pinquart
& Sörensen, 2001). Some studies have reported that older men have higher
well-being (Angleitner, 1978), whereas other studies have reported that older
women have higher well-being (Pinquart & Sörensen, 2001). In addition, previ-
ous studies have shown contradictory findings between gender and social sup-
port (Dalgard et al., 2006; Kong, Zhao, & You, 2012). Some studies have reported
females with low social support were more vulnerable than male counterparts
(Kong et al., 2012), whereas other studies have reported males with low so-
cial support were more vulnerable than female counterparts (Kong et al.,
2012). Thus far, no study has examined the moderating role of gender in the
relationships between social support, perceived stress, religiosity, and flourish-
ing. Knowledge of the moderating role of gender differences in the proposed
model may contribute to the development of appropriate prevention and in-
tervention programs that are sensitive to gender differences.

Hypotheses

Building upon past studies and theories, we developed the following four
hypotheses:

1. Social support and religiosity (intrinsic and extrinsic religious motiva-

tion) will positively predict flourishing, and perceived stress will nega-
tively predict flourishing.
2. Perceived stress will mediate the relationship between social support and
religiosity (intrinsic and extrinsic religious motivation) with flourishing.
3. Religiosity (intrinsic and extrinsic religious motivation) will moderate
the relationships between social support and perceived stress with
flourishing.
4. Gender will moderate the relationships between social support, per-
ceived stress, religiosity, and flourishing in Malaysian older persons.

Methods

Ethical Considerations
The research procedure, the rights and safety of the participants, and the meth-
od of data collection were approved by the Medical Research Ethics Committee
of Faculty of Medicine and Health Science. Oral and written informed consent
was obtained from all participants who participated in this study.

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86 Abdollahi et al.

Study Design
The National Survey of Identifying Psychosocial and Economic Risk Factors
of Cognitive Impairment among the Older Adults, a cross-sectional study of
community-dwelling Malaysian older adults, was conducted by the Malaysian
Research Institute of Ageing (My Aging) between May 2013 and April 2014.
Using a multi-stage cluster random sampling technique, 2,301 older adults were
selected to participate in this study. At the first stage, four states were randomly
chosen from four zones: Perak, from the northern zone; Johor, from the south-
ern zone; Kelantan, from the eastern zone; and Selangor, from the center zone.
At the second stage, 35 Census Circle clusters were selected from each state.
At the third stage, 20 Living Quarters were sampled from each Census Circle
cluster. Lastly, all older persons in each Living Quarter were interviewed. The
inclusion criteria were participants above 60 years of age who were Malaysian
citizens. The exclusion criteria were participants with known psychiatric prob-
lems (such as dementia and Alzheimer’s) or physical disabilities (confined to a
bed or wheel-chair) and those who were terminally ill.

Participants
A total of 2,301 older adults (1,100 males and 1,201 females) with ages ranging
from 60 to 92 years (Mean = 69.05, SD = 6.23) participated in this study. In terms
of ethnicity, 62.1% (n = 1430) of participants were Malay, 32.6% (n = 750) were
Chinese, and 5.3% (n = 121) of participants were Indian. In terms of religion,
61.6% (n = 1417) of participants reported being Muslim, 7.1% (n = 164) reported
being Christian, 27% (n = 621) reported being Buddhist, and 4.3% (n = 99) of
participants reported being Hindu.

Measures
Flourishing Scale (FS)
Flourishing was measured using the FS (Diener et al., 2010). The eight items
measure important aspects of human functioning including positive relation-
ships, feelings of competence, self-esteem, and purpose in life. Items are rated
on a seven-point Likert scale from 1 to 7, and scores range from 8 to 56, with
higher scores revealing a higher level of flourishing. A prior study showed that
FS has an excellent reliability for Malaysian elder sample (Momtaz, Hamid,
Haron, & Bagat, 2016). Based on the current sample, the Convergent Validity
(AVE) was 0.71, and the Construct Reliability (CR) was 0.86.

Social Support (SS)

Social support was measured using 19 functional social support items, adapt-
ed from the Medical Outcomes Survey (MOS). This questionnaire consists of

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four factors: (i) affection, (ii) emotional support or informational support,

(iii) instrumental support or tangible support, and (iv) positive social interac-
tion or appraisal support. Items are rated on a four-point Likert scale from 0
to 3, and scores range from 0 to 57, with higher scores revealing a higher level
of social support. Nelson and colleagues (2011) suggest that the factors are de-
pendent; therefore, in this study, the sums of four factors were used. A prior
study showed that MOS has excellent reliability (Nelson et al., 2011). Based on
the current sample, the Convergent Validity (AVE) was .61, and the Construct
Reliability (CR) was .81.

Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)

Perceived stress was measured using the PSS (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein,
1983). The four items measure the degree to which situations in one’s life are
appraised as stressful during the last month. Items are rated on a five-point
Likert scale from 0 to 4, and scores range from 0 to 16, with higher scores re-
vealing higher levels of perceived stress. Cohen and colleagues (1983) stated
that the perceived stress scale-4 was a reliable psychological questionnaire
for measuring the perception of stress and noted that it had a good internal
consistency with α: 0.84. Based on the current sample, the Convergent Validity
(AVE) was .68, and the Construct Reliability (CR) was .83.

Religiosity Intrinsic/Extrinsic Scale (RIES)

The 14 items measure intrinsic religious motivation, which encompasses the
internalized beliefs that are an important part of daily life despite external
consequences, with eight statements like “It is important to me to spend time
in private thought and prayer,” as well as extrinsic religious motivation, which
is used to achieve status, security, self-justification, and sociability, with six
statements including “I go to church mostly to spend time with my friends”
(Gorsuch & McPherson, 1989). Items are rated on a five-point Likert scale from 1
(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The total score for intrinsic religious
motivation is from 8 to 40, and the total score for extrinsic religious motivation
is from 6 to 30. The higher score indicates higher levels of intrinsic and ex-
trinsic religious motivation. Previous studies showed that RIES had an accept-
able internal consistency and validity (Gorsuch & McPherson, 1989; Smither
& Walker, 2015). Based on the current sample, the Convergent Validity (AVE)
values for the intrinsic and extrinsic religious motivation were .71 and .68, and
the Construct Reliability (CR) values for the intrinsic and extrinsic religious
motivation were .78 and .74 respectively.

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88 Abdollahi et al.

Data Analytic Plan

Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the data in this study
because it is able to estimate confirmatory factor analysis to reduce measure-
ment errors associated with observed and latent measures (regression analysis
ignores to estimate and measurement errors) and specify the overall model
fit. SEM is also able to estimate the reliability of measures (AVE and CR) in the
measurement model and test multiple equations concurrently. SEM is able to
test much more complex models, such as testing moderation analysis, media-
tion analysis, and provides goodness-of-fit indices for the model tested (Kline,
2010). Due to the advantages of SEM in comparison with regression analysis,
SEM was employed to analyse the data this study.
Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations were conducted with
the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) package version 20
(Arbuckle, 2006, IBM, SPSS). SEM was then applied to empirically examine the
first hypothesis using the software Analysis of Moment Structure 20 (AMOS)
(Arbuckle, 2006, IBM, SPSS). The bootstrapping method was applied to test the
second hypothesis regarding the effect of social support on flourishing through
perceived stress (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). Multi-group analysis was conduct-
ed to examine the moderating roles of religiosity—intrinsic and extrinsic reli-
gious motivation—and gender in the proposed relationships.

Preliminary Analysis
The data were examined for outliers, skewness, and kurtosis to reduce system-
atic errors. The missing data (ranging from 2.4% to 3.41% of items) were re-
placed through multiple imputation in AMOS software. Multivariate outliers
were checked using Cook’s distance (D) analyses (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001).
The results detected 14 multivariate outliers which were removed from the data
set. The univariate normality of each variable was investigated using skewness
and kurtosis and showed the value for skewness and kurtosis fall within the
suggested range of ±2 for skewness and ±7 for kurtosis. Skewness values were
from −0.77 to 1.21, and the kurtosis values were from −2.21 to 2.46 for all vari-
ables; therefore, the data were distributed normally (Byrne, 2010).

Results

Descriptive Statistics and Bivariate Correlations

Table 1 provides the means and standard deviations for the study variables.
Pearson correlation analysis showed that social support (r = .39, p < .01), in-
trinsic religious motivation (r = .32, p < .01), and extrinsic religious motivation

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PERCEIVED STRESS, SOCIAL SUPPORT, RELIGIOSITY, AND WELL-BEING 89

(r = .22, p < .01) were positively correlated with flourishing, and perceived stress
(r = −.19, p < .01) was negatively correlated with flourishing.

Table 1 Means, standard deviations, and bivariate correlations

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

(1) Social Support 1 .39** .25** .35** −.10**

(2) Flourishing 1 .32** .22** −.19**
(3) Intrinsic Religiosity 1 .45** −.16**
(4) Extrinsic Religiosity 1 −.14**
(5) Perceived stress 1
Mean 39.49 40.16 28.49 22.35 6.37
Standard Deviation 14.72 6.84 4.25 4.26 2.58

Note. ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.

Measurement Model Fit

Kline (2010) stated that if the values of GFI, TLI, and NFI indices are above .90,
the value of the RMSEA is less than 0.08, and Chi Square (CMIN/DF) value is
less than 5, the model fits adequately. Table 2 shows the outcome of the mea-
surement model analysis for all variables, and the findings revealed that the
model met the recommended requirements.

Table 2 Measurement models fit statistics

Construct Number CMIN/ CMIN DF RMSEA GFI TLI NFI

of items DF

Social Support 19 3.69** 490.59 133 0.07 0.9 0.91 0.93

Flourishing 8 4.9** 97.62 20 0.06 0.9 0.92 0.94
Intrinsic Religiosity 8 3.9** 78.16 20 0.07 0.92 0.94 0.92
Extrinsic Religiosity 6 3.81** 19.155 5 0.03 0.99 0.99 0.99
Perceived stress 4 4.12** 8.24 2 0.05 0.99 0.97 0.99
For all Variables 45 3.53** 635.59 180 .07 .91 .92 .91

Note. ** p > 0.05. CMIN: Chi Square, RMSEA: Root Mean Square Error Approximation, GFI:
Goodness-of-Fit Index, TLI: Tucker–Lewis Index, and NFI: normed fit index.

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90 Abdollahi et al.

Structural Model
The structure model analysis was performed to estimate the relationships
between the exogenous variables (social support, intrinsic religious motiva-
tion, extrinsic religious motivation, perceived stress) and the endogenous vari-
able (flourishing). Results of the structure model indicated that the model fit
the data adequately (CMIN/DF = 3.45, CFI = 0.912, GFI = 0.91, TLI = 0.92, and
RMSEA = .06).
Structural model analysis indicated that social support (β = .35, p < .01), in-
trinsic religious motivation (β = .29, p < .01), and extrinsic religious motivation
(β = .21, p < .01) were found to be positively related to flourishing, and perceived
stress was negatively related to flourishing (β = −.18, p < .01). The findings also
reveal that there were positive relationships between social support, intrinsic
religious motivation, and extrinsic religious motivation (see Figure 1). These
variables explain 39% of the variance of flourishing among Malaysian older
persons.

Mediation Test of Perceived Stress

To examine the mediating role of perceived stress in the relationships between
social support, intrinsic religious motivation, extrinsic religious motivation,
and flourishing, a bootstrap approach was used to test the statistical signifi-
cance of indirect effects (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). An indirect effect was con-
sidered to be significant at alpha level of .05 if the bias-corrected Confidence
Interval 95% (CI) from 5000 bootstrap samples does not include zero (Preacher
& Hayes, 2008).
In the direct model, the path coefficients from social support (β = .33, p
< .01, CI = .29-.38), intrinsic religious motivation (β = .23, p < .01, CI = .20-27), and
extrinsic religious motivation (β = .19, p < .01, CI = .17-.25) to flourishing were
significant. Results of indirect model showed that the path coefficient from so-
cial support (β = .31, p < .01, CI = .28-.37), intrinsic religious motivation (β = .21,
p < .05, CI = .18-.25), and extrinsic religious motivation (β = .17, p < .01, CI =
.15-.24) to flourishing were reduced, but still significant. The path coefficient
values from the exogenous variables (social support, intrinsic religious moti-
vation, and extrinsic religious motivation) to the endogenous variable (flour-
ishing) were decreased; however, they were significant. Therefore, perceived
stress emerged as a partial mediator in the links between social support, intrin-
sic religious motivation, extrinsic religious motivation, and flourishing.

Moderation Test of Religiosity

A multi-group analysis in SEM was used to examine the moderating role of
religiosity (intrinsic and extrinsic religious motivation) in the relationships

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PERCEIVED STRESS, SOCIAL SUPPORT, RELIGIOSITY, AND WELL-BEING 91

.63
e43 R2_1
.37
e44 R6_1 .69
.35 .54
e45 R8_1
.82 Extrinsic_Religiosity
.67
.69
e46 R9_1
.51 .64
e47 R11_1 .52
.43 ‒.12
.63
e48 R13_1

.72
e65 PSS1_1
.35
PSS2_1 .66
e66 .77
.57 Perceived_stress
PSS3_1 .84
e67
.35 .93
.21
e68 PSS4_1

.35
e56 R100_1 .63
.31 ‒.16
‒.18 F88_1 e64
e59 R33_1 .37
.63
.74 F77_1 e63
e50 R144_1 .35
.35 .64 e42 .59 e62
.57 F66_1
e51 R1_1 .39 .74
.55 .51
.85 Intrinsic_Religiosity .29 .82
.82 F55_1 e61
e51 R5_1 .72
.35 .73 Flourishing .63
.61 F44_1 e60
e51 R4_1 .78 .58 .57
.63 .56 F33_1 e59
.65
e54 R7_1 .35
.43 .64
F22_1 e58
e55 R12_1
.67
F11_1 e57
.35
‒.11 .34
e1 SS1_1
.35
e2 SS2_1 .34
.43
.21
e3 SS3_1
.85
e4 SS4_1
.57
e5 SS5_1
.23 .58
e6 SS6_1 .75
.37 .64
e7 SS7_1 .55
.67 .53
e8 SS8_1 .79
.37 .62
e9 SS9_1 .59
.38 .76
Social_support
e10 SS10_1 .82
.49 .86
e11 SS11_1 .51
.37 .73
e12 SS12_1 .62
.23 .72
e13 SS13_1 .54
.87
e14 .82
SS14_1
.73 .73
e15 SS15_1 .67
.92
e16 SS16_1
.41
e17 SS17_1
.51
e18 SS18_1
.43
e19 SS19_1

Figure 1 Structural model for the flourishing.

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92 Abdollahi et al.

A
Social support .33*

.23*
Intrinsic religious
motivation Flourishing
.19*
Extrinsic religious
motivation

B ‒.09*
Perceived
Social support
stress
‒.11*
‒.07*

Intrinsic religious ‒.12*

motivation
.31*

.21*
.17*
Extrinsic religious Flourishing
motivation

Figure 2 (A) Illustration of a direct effect (Social support, intrinsic religious motivation, and
extrinsic religious motivation affect flourishing). (B) Illustration of a mediation
design. (Social support, intrinsic religious motivation, and extrinsic religious motiva-
tion are hypothesized to exert an indirect effect on flourishing through perceived
stress). Note. * p< 0.01

between social support, perceived stress, and flourishing. To do this, the sam-
ple data were divided based on median split in intrinsic religious motivation
(28.49) and extrinsic religious motivation (22.35). Therefore, a total of 1,161
(50.5%) were allocated to the low extrinsic religious motivation group, and
1,141 (49.5%) were allocated to the high extrinsic religious motivation group.
Also, a total of 1,184 (51%) were allocated to the high intrinsic religious motiva-
tion group, and 1,117 (49%) were allocated to the low intrinsic religious motiva-
tion group.
The unconstrained models, in which all structural paths are allowed to vary,
for moderating roles of extrinsic religious motivation and intrinsic religious

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PERCEIVED STRESS, SOCIAL SUPPORT, RELIGIOSITY, AND WELL-BEING 93

motivation (χ2 = 28.69, 34.23, RMSEA = .052, .056, CFI = .91, .93, GFI = .91, .91,
NFI = .91, .93) were better than the constrained models (χ2 = 47.24, 46.721,
RMSEA = .055, .084, CFI = .78, .881, GFI =.88, .889, NFI =.833, .890), because the
chi-square values for the unconstrained models were smaller and other fit in-
dices for the unconstrained models were greater than the constrained models,
in which all structural paths are constrained to be equal (Hair, Black, Babin,
Anderson, & Tatham, 2006). The difference in chi-square values for extrinsic
religious motivation (∆χ2: 28.67, p < .001) and intrinsic religious motivation
(∆χ2: 29.75, p < .001) were statistically significant. Thus, extrinsic religious moti-
vation and intrinsic religious motivation moderated the relationships between
social support, perceived stress, and flourishing. Critical Ratios of Differences
(CRD) were used to compare individual paths between the two groups. Values
greater than ±1.96 and ±2.58 indicate statistical significant at .05 and .01 levels
respectively (Byrne, 2010).
As presented in Figure 3, older persons from the high intrinsic religious mo-
tivation group (β = .37, p < .001, CRD = 14.16) with high social support scores
were more likely to experience flourishing than older persons from the low
intrinsic religious motivation group (β = .30, p < .001, CRD = 10.62). Additionally,
older persons from the high intrinsic religious motivation group (β = −.03,
p < .05, CRD = 1.99) with high perceived stress scores were more likely to experi-
ence flourishing than older persons from the low intrinsic religious motivation
group (β = −.10, p < .001, CRD = 3.29).
As presented in Figure 4, older persons from the high extrinsic religious mo-
tivation group (β = .36, p < .001, CRD = 13.57) with high social support scores

High intrinsic religious motivation group

Low intrinsic religious motivation group

Perceived
Stress
‒.03, p: .01

‒.10, p: .01
Flourishing
.30, p: .01

.37, p: .01
Social support

Figure 3 Moderating role of intrinsic religious motivation on the hypothesized paths.

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94 Abdollahi et al.

High extrinsic religious motivation group

Low extrinsic religious motivation group

Perceived
Stress
‒.07, p: .01

‒.13, p: .01
Flourishing
.28, p: .01

.36, p: .01
Social support

Figure 4 Moderating role of extrinsic religious motivation on the hypothesized paths.

were more likely to experience flourishing than older persons from the low ex-
trinsic religious motivation group (β = .28, p < .001, CRD = 10.29). Additionally,
older persons from the high extrinsic religious motivation group (β = −.07,
p < .001, CRD = 4.54) with high perceived stress scores were more likely to expe-
rience flourishing than older persons from the low intrinsic religious motiva-
tion group (β = −.13, p < .001, CRD = 3.29).

Moderation Test of Gender

A multi-group analysis, as shown in Figure 5, revealed that women (β = .34,
p < .001, CRD = 13.14) with high social support scores were more likely to experi-
ence flourishing than men (β = .30, p < .001, CRD = 11.11). Additionally, women
(β = −.12, p < .001, CRD = 5.74) with high perceived scores were less likely to
experience flourishing than men (β = .06, p < .05, CRD = 2.03). The findings
showed that gender did not moderate the relationships between intrinsic reli-
gious motivation (CRD = 1.57), extrinsic religious motivation (CRD = 1.87), and
flourishing.

Discussion

The findings from this study show a positive relationship between social sup-
port and flourishing. Numerous studies provide evidence for a positive rela-
tionship between social support and well-being (Abolfathi Momtaz et al.,

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PERCEIVED STRESS, SOCIAL SUPPORT, RELIGIOSITY, AND WELL-BEING 95

Perceived
Stress Women

‒.12, p: .01 Men

.06, p: .01
Social support .34, p: .01

.30, p: .01

.29, p: .01 Flourishing

Intrinsic religious .27, p: .01
motivation
.18, p: .01
.17, p: .01
Extrinsic religious
motivation

Figure 5 Moderating role of gender on the hypothesized paths.

2014; Gallagher & Vella-Brodrick, 2008). One probable explanation for the
positive association between social support and flourishing is that social sup-
port can provide satisfaction of basic psychological needs and promotes a
person’s initiative, volition, and integrity that may contribute to flourishing
(Deci, La Guardia, Moller, Scheiner, & Ryan, 2006). Deci and colleagues (2006)
also found that giving social support may improve connections with others
and may increase feelings of self-esteem and finding meaning in life and may
enhance an individual’s sense of flourishing. The findings from the structural
model revealed that perceived stress was negatively associated with flourish-
ing. Previous studies showed that the risk of ill-being was higher among indi-
viduals who perceived higher levels of stress (Abdollahi, Abu Talib, et al., 2014;
Barriball, Fitzpatrick, & Roberts, 2011). A possible explanation for the negative
association between perceived stress and flourishing is that a cognitive ap-
praisal of stress is more important than real-life stressors, and effects on indi-
viduals’ interpretations and reactions (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). For example,
some individuals may perceive the specific situation to be more treatable and
may respond with anger, depression, or anxiety, while others consider the situ-
ation as challengeable or controllable rather than treatable. Consequently, the
appraisal process of stress plays an important role in experiencing well-being
or ill-being.

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96 Abdollahi et al.

Perceived stress partially mediated the relationships between intrinsic reli-

gious motivation, extrinsic religious motivation, social support, and flourish-
ing. The partial mediation suggests that when perceived stress was included
into the model, the positive associations between intrinsic religious motiva-
tion, extrinsic religious motivation, and social support with flourishing were
reduced but significance. The findings showed that when individuals, even
with higher levels of social support and religiosity, perceive a situation as a
harmful or treatable, their sense of well-being may be reduced. The findings
from this study are consistent with earlier findings that perceived stress is
more focused on cognition and life control (Grynderup et al., 2016), and it has
a great effect on flourishing.
Our findings revealed that religiosity, both intrinsic and extrinsic religious
motivation, moderated the relationships between social support and per-
ceived stress with flourishing. Findings also indicated greater flourishing for
those with high religiosity, both intrinsic and extrinsic, as opposed to those
with low levels of religiosity, both intrinsic and extrinsic. This adds support to
previous studies suggesting that intrinsic religious motivation sustains indi-
viduals in stressful situations (Talib & Abdollahi, 2017), provides strength for
today, meaning in life, spiritual experiences, hope for a good life, and hope
for a tomorrow (Aghababaei et al., 2016; Koenig, 2009; Vail et al., 2010). These
characteristics help individuals to believe that outcomes are encouraging and
positive and provide a source of comfort during stressful situations (Abolfathi
Momtaz et al., 2014; Talib & Abdollahi, 2017). The findings of this study also
supported the moderating role of extrinsic religious motivation. According
to self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), extrinsic religious motiva-
tion enhances community and leadership skills, coping skills, social ties, and
network closure that may contribute to extrinsic rewards and may facilitate
flourishing experiences. Self-determination theory proposes that extrinsic mo-
tivation can greatly influence on externally regulated behaviors and autonomy
need (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Such behaviors are performed to satisfy an exter-
nal demand or reward contingency (Skinner, 1953). Research also revealed
that tangible rewards improve task performance and may enhance well-being
(Ryan & Deci, 2000).
The findings of this study revealed the moderation role of gender in the
relationships between social support, perceived stress, and flourishing. But the
gender does not have moderation effect on the relationships between intrinsic
religious motivation, extrinsic religious motivation, and flourishing. Our re-
sults suggest that older-aged women with high social support are more likely to
experience flourishing than their male counterparts. One possible explanation
is that older-aged women are more likely to be socially integrated and to have

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PERCEIVED STRESS, SOCIAL SUPPORT, RELIGIOSITY, AND WELL-BEING 97

more sources of social support. In addition, older-aged women may be better

able to manage change due to their family roles, interpersonal coping strate-
gies, and larger social networks. In contrast, often, the only source of support
for men is their spouse. Life changes such as the death of a spouse, declining
health, and loss of work may be hard for men to endure (Möller-Leimkühler,
2003; Park, Cho, & Moon, 2010). The findings also suggest that older-aged
women with higher perceived stress are less likely to experience flourishing
than their male counterparts. A plausible explanation is that men are more
likely to use problem-focused coping skills to handle their stress, while women
are more likely to use emotion-focused skills to manage their stress (Dyson
& Renk, 2006). One possible explanation is that social expectations play an
important role in the stereotypical coping skills used by women and men. It
is conceivable that women under stress show lower levels of flourishing. One
possible explanation is that women do not have the same economic and politi-
cal power as men in Malaysia, and when they encounter with stressors, they
may be more vulnerable than male counterparts.
The findings from this study have important implications. Theoretically, the
findings add to previous research by investigating the mediating role of per-
ceived stress in the relationship between social support and religiosity with
flourishing and testing the moderating roles of religiosity and gender in the
proposed model. Methodologically, structural equation modelling provides a
better understanding of the hypothesized model of flourishing in older per-
sons, in contrast to conventional linear regression. Therapeutically, when as-
sessing an individual’s flourishing, it is important to consider the presence of
religiosity and social support in addition to presence perceived stress. Although
causality cannot be concluded, religiosity-oriented training may increase the
likelihood of flourishing among older persons.
Although our findings are encouraging and compelling, several limitations
should be considered. First, the nature of the cross-sectional design precludes
causal inferences. Second, since the data were obtained using self-report ques-
tionnaires, there is the probability that their answers were biased by social
desirability. Future studies could employ a mixed-method approach and mul-
tiple sources to address such limitations. Thirdly, the mediation effect through
perceived stress explained a relatively small proportion of variance in the
links between social support, intrinsic religious motivation, extrinsic religious
motivation, and flourishing. Therefore, perceived stress is likely one of many
important mediating factors. Future research should include other mediating
factors to better understand the underlying mechanism in the links between
social support, intrinsic religious motivation, extrinsic religious motivation,
and flourishing.

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98 Abdollahi et al.

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