Religious Problem-Solving Styles and Life Satisfaction: Exploring God, the Will and the Way

A proliferation of empirical studies over the past few decades has examined the connection between religiosity and health; an extension of this literature has focused on the association between three styles of religious problem-solving—collaborative, self-directing and deferring—and psychological ad...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of religion and health
Authors: Parenteau, Stacy C. (Author) ; Wu, Haibo (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V. 2021
In: Journal of religion and health
Further subjects:B Agency
B Pathways
B Life Satisfaction
B Hope
B Religious problem-solving styles
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:A proliferation of empirical studies over the past few decades has examined the connection between religiosity and health; an extension of this literature has focused on the association between three styles of religious problem-solving—collaborative, self-directing and deferring—and psychological adjustment. Few studies, however, have examined variables that may mediate this association. The present study utilized a cross-sectional design to examine the pathways (means to attain goals) and agency (goal-directed energy and determination) components of hope as mediators in the association between religious problem-solving styles and psychosocial adjustment. Students (n = 91) at a midsize Southeastern university completed a demographic questionnaire, the Religious Problem-solving Styles Scale, Adult Hope Scale, and the Life Satisfaction Scale. Mediation analyses revealed that both the collaborative and deferring religious problem-solving styles were positively associated with life satisfaction through agency thinking, but the self-directing religious problem-solving style was negatively associated with life satisfaction through agency thinking. Contrary to expectations, there was no significant indirect effect of any of the religious problem-solving styles on life satisfaction via pathways thinking. These results suggest that approaching problems within a specific religious framework is associated with psychosocial adjustment, and that each religious problem-solving style may exert its effects by either amplifying or quelling goal-directed motivation and willpower. Future studies should utilize quasi-experimental designs in order to delineate cause-and-effect relationships among religious problem-solving styles, agency and pathways thinking, and psychosocial adjustment.
ISSN:1573-6571
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of religion and health
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10943-020-01159-5