Applied Research Quality Life (2017) 12:533–547

DOI 10.1007/s11482-016-9475-6

The Relation between Religion and Well-Being

Adam B. Cohen 1 & Kathryn A. Johnson 1

Received: 27 October 2015 / Accepted: 31 May 2016 / Published online: 10 June 2016
# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht and The International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies
(ISQOLS) 2016

Abstract This article reviews research on religion and well-being, focusing primarily
on Western, traditional religions. We provide some nuance, caveats, and future direc-
tions for further research. We discuss how and why religious groups may differ in their
well-being, that there may be important subgroup differences, that there are multiple
dimensions to both religion and well-being, that religion and other cultural identities
may interact to impact well-being, and that religion (e.g., religious anxieties) may be
associated with lower well-being in some ways. We consider how religious extremism
relates to well-being and also suggest that more research is needed regarding well-being
in other types of religious and spiritual groups. We hope that this article will add
complexity to the important intersections between religion and well-being.

Keywords Religion . Well-being . Happiness . Life satisfaction

The Relation between Religion and Well-Being

In an increasingly secular and global society, some question whether religion contributes
to, or impedes, well-being (Diener et al. 2011; Mochon et al. 2011). In the early twentieth
century, Freud considered religion to be a psychopathological, neurotic wish-fulfillment.
However, the current zeitgeist of work on religion and well-being seems much more
charitable. Today, religion is viewed as a powerful coping mechanism (Pargament and
Park 1997) and a (perhaps uniquely suited) system to provide meaning in life (Park 2005).
Indeed, even Freud admitted that, B.. . only religion can answer the question of the purpose
of life. One can hardly be wrong in concluding that the idea of life having a purpose stands
and falls with the religious system^ (Freud 1961/1927, p. 25).

* Adam B. Cohen
adamcohen@asu.edu

1
Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, PO Box 871104, Tempe,
AZ 85287-1104, USA
534 Cohen A.B., Johnson K.A.

Empirical evidence often (though not always) supports relations between religion
and aspects of quality of life. Most recent empirical work in the psychology of religion
does indeed show that some aspect of religion (e.g. religious attendance or intrinsic
religiosity) correlates positively with some index of well-being: Religious people report
being happier and more satisfied with their lives (Diener et al. 1999; Myers 1992;
Veenhoven 1984). Poloma and Pendleton (1990) found via random phone interviews
for people living in Akron OH in the US that religious dimensions were typically rather
strongly related with well-being.
Moreover, the association between religion and well-being appears to be robust
across multiple cultural contexts. Tiliouine and Belgoumidi (2009) have shown, for
example, that religiosity predicts meaning and life satisfaction in Muslim students in
Algeria (see also Tiliouine 2009). And Abdel-Khalek (2007) found that religiosity
among Muslim Kuwaiti adolescents was related to better health and well-being and less
anxiety. This work is gratifying given Abu-Raiya’s (2013) call to extend work on
religion and well-being into Muslim contexts.
On the other hand, findings that aspects of religion go with aspects of quality of life
do not always show that religion is associated with better quality of life. Subjectively,
many people may feel religion is important in their quality of life, but religion may not
always have effects on more objective measures. In Büssing et al.’s (2009) work, for
example, although about half of participants felt that God would help them, and they
prayed for such help, reports of relying on God’s help did not show a significant
association with physical or mental health related quality of life indicators.
Given these complexities, we think it is a good time to review research on religion
and well-being, and to suggest some avenues for future research. As most existing
research has been done in the contexts of Western, traditional religions, that is much of
our focus. We first review the definitions and prerequisites of well-being as identified in
the psychological literature. Next, we argue that various religious groups, subcultures
within those groups, individuals with different religious orientations, and dif-
ferent dimensions of religion may have different levels of well-being. We also
consider how national and ethnic cultural identities may interact with religious
identities. We conclude that the extent to which religion leads to well being
varies according to one’s religious and cultural worldview, suggesting more of a
focus on newer and less traditional religions, and pointing to a need for more
work on extremism and well-being.

Defining Well-Being

In the psychological literature, the terms happiness, life satisfaction, and subjective
well-being have come to refer to somewhat overlapping yet distinct constructs.
Happiness refers to positive feelings such as joy, contentment, and calm (Layard
2005). Life satisfaction is the cognitive appraisal or judgment about how well things
are going (Argyle 2001; Michalos 1980). Importantly, life satisfaction may differ
significantly from objective appraisals. For example, religious individuals involved in
tragic circumstances often report finding peace, hope, or increased faith; and, conse-
quently, reporting high life satisfaction. Subjective well-being is the evaluation of one’s
global life circumstances, reflecting a sense that one’s life is going well and one would
Religion & Well-being 535

not change much if one’s life could be lived over again (Diener et al. 1999).
Nevertheless, statistical associations (correlations) are often similar and positive wheth-
er one is talking about the association between religion and happiness, religion and life
satisfaction, or religion and well-being; and we primarily use the term well-being in this
paper to refer broadly to all three of these.
Happiness, life satisfaction, and subjective well-being have also been framed in
terms of the fulfillment of various goals. For example, Seligman has argued that well-
being, or human flourishing, involves having important social relationships, meaning in
life, and the achievement of personal goals (Seligman 2011). Religious rituals, moral
codes, and communities may be particularly well-suited to help people meet these
goals. For example, the teachings of many religions regarding fellowship, cooperation,
and pro-social behavior can make some religious groups mainstays of social support.
Such groups may provide resources in times of trouble, promote positive coping
strategies, or reduce loneliness (e.g., Uchino et al. 1996). Speaking to the important
role of social support, Ng and Fisher (2016) examined the relation of Protestant
spirituality and well-being among Chinese in Hong Kong. One important finding
was that the relation between spirituality and social trust was fully mediated through
a sense of community. Community level and personal level well-being were related.
Extending this discussion to quality of life (and not just psychological well-being),
Debnath and Shankar (2014) remind us to also consider objective sociological param-
eters that are external to the individual, including GDP growth, income, nutrition,
mortality rate, literacy etc. Speaking to an important role of social support, Levin
(2013) showed in a sample of 50 years and older Israeli Jews that participation in
synagogue life was associated with several aspects of well-being, including less
repression, better quality of life, and more optimism. The effects of prayer were not
as consistent, again suggesting that attention be paid to not just internal psychological
variables but also community or social level variables when thinking about religion and
quality of life. Finally, well-being can be thought of at the family level, as in when Noor
et al. (2014) looked at family well-being in Malaysia, finding religion as one important
predictor. Thus, an important direction for research on religion, well-being, and quality
of life is to consider all of these dimensions.

Religious Group Differences and Well-Being

The association between religion and well-being seems to be robust across religious
groups. Pokimica et al. (2012) found significant though modest relations between
religious affiliation and subjective well-being in Ghana, where certain Christians and
Muslims reported better well-being than people belonging to the none/traditional
religious groups. In South Korea, Eungi Kim (2003) also found some religious group
differences in well-being, in which Protestants reported better well-being than Catholics
and Buddhists, and people with religious faith reporting higher levels of life satisfaction
than those without. Additionally, Yiengprugsawan et al. (2010) found in a large Thai
national cohort of Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University adult students that the
Bspirituality and religion^ domain had the highest average score in well-being domains.
Each of these and other major world religions (e.g. Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu,
Jewish, Muslim, Protestant) are similar in many ways. However, each religious group
536 Cohen A.B., Johnson K.A.

also has their own unique beliefs, social norms, ritual practices, values, and other
characteristics that would define any cultural group (Cohen 2009). As a result, religious
groups may differ in levels of well-being, or the correlates of well-being. Personal
spirituality, for example, is more strongly associated with well-being for Christians,
than it is for Jews (Cohen 2002). Furthermore, Jews often report lower levels of well-
being, happiness, or life satisfaction relative to other religious groups (Cohen and Hall
2009; Kennedy et al. 1996). Sheldon (2006) also found that, on average, Catholics are
higher than some Protestants in religious introspection, which can be seen as a type of
guilt. Guilt may, in turn, reduce the sense of well-being.
There may be many reasons for differences between religious groups. Protestants’
health and well-being ratings are often affected by their perceived spiritual health (e.g.
Idler 1995; Idler et al. 1999); yet Jewish health and well-being may be less so, particularly
among the non-Orthodox (Rosmarin et al. 2009c). Of further interest, some groups (such
as Jews) may be willing to admit to life dissatisfaction, more so than other religious groups
(Guttmacher and Ellinson 1971). One interesting possibility is that Jews living in the
Diaspara are enculturated to complain and express dissatisfaction (kvetching) to indicate
their longing to live back in the Jewish homeland, Israel (Wex 2005). Furthermore, certain
assumptions of psychotherapy (especially psychoanalysis) are particularly compatible
with the Jewish worldview, such as the notion that one could talk about one’s personal
problems with an external expert (e.g. a rabbi), and that one could analyze dreams (which
has precedent Biblically, Talmudically, and in Jewish mystical texts) and that the id, ego,
and superego have parallels in Jewish philosophy (Langman 1997).
Religious groups may also deal with death in different ways and facing death with
equanimity versus anxiety can also affect well-being. Belief in life after death buffers
death anxiety (Dechesne et al. 2003) which, in turn, could relate to greater well-being.
However, Jews are less likely to believe in a soul or afterlife than Christians are (Cohen
2002; Cohen and Hall 2009). Also, Jews (and Catholics) are more concerned than
Protestants that they will be mourned according to their appropriate religious traditions
(Cohen et al. 2005b).
Religious coping is also an important consideration. Pargament et al., (2001) have
identified differences in positive and negative religious coping. Positive coping is
characterized by the belief that God is a benevolent protector and helper in times of
trouble, whereas negative coping is characterized by concern that one’s suffering is
caused or sanctioned by a God who is angry and punishing. For example, among
medically ill older adults, negative religious coping has been shown to be a risk factor
for dying (Pargament et al. 2001). Rosmarin et al. (2009a) also found that Christian and
Jewish beliefs and practices correlated positively with positive coping and negatively
with negative religious coping, and positive religious coping predicted less psycholog-
ical distress (i.e., worry, anxiety, depression).
Religion may also relate to well-being because of the self-control that often accom-
panies religious commitment, though this is an untested idea. Religious people do seem
to have better self-control and self-regulation (McCullough and Willoughby 2009). Yet,
again, it is possible that religious groups could differ in this regard. For example, one
can see religious dietary and other practices as exercises in self-regulation (Klein 1979;
Johnson et al. 2011). Further, mortality rates for heart disease, emphysema, cirrhosis,
cervical cancer, and suicide, for example, are much lower for Christian church-goers vs.
non-attenders (for a review, see McCullough et al. 2000). Some have suggested that
Religion & Well-being 537

these lower rates are due to prohibitions against smoking and drinking which may be
more likely to occur among the Bstrictly^ religious (e.g. Argyle 2001). Indeed, it takes a
certain measure of self-control to regularly attend religious services, and studies have
repeatedly found that increased church attendance correlates with life satisfaction.
Moreover, older people, Blacks, women, and Protestants are the most satisfied with
life – groups that also are also most likely to attend religious services (Argyle 2001).
One additional speculation we offer is that Christians may be happier than some other
groups because feeling personally connected with God can alleviate loneliness and feelings
of social isolation (e.g., Epley et al. 2008; Johnson et al. 2013; Paloutzian and Ellison 1982).
Perhaps, the flip side of this feeling of personal connection with God as a positive influence
is that many religious groups, such as Judaism, Catholicism, and Hinduism, emphasize
integration into a religious community as a valuable aspect of religion in and of itself, and
not merely as a byproduct of the more intrinsic aspects of religion (Cohen et al. 2005a, b).

Religious Subgroups and Well-Being

So far, we have been discussing variability across broad religious groups. However,
considering differences across major religious groups may be too coarse a cut. There is
also a dizzying array of subgroups within each of the major religious traditions – one is
not merely Jewish, but Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Humanistic, Ultra-Orthodox.
One is not merely Protestant but Methodist, Lutheran, evangelical, fundamentalist, and
many others. And the same is true for Catholics, with Catholicism’s different orders.
These distinctions are important. Rosmarin and his colleagues (Rosmarin et al. 2009a, b,
c) found, for instance, that for non-Orthodox Jews, religious beliefs were not correlated
with well-being, yet they were among Orthodox Jews. Rosmarin et al. (2009b) showed
that spiritual struggle was associated with lower levels of physical and mental health in a
Jewish sample as a whole, but Orthodox Jews at the highest level of spiritual struggle
showed higher physical and mental health. Further, among Orthodox Jews in Israel,
perceived social support both from religious leaders and from God have been shown to
predict less emotional distress and greater life satisfaction (Lazar and Bjorck 2008).
Pirutinsky (2009) also demonstrated subtleties depending on denominational differ-
ences in an experiment activating thoughts of death. For people whose religiosity had
changed substantially in their life (including people who had become Orthodox),
activating thoughts of death resulted in higher religiosity. Priming thoughts of death
had the opposite effect for people whose religiosity had remained constant in their lives.

Dimensions of Religion and Well-Being

Religious orientation is another important factor in understanding the association between

religion and well-being. Within and between the religious groups and subgroups we have
mentioned, there are many ways of being religious. Allport and Ross (1967) were concerned
with identifying why some religious people are, and others are not, prejudiced. These
researchers theorized that intrinsically oriented people have sensed the presence of God,
that prayer is personally meaningful, and that religion is the master motive of their lives.
Extrinsically religious people use their religion in an instrumental way to achieve goals like
538 Cohen A.B., Johnson K.A.

comfort and social integration, according to Allport and Ross. In a review of the literature,
Wulff (1997) found that an intrinsic religious orientation was positively associated with self-
regulation, self-esteem, physical and mental health, life satisfaction, and having a purpose in
life. Moreover, intrinsically religious people often report a stronger sense of subjective well-
being. However, extrinsic religiosity is also valued in traditions that prize social connections,
such as Judaism, Catholicism, and Hinduism (Cohen et al. 2005a, b). Thus, extrinsic
religiosity may be predictive of well-being in these groups, but less so in others.
Following Allport and Ross, other researchers have focused on fundamentalism and
quest religious orientations. Fundamentalism, in the psychological literature, is defined
as taking religious texts to be literally true, feeling part of the religious elite, and seeing
secular or other religious groups as an outside threat (Altemeyer and Hunsberger 1992;
Hood et al. 2005). These aspects of fundamentalism could both positively and nega-
tively impact well-being. The strong belief in one’s religious worldview – perhaps
coupled with the view that one merits divine favor – has been shown to correlate with
increased happiness for some (Green and Elliott 2010). However, in situations where
the religious adherent feels threatened by religious out-groups, fundamentalist beliefs
could actually reduce feelings of subjective well-being.
Quest orientation, on the other hand, involves seeing religion as a path, and
entertaining doubts rather than having a set of clear answers (Batson et al. 2008). To
the extent that people seek order in their lives, the quest to resolve religious doubts and
uncertainty may be discomforting and may also lead to reduced life satisfaction.
Indeed, in one study linking religious orientation to concepts of God, hopelessness,
and life satisfaction, those high in Quest orientation were also likely to report high
scores on hopelessness (Steenwyk et al. 2010). Life satisfaction was also weakly, but
negatively, associated with Quest orientation.
Genia (1996) also showed that religious orientation differentially correlates with
well-being. Intrinsic religiosity was the strongest predictor of psychosocial health,
people higher in Quest reported more personal distress and lower spiritual well-being,
and the use of religion for extrinsic personal goals predicted higher personal distress,
but also a more satisfying perceived relationship with God. Of importance, Genia
examined how relations changed when controlling for social desirability and funda-
mentalism, which is interesting given that Schuurmans-Stekhoven (2011) has even
questioned if religion, as opposed to virtue (correlated with religion but often unmea-
sured), is really the operative variable in well-being research.
Finally, a more recent religious orientation has emerged in the U.S., referred to as
Bspiritual but not religious^ or SBNR (e.g., Houtman and Aupers 2007; Zinnbauer et al.
1999). SBNR represents an eclectic and idiosyncratic mix of religious beliefs and,
often, the lack of participation in a religious community (Pew Forum on Religion and
Public Life 2009). Emerging adults, in particular, seem to be affiliating with traditional
religion less, and reporting higher degrees of spirituality. Ellison and Fan (2008), found
that reports of daily spiritual experiences in the US NORC General Social Surveys were
robustly associated with psychological well-being, but not with negative affect.
Sawatzky et al. (2009) showed spirituality is important in global quality of life for
adolescents in British Columbia. Indeed, some have suggested that spirituality has
become particularly important for well-being (Casas et al. 2009). It remains to be
investigated whether the increase in individual spirituality will lead to corresponding
increases in subjective well-being.
Religion & Well-being 539

A recent study of community-dwelling, older adults of four nationalities in Portugal

also supports the importance of meaning in life with life satisfaction (von Humboldt et
al. 2014). Indeed, a sense of coherence, which often comes with religion, was the
strongest predictor of self-reported life satisfaction. A sense of coherence can often be
helpful with difficult life circumstances, which comports with findings that spirituality
is an important factor in the lives and quality of life of African American women and
women living with HIV/AIDS (George Dalmida et al. 2011).
Religion is a multi-dimensional phenomenon, and religious orientation is not the
only consideration in linking religion and well-being. Atran and Norenzayan (2004),
for instance, have characterized religion as involving counter-intuitive beliefs about
agents, commitments to those agents, and compassion toward human existential
anxieties, all of which result in communities or congregation of ritual participants.
Sosis (2006) has labeled the dimensions of religious life as behaviors (practices),
badges (commitments), and bans (regulations). For Boyer (2001), religion typically
involves beliefs in gods and spirits, notions of sacredness, purity, pollution, and taboo;
rituals that protect against invisible dangers; moral judgments; and/or mystical experi-
ences. Saroglou (2011) has synthesized this earlier work, theorizing that religion
involves beliefs, rituals and emotions, moral rules, and community.
We propose that each of these dimensions of religion may provide different paths to
well-being and quality of life. Beliefs that God, saints, guardian angels, or the like are
watching over one’s life can provide a measure of comfort or self-esteem (Benson and
Spilka 1973) and attenuate loneliness (Epley et al. 2008). Participation in religious
rituals may provide emotional release (McCauley and Lawson 2002; Pruyser 1968) and
reinforce the sense that one is an integral part of the religious community (Alcorta and
Sosis 2005; Newberg and d’Aquili 2000). Moral codes that prohibit substance abuse or
prescribe self-regulation can lead to better health outcomes, and religious communities
may provide much needed social support in times of need (e.g., Ai et al. 2005; Maton
1989). Each of the outcomes may ultimately increase life satisfaction, quality of life, and
human flourishing. The commonality or uniqueness of these dimensions of religion, and
their influence on well-being provide a promising direction for future research.
All of the dimensions of religion we have discussed in this section, we wish to note,
are based on modern characterizations of being religious. Allport and Ross’ theory of
intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity has been extensively critiqued, partly for being based
on an individualistic view of religion as being ideally about one’s internal, private
motives. We have argued elsewhere that there are many religions which also value
religious community and ritual (Cohen et al. 2005a; Cohen, Mazza, Johnson, Enders
and Warner, Theorizing and measuring religiosity across cultures, Manuscript
submitted for publication). Of course, there are larger cultural and historical influences
at work, and it would be very fruitful to enrich our views of dimensions of religion as
they might relate to well-being by considering how historians and philosophers in other
historical and cultural contexts have thought about how one can be religious.

Religion and (Other) Cultures Interact to Affect Well-Being

One of the moderating influences on the religion-QOL linkage is that of culture.

Indeed, in many studies, the link between religiosity and well-being, happiness, or life
540 Cohen A.B., Johnson K.A.

satisfaction is also influenced by one’s cultural group. Here, we are referring mainly to
ethnic or national cultural groups – groups other than religious cultural groups. For
example, Bjørnskov et al. (2006) found that the relationship between religion and life
satisfaction changes depending on the national context in 70 countries. These
researchers looked at political, economic, institutional, and cultural influence on life
satisfaction and found that places with a Christian majority had overall greater life
satisfaction. In another multiple country study, Joshanloo and Weijers (2016) used
multi-level modeling to show that, across countries, religiosity can mitigate the nega-
tive influence of income inequality on life satisfaction. These researchers found that
religious belief, more so than religious practice, was responsible. This finding points
back to our previous section on the dimensions of religion – some aspects of religiosity
might be more important than others in particular ways.
Another analysis of data from 65 countries participating in the World Values Survey
revealed that the salience of personal religious identity was associated with increased
rates of life satisfaction (Elliott and Hayward 2009). This was true across the samples,
but the strength of that association changed, depending on the role of government in
regulating individual liberties (including religious freedom) such that decreased gov-
ernment regulation was associated with greater life satisfaction.
Grözinger and Matiaske (2014) have shown that even regional differences within
Germany (like urbanization) can affect the link between individual level religion variables
and well-being. On the other hand, even disparate cultural groups are sometimes influenced
by their geographical region. For instance, life satisfaction among both Mexican-American
and Anglo-Americans living in Texas was correlated with church attendance over a four-
year period, after controlling for sex, age, marital status, and education (Markides 1983).
In addition to country or region, cultural affiliations also interact with religiosity to
influence well-being. For example, African-Americans in the U.S. were found to have a
stronger positive association between religiosity and life satisfaction (higher scores on
both) but a stronger negative association between religiosity and depression (high
scores on one, and low scores on the other) when compared to Caucasian-Americans
(Coke 1992; Husaini et al. 1999; Musick et al. 1998).
An important distinction in cultural psychology is made between individualistic and
collectivistic cultures. In industrialized nations, self-satisfaction, the collection of
pleasurable experiences, frequently experiencing positive affect, and personal freedoms
are highly correlated with happiness, life satisfaction, and subjective well-being.
However, in collectivist societies (e.g., India, China, or the Middle East), acceptance
of others and achieving goals to make others happy is paramount (Diener et al. 2003).
Shweder and his colleagues (Shweder et al. 1997) have provided a useful model for
thinking about differences in the moral frameworks between individualistic and collec-
tivistic cultures. In a study that originally explored folk theories of the causes of
suffering, he and his research team developed and empirically tested a model of three
separate, but related, codes of ethics in contemporary Indian culture: the Ethic of
Autonomy, the Ethic of Community, and the Ethic of Divinity (or Cosmic Order).
These three moral codes have been subsequently identified, to varying degrees, in many
other cultures with particular clusters of emotions correlated with each moral code
(Rozin et al. 1999). These three ethical codes have implications for views of well-being.
The first type of moral reasoning is focused on individual concerns such as personal
rights, justice, life satisfaction, and the right to non-injury. While the self is admittedly
Religion & Well-being 541

always construed in relation to others, the locus of attention and the basis for moral
reason in the Ethic of Autonomy is reduced to how one feels about a situation. Thus, in
the Ethic of Autonomy, well-being equates with individual choice and opportunities for
a personally satisfying life.
In collectivistic societies, however, the Ethic of Community may be most prevalent;
and human flourishing may be thought of in terms of providing for the good of the
whole. From this view, the objective of ethical behavior is social cohesion and
performance of one’s duty rather than self-interest. Indeed, violations of the Ethic of
Community are interpreted as being detrimental to the group and, therefore, often elicit
contempt or social exclusion from others.
Finally, the Ethic of Divinity describes a moral code focused on the cosmic order.
Moral reason in the Ethic of Divinity is grounded in notions of a higher order of right
and wrong (for example, matters of purity vs. pollution, virtuous character vs. hedo-
nism, or sanctity vs. sin). The ultimate goal in the Ethic of Divinity is the rule of divine
authority and restoration of cosmic order. Thus, moral judgments within the Ethic of
Divinity must include subservience to the commands and purposes of the deity with
much less regard for personal or group happiness.
Discourses on emotions (e.g., happiness) serve to define appropriate norms and
values, perpetuate cultural ideologies, and provide scripts for the proper experience of
emotions (Keltner and Haidt 1999). However, some of the well-being research has been
perhaps biased in presenting an egocentric or individualistic view of human flourishing
as being equivalent to happiness and the attainment of individual goals. Instead, many
religious texts present a more balanced view that addresses each of the three possible
ethical measures of human flourishing: Autonomy, Community, and Divinity (e.g., the
Hindu Bhagavad Gītā; Johnson 2007). These diverse cultural and ethical perspectives
raise important questions regarding the standards for human flourishing. That is, should
priority be given to the assessment of individual well-being, the well-being of the
community, or obedience to divine commands?

Religion and Dissatisfaction with Life

Considering the relation between religion and well-being requires a balanced approach,
not only allowing that religion increases subjective well-being, but also being open to
how religion can relate to unhappiness, depression, and dissatisfaction with life.
Religion involves the whole of life, and life involves joy and sorrow. Religion not
only ameliorates the pain of loss, but also evokes and encourages pain (e.g., fasting,
penance) or loss (e.g., the giving up of resources and status). For example, traditional
Jews are required to mourn the destruction of Zion by observing a fast day (the 9th of
Av) which ensures that this is an aversive experience. While Jewish prayers are in some
ways more optimistic than those of some other religions (Sethi and Seligman 1993),
Jews also read from Lamentations to cultivate feelings of sorrow and longing to return
to Zion. Indeed, in Bangalore, findings from Agrawal et al. (2011) point to the
possibility that religion can be associated with negative affect.
Religion can also involve certain worries and stressors. One can not only take
comfort in God’s forgiveness and grace, but one can also worry that God is angry
(Exline 2003), absent (e.g., the Bdark night of the soul;^ James 1902/2002), or to be
542 Cohen A.B., Johnson K.A.

feared (e.g., the Bible commands both loving and fearing – or being in awe of – God;
see Deuteronomy 6 or Leviticus 25). Belonging to a religion that has precise rules about
religious rituals can promote anxiety related to a need to perform religious rituals in
exactly the right way (Abramowitz et al. 2002; Greenberg and Witztum 2001).
Belonging to a religion like Christianity, which considers thoughts to be the moral
equivalent of actions (Cohen and Rozin 2001), could make a person prone to thought-
action fusion, a component of OCD in which people show excessive anxiety or become
overly scrupulous about their thoughts (Siev and Cohen 2007). These are important
issues regarding religion and clinical assessments of psychological well-being. It is
difficult to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate religious concerns
(Greenberg and Witztum 2001), a problem that even trained clinicians may struggle
with (O’Connor and Vandenberg 2005). Clinicians should be knowledgeable about and
perhaps even consult with religious experts to know if certain feelings, thoughts, or
behaviors are religiously and culturally normative, in order to make informed
healthcare decisions.
Given that religion can be a source of anxiety and depression for some people, it is
important to consider whether people’s well-being can be improved by leaving their
religion. Mochon et al. (2011) point out a curvilinear relation of religion and well-
being, where those with weaker beliefs are less happy either than those with none, or
the strongly believing. When one is faced with a tragedy, some people find comfort in
the idea that all is according to God’s plan. But, this can be a difficult notion for some to
accept, and some might find the idea that God planned a child’s death or the
Holocaust to be theologically untenable. Moreover, it doesn’t take a tragedy for
some people to want to abandon their faith, and they might do so for purely
intellectual reasons (Dawkins 2006). In the psychology of religion, these are
largely untested ideas, but given the rise of the new atheist movement, we
expect it won’t be long before investigators start to consider to what extent
atheism is associated with better well-being.
Another important question for future theory and research in well-being concerns
religious extremism and religious terrorism. Given the rise in the extent of (or at least
the salience of) religious extremism in many parts of the world, one wonders to what
extent religious is associated with the perceived or objective well-being of religious
extremist. Is the promise of eternal vs. temporal well-being a critical reason why people
are attracted to such ideologies or groups? Moore and Leach (2016) looked at Buddhist,
Christian, Jewish, and spiritual but not religious participants and showed that existential
dogmatism as well as religiousness weakly but positively predicted better mental
health. In an Italian Catholic sample, Carlucci et al. (2015) discovered a positive
relation between fundamentalism and well-being. While cautioning that dogmatism
and fundamentalism in conventional populations may be a far cry from extremism
(indeed, there is a paucity of research investigating individual differences in funda-
mentalists vs. extremists), we are also unaware of any research investigating the links
between religious extremism per se and well-being. We speculate that extremist
affiliations and ideologies could also be linked with greater well-being because of the
tight knit group affiliations, and the surety with which extremists may hold their
particular worldview(s). Of course, as researchers and theorists such as Seligman have
reminded us: subjective well-being is not necessarily to be equated with a life well-
lived (Seligman 2002, 2011).
Religion & Well-being 543

Finally, we note that the majority of research on the link between religion and well-
being has been conducted in the West. Thus, an important future direction will be to
supplement the extant literature with more studies of less traditional or less institution-
alized religious and spiritual groups such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Animism, Daoism,
or New Age religions. For example, New Age spiritualists often focus on self-
improvement rather than relationship with a personal deity or traditional religious
group participation (Heelas et al. 2005). Will these individuals be more lonely and less
satisfied with life—or will they merely engage in different types of relationships that
may contribute equally well to quality of life? There is much to learn. Yet one challenge
for the study of religion and well-being in non-traditional religious groups stems from
the fact that, for many, religion and spirituality is a bricolage of beliefs and practices
drawn from many different religious traditions and philosophical perspectives (Heelas
1996). Thus, it may be increasingly difficult to isolate the precise religious variables
influencing well-being.

Concluding Comments

Does religion contribute to human well-being? The psychological approach to answer-

ing this question presupposes that social scientists can accurately define well-being.
However, measurements of quality of life, individual happiness, life satisfaction, and
subjective well-being may actually reflect the scientist’s own values, cultural inputs,
and religious views. Consequently, the conclusions reached in the study of well-being
in psychology today are based on assumptions that may be grounded in a secular or
ethnocentric worldview of human flourishing as the attainment of positive affect and
the achievement of personal goals. Instead, we must take into consideration the
sometimes competing ideals of individualism, collectivism, and visions of a cosmic
or divine order, and how these ultimate goals might differentially influence how we
define human flourishing.
We have argued that the answer also needs to be qualified in light of the fact that
religions are different from each other; there are meaningful subgroups within major
religions; there are many ways of being religious; that religion interacts with other cultural
values; and that religion both makes and unmakes happiness. Giving due regard to the
various religious and cultural perspectives, psychologists must conclude that well-being is
a relative, and not a universally agreed upon, construct. However, from a psychological
perspective, religion often, but not always, contributes to human flourishing.

References

Abdel-Khalek, A. M. (2007). Religiosity, happiness, health, and psychopathology in a probability sample of

Muslim adolescents. Mental Health, Religion, and Culture, 10, 571–583.
Abramowitz, J., Huppert, J., Cohen, A. B., Cahill, S. P., & Tolin, D. F. (2002). Religious obsessions and
compulsions in a non-clinical sample: the Penn inventory of scrupulosity. Behaviour Research and
Therapy, 40, 825–838.
Abu-Raiya, H. (2013). The psychology of islam: Current empirically based knowledge, potential challenges,
and directions for future research. APA handbook of psychology, religion, and spirituality (vol 1):
544 Cohen A.B., Johnson K.A.

Context, theory, and research. (pp. 681–695) American Psychological Association, Washington, DC. doi:
10.1037/14045-038
Agrawal, J., Murthy, P., Philip, M., Mehrotra, S., Thennarasu, K., John, J. P., et al. (2011). Socio-demographic
correlates of subjective well-being in urban India. Social Indicators Research, 101, 419–434.
Ai, A. L., Tice, T. N., Peterson, C., & Huang, B. (2005). Prayers, spiritual support, and postiive attitudes in
coping with the September 11 national crisis. Journal of Personality, 73, 763–791. doi:10.1111/j.1467-
6494.2005.00328.
Alcorta, C. S., & Sosis, R. (2005). Ritual, emotion, and sacred symbols: the evolution of religion as an
adaptive complex. Human Nature, 16, 323–359.
Allport, G. W., & Ross, J. M. (1967). Personal religious orientation and prejudice. Journal of Personality &
Social Psychology, 5, 432–443.
Altemeyer, B., & Hunsberger, B. (1992). Authoritarianism, religious fundamentalism, quest, and prejudice.
The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 2, 113–133.
Argyle, M. (2001). The psychology of happiness (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Atran, S., & Norenzayan, A. (2004). Religion’s evolutionary landscape: Counterintuition, committment,
compassion, communion. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 27, 713–770.
Batson, C. D., Denton, D. M., & Vollmecke, J. T. (2008). Quest religion, anti-fundamentalism, and limited
versus universal compassion. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 47, 135–145.
Benson, P., & Spilka, B. (1973). God image as a function of self-esteem and locus of control. Journal for the
Scientific Study of Religion, 12, 297–310.
Bjørnskov, C., Dreher, A., & Fischer, J. A. V. (2006). Cross-country determinants of life satisfaction:
Exploring different determinants across groups in society (Research Paper No. PEPP21). Retrieved from
London School of Economics and Political Science, The Suntory and Toyota International Centres for
Economics and Related Disciplines website: http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/pepp/pepp21.pdf
Boyer, P. (2001). Religion explained: The evolutionary origins of religious thought. New York, NY: Basic
Books.
Büssing, A., Fischer, J., Ostermann, T., & Matthiessen, P. F. (2009). Reliance on God’s help as a measure of
intrinsic religiosity in healthy elderly and patients with chronic diseases. Correlations with health-related
quality of life? Applied Research in Quality of Life, 4(1), 77–90. doi:10.1007/s11482-009-9068-8.
Carlucci, L., Tommasi, M., Balsamo, M., Furnham, A., & Saggino, A. (2015). Religious fundamentalism and
psychological well-being: an Italian study. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 43, 23–33.
Casas, F., González, M., Figuer, C., & Malo, S. (2009). Satisfaction with spirituality, satisfaction with religion
and personal well-being among spanish adolescents and young university students. Applied Research in
Quality of Life, 4(1), 23–45. doi:10.1007/s11482-009-9066-x.
Cohen, A. B. (2002). The importance of spirituality in well-being for Jews and Christians. Journal of
Happiness Studies, 3, 287–310.
Cohen, A. B. (2009). Many forms of culture. American Psychologist, 64(3), 194–204.
Cohen, A. B., & Hall, D. E. (2009). Existential beliefs, social satisfaction, and well-being among Catholic,
Jewish, and Protestant older adults. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 19, 39–54.
Cohen, A. B., & Rozin, P. (2001). Religion and the morality of mentality. Journal of Personality & Social
Psychology, 81, 697–710.
Cohen, A. B., Hall, D. E., Koenig, H. G., & Meador, K. G. (2005a). Social versus individual motivation:
implications for normative definitions of religious orientation. Personality and Social Psychology Review,
9, 48–61.
Cohen, A. B., Pierce Jr., J. D., Meade, R., Chambers, J., Gorvine, B. J., & Koenig, H. G. (2005b). Intrinsic and
extrinsic religiosity, belief in the afterlife, death anxiety, and life satisfaction in young Catholic and
Protestant adults. Journal of Research in Personality, 39, 307–324.
Coke, M. M. (1992). Correlates of life satisfaction among elderly African Americans. Journal of Gerontology:
Psychological Sciences, 47, 316–320.
Dawkins, R. (2006). The god delusion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Debnath, R. M., & Shankar, R. (2014). Does good governance enhance happiness: a cross nation study. Social
Indicators Research, 116, 235–253.
Dechesne, M., Pyszczynski, T., Arndt, J., Ransom, S., Sheldon, K. M., Knippenberg, A. v., et al. (2003).
Literal and symbolic immortality: the effect of evidence of literal immortality on self-esteem striving in
response to mortality salience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 722–737.
Diener, E., Suh, E., Lucas, R., & Smith, H. (1999). Subjective well-being: three decades of progress.
Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276–302.
Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Lucas, R. E. (2003). Personality, culture, and subjective well-being: emotional and
cognitive evaluation of life. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 403–425.
Religion & Well-being 545

Diener, E., Tay, L., & Myers, D. G. (2011). The religion paradox: if religion makes people happy, why are so
many dropping out? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 1278–1290.
Elliott, M., & Hayward, R. D. (2009). Religion and life satisfaction worldwide: the role of government
regulation. Sociology of Religion, 70, 285–310.
Ellison, C. G., & Fan, D. (2008). Daily spiritual experiences and psychological well-being among US adults.
Social Indicators Research, 88(2), 247–271. doi:10.1007/s11205-007-9187-2.
Epley, N., Akalis, S., Waytz, A., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2008). Creating social connection through inferential
reproduction: loneliness and perceived Agency in Gadgets, gods, and greyhounds. Psychological Science,
19(2), 114–120.
Eungi Kim, A. (2003). Religious influences on personal and societal well-being. Social Indicators Research,
62-63(1–3), 149–170. doi:10.1023/A:1022641100109.
Exline, J. J. (2003). Anger toward god: a brief overview of existing research. Psychology of Religion
Newletter, 29, 1–8.
Freud, S. (1961). The future of an illusion. (J. Strachey, Trans.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Genia, V. (1996). I, E, quest, and fundamentalism as predictors of psychological and spiritual well- being.
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 35(1), 56–64.
George Dalmida, S., Holstad, M. M., Dilorio, C., Laderman, G., & Hodgson, N. (2011). Spiritual well-being
and health-related quality of life among African–American women with HIV/AIDS. Applied Research in
Quality of Life, 6, 139–157.
Green, M., & Elliott, M. (2010). Religion, health, and psychological well-being. Journal of Religion and
Health, 49, 149–163.
Greenberg, D., & Witztum, E. (2001). Sanity and sanctity: Mental health work among the ultra-orthodox in
Jerusalem. New Haven: Yale.
Grözinger, G., & Matiaske, W. (2014). The direct and indirect impact of religion on well-being in Germany.
Social Indicators Research, 116, 373–387.
Guttmacher, S., & Ellinson, J. (1971). Ethno-religious variation in perceptions of illness: the use of illness as
an explanation for deviant behavior. Social Science and Medicine, 5, 117–125.
Heelas, P. (1996). The New Age movement: The celebration of the self and the sacralization of modernity.
Oxford: Blackwell.
Heelas, P., Woodhead, L., Benjamin Seel, B. S., & Tusting, K. (2005). The spiritual revolution: Why religion
is giving way to spirituality. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Hood, R. W., Hill, P. C., & Williamson, W. P. (2005). The psychology of religious fundamentalism. New York:
The Guilford Press.
Houtman, D., & Aupers, S. (2007). The spiritual turn and the decline of tradition: the spread of post-Christian
spirituality in 14 western countries, 1981-2000. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 46, 305–320.
Husaini, B. A., Blasi, A. J., & Miller, O. (1999). Does public and private religiosity have a moderating effect
on depression? A bi-racial study of elders in the American south. International Journal of Aging and
Human Development, 48, 63–72.
Idler, E. L. (1995). Religion, health, and nonphysical senses of self. Social Forces, 74, 683–704.
Idler, E. L., Hudson, S. V., & Leventhal, H. (1999). The meanings of self-ratings of health: a qualitative and
quantitative approach. Research on Aging, 21, 458–476.
James, W. (1902/2002). The varieties of religious experience: A study in human nature. New York: The
Modern Library.
Johnson, K. A. (2007). The social construction of emotions in the Bhagavad Gita: locating ethics in a redacted
text. Journal of Religious Ethics, 35, 655–679.
Johnson, K. A., White, A. E., Boyd, B. M., & Cohen, A. B. (2011). Matzah, meat, milk, and mana:
Psychological influences on religio-cultural food practices. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 42,
1421–1436.
Johnson, K. A., Li, Y. J., Cohen, A. B., & Okun, M. A. (2013). Friends in high places: the influence of
authoritarian and benevolent god-concepts on social attitudes and behaviors. Psychology of Religion and
Spirituality, 5, 15–22.
Joshanloo, M., & Weijers, D. (2016). Religiositymoderates the relationship between income inequality and life
satisfaction across the globe. Social Indicators Research.
Keltner, D., & Haidt, J. (1999). Social functions of emotions at four levels of analysis. Cognition and Emotion,
13, 505–521.
Kennedy, G. J., Kelman, H. R., Thomas, C., & Chen, J. (1996). The relation of religious preference and
practice to depressive symptoms among 1,855 older adults. Journals of Gerontology Series B-
Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences, 51, P301–P308.
Klein, I. (1979). Guide to Jewish religious practice. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary.
546 Cohen A.B., Johnson K.A.

Langman, P. (1997). White culture, Jewish culture, and the origins of psychotherapy.
Psychotherapy, 34, 207–218.
Layard, R. (2005). Happiness: Lessons from a new science. New York: The Penguin Press.
Lazar, A., & Bjorck, J. P. (2008). Religious support and psychosocial well-being among a religious Jewish
population. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 11, 403–421.
Levin, J. (2013). Religion and mental health among Israeli Jews: findings from the SHARE-Israel study.
Social Indicators Research, 113, 769–784.
Markides, K. S. (1983). Aging, religiosity, and adjustment: a longitudinal analysis. Journal of Gerontology,
38, 621–625.
Maton, K. I. (1989). The stress-buffering role of spiritual support: cross-sectional and prospective investiga-
tions. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 28, 310–323.
McCauley, R. N., & Lawson, E. T. (2002). Bringing ritual to mind: Psychological foundations of cultural
forms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McCullough, M. E., & Willoughby, B. L. (2009). Religion, self-regulation, and self-control: associations,
explanations, and implications. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 69–93.
McCullough, M. E., Hoyt, W. T., Larson, D. B., Koenig, H. G., & Thoresen, C. (2000). Religious involvement
and mortality: a meta-analytic review. Health Psychology, 19, 211–222.
Michalos, A. C. (1980). Satisfaction and happiness. Social Indicators Research, 8, 385–422.
Mochon, D., Norton, M., & Ariely, D. (2011). Who benefits from religion? Social Indicators
Research, 101, 1–15.
Moore, J. T., & Leach, M. M. (2016). Dogmatism and mental health: a comparison of the religious and secular.
Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 8, 54–64.
Musick, M. A., Koenig, H. G., Hays, J. C., & Cohen, H. J. (1998). Religious activity and depression among
community-dwelling elderly persons with cancer: the moderating effect of race. Journal of Gerontology:
Social Sciences, 53B, S218–S227.
Myers, D. (1992). Pursuit of happiness: Discovering the pathway to fulfillment, well-being, and enduring
personal joy. New York: Avon.
Newberg, A. B., & d’Aquili, E. G. (2000). The neuropsychology of religious and spiritual experience. Journal
of Consciousness Studies, 7, 251–266.
Ng, E. C. W., & Fisher, A. T. (2016). Protestant spirituality and well-being of people in Hong Kong: the
mediating role of sense of community. Applied Research in Quality of Life. doi:10.1007/s11482-015-
9435-6.
Noor, N. M., Gandhi, A. D., Ishak, I., & Wok, S. (2014). Development of indicators for family well-being in
Malaysia. Social Indicators Research, 115, 279–318.
O’Connor, S., & Vandenberg, B. (2005). Psychosis or faith? Clinicians’ assessment of religious beliefs.
Journal of Consultiing and Clinicial Psychology, 73, 610–616.
Paloutzian, R. F., & Ellison, C. W. (1982). Loneliness, spiritual well-being and quality of life. In L. A. Peplau
& D. Perlman (Eds.), Loneliness: A sourcebook of current theory, research and therapy (pp. 224–237).
New York: Wiley Interscience.
Pargament, K. I., & Park, C. L. (1997). In times of stress: the religion-coping connection. In B. Spilka & D. N.
McIntosh (Eds.), The psychology of religion: Theoretical approaches (pp. 43–53). Boulder, CO:
Westview Press.
Pargament, K. I., Koenig, H. G., Tarakeshwar, N., & Hahn, J. (2001). Religious struggle as a predictor of
mortality among medically ill elderly patients: a two-year longitudinal study. Archives of Internal
Medicine, 161, 1881–1885.
Park, C. L. (2005). Religion and meaning. In R. F. Paloutzian & C. L. Park (Eds.), Handbook of the
psychology of religion and spirituality (pp. 295–314). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. (2009). Many Americans mix multiple faiths: Eastern, New Age beliefs
widespread. Retrieved October 18 2010, from Pew Forum: http://pewforum.org/Other-Beliefs-and-
Practices/Many-Americans-Mix-Multiple-Faiths.aspx#1
Pirutinsky, S. (2009). The terror management function of orthodox Jewish religiosity: a religious culture
approach. Mental Health Religion and Culture, 12, 247–256.
Pokimica, J., Addai, I., & Takyi, B. (2012). Religion and subjective well-being in Ghana. Social Indicators
Research, 106, 61–79.
Poloma, M. M., & Pendleton, B. F. (1990). Religious domains and general well-being. Social Indicators
Research, 22(3), 255–276.
Pruyser, P. (1968). A dynamic psychology of religion. New York: Harper & Row.
Rosmarin, D. H., Krumrei, E. J., & Andersson, G. (2009a). Religion as a predictor of psychological distress in
two religious communities. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 38, 54–64.
Religion & Well-being 547

Rosmarin, D. H., Pargament, K. I., & Flannelly, K. J. (2009b). Do spiritual struggles predict poorer physical/
mental health among Jews? The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 19, 244–258.
Rosmarin, D. H., Pirutinsky, S., Pargament, K. I., & Krumrei, E. J. (2009c). Are religious beliefs relevant to
mental health among Jews? Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 1, 180–190.
Rozin, P., Lowery, L., Imada, S., & Haidt, J. (1999). The CAD triad hypothesis: a mapping between three
moral emotions (contempt, anger, disgust) and three moral codes (community, autonomy, divinity).
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(4), 574–586.
Saroglou, V. (2011). Believing, bonding, behaving, and belonging: the big four religious dimensions and
cultural variation. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 42, 1320–1340.
Sawatzky, R., Gadermann, A., & Pesut, B. (2009). An investigation of the relationships between spirituality,
health status and quality of life in adolescents. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 4, 5–22.
Schuurmans-Stekhoven, J. B. (2011). Is it god or just the data that moves in mysterious ways? How well-being
research may be mistaking faith for virtue. Social Indicators Research, 100, 313–330.
Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic happiness. New York: Free Press.
Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. New York:
Free Press.
Sethi, S., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1993). Optimism and fundamentalism. Psychological Science, 4, 256–259.
Sheldon, K. M. (2006). Catholic guilt? Comparing Catholics’ and Protestants’ religious motivations.
International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 16, 209–223.
Shweder, R. A., Much, N. C., Mahapatra, M., & Park, L. (1997). The ‘big three’ of morality (autonomy,
community, divinity) and the ‘big three’ explanations of suffering. In A. M. Brandt & P. Rozin (Eds.),
Morality and health (pp. 119–169). New York: Routledge.
Siev, J., & Cohen, A. B. (2007). Is thought-action fusion related to religiosity? Group differences between
Jews and Christians. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 45, 829–837.
Sosis, R. (2006). Religious behaviors, badges, and bans: signaling theory and the evolution of religion. In P.
McNamara (Ed.), Where God and science meet: How brain and evolutionary studies alter our under-
standing of religion, Volume 1: Evolution, Genes, and the religious brain (pp. 61–86). Westport, CT:
Praeger Publishers.
Steenwyk, S. A., Atkins, D. C., Bedics, J. D., & Whitley, J. B. (2010). Images of god as they relate to life
satisfaction and hopelessness. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 20, 85–96.
Tiliouine, H. (2009). Measuring satisfaction with religiosity and its contribution to the personal
well- being index in a Muslim sample. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 4(1), 91–108. doi:
10.1007/s11482-009-9074-x.
Tiliouine, H., & Belgoumidi, A. (2009). An exploratory study of religiosity, meaning in life and subjective
wellbeing in Muslim students from Algeria. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 4, 109–127.
Uchino, B. N., Cacioppo, J. T., & Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K. (1996). The relationship between social support and
physiological processes: A review with emphasis on underlying mechanisms and implications for health.
Psychological Bulletin, 119, 488–531.
Veenhoven, R. (1984). Conditions of happiness. Dordrecht: Reidel.
von Humboldt, S., Leal, I., & Pimenta, F. (2014). Living well in later life: the influence of sense of coherence,
and socio- demographic, lifestyle and health-related factors on older adults’ satisfaction with life. Applied
Research in Quality of Life, 9, 631–642.
Wex, M. (2005). Born to kvetch: Yiddish language and culture in all its moods. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Wulff, D. M. (1997). Psychology of religion: Classic and contemporary (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley &
Sons, Inc..
Yiengprugsawan, V., Seubsman, S., Khamman, S., Lim, L. L.-Y., & Sleigh, A. C. (2010). Personal wellbeing
index in a national cohort of 87,134 Thai adults. Social Indicators Research, 98, 201–215.
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.