Many people use religious beliefs and practices to cope with stressful life events and derive peace of mind and purpose in life. The goal of this paper was to systematically review the recent psychological literature to assess the role of religion in mental health outcomes. A comprehensive literature search was conducted using medical and psychological databases on the relationship between religiosity and mental health. Seventy-four articles in the English and Arabic languages published between January 2000 and March 2012 were chosen. Despite the controversial relationship between religion and psychiatry, psychology, and medical care, there has been an increasing interest in the role which spirituality and religion play in mental health. The findings of past research showed that religion could play an important role in many situations, as religious convictions and rules influence the believer's life and health care. Most of the past literature in this area reported that there is a significant connection between religious beliefs and practices and mental health.

The purpose of this research was to examine the validity of an adult attachment style questionnaire, to understand the relationships between the type of attachment style in relation to self-perceived stress and social support, and to investigate the influence of gender, ethnicity and religion on the above constructs. The participants were 308 university students from Malaysia. A demographic questionnaire and three self-report inventories were administrated in this study. The data indicated that the Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ) is a multidimensional construct with nine factors: “dismissing,” “preoccupied with romance,” “preoccupied with close relationships,” “fearful,” “preoccupied with dependency,” “secure emotional,” “comfortable depending,” “preoccupied with mistrust” and “mutual secure.” Different attachment styles were positively or negatively correlated at a significant level with perceived stress and social support. Attachment styles were explained by 20 and 33% of the total variance in self-perceived stress and perceived social support, respectively. There were significant gender, ethnic and religious differences in attachment styles, perceived stress and social support.

The purpose of this study was to examine workplace friendships among 536 employees of Wahda Bank in four cities in Eastern Libya. In this study, a Workplace Friendship Scale (WFS) was used to assess opportunities for and the presence of friendships. Participants in this study reported mainly positive friendships at the workplace. Participants of different gender, ages, education levels, cities, and durations of work in different departments reported various opportunities for workplace friendships. However, marital status and type of occupation were not significantly related to friendships at the workplace. Findings suggest both similar and unique patterns of friendships compared to those studied outside Libya.

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The purpose of this research was to develop the Work Relationships Scale (WRS) and examine its relationships with stress, depression and anxiety in workplace, and also to investigate the roles of demographical factors in these constructs. Participants were 199 employees from different workplaces in Penang, Malaysia. A demographic questionnaire and five self rating inventories were used in this study. Findings indicated that WRS is a multidimensional construct with four factors: Critical and procrustean, satisfactory, supportive and sympathic, and disciplinary. First factor was positive correlated with interpersonal sensitivity, demands and control subscales of work stress, depression and anxiety. Second factor was negative correlated with depression, work stress and its support subscale. Third factor was negative correlated with total work stress. Fourth factor was positive correlated with interpersonal sensitivity, work stress and its demands and control subscales. Results supported the effects of gender, marital status, level of education, and type and classification of job on the work relationships. The WRS and its satisfactory and disciplinary subscales altogether explained 30, 3 and 6 percents of work stress, depression, and anxiety variations respectively.