Extensive empirical research conducted up till now has confirmed that personality represents one of the most significant predictors of life satisfaction. Still, no studies to date have empirically tested the path of influence from personality traits to religiosity and the effects of both on life satisfaction/positivity within the same model. In the current study, we aimed to verify whether the relationship between personality and satisfaction/positivity was mediated by religiousness, as it is considered motivational in nature. The sample consisted of 213 participants (72% women) aged between 18 and 75. The average age was approx. 32. We used the following tools: the NEO Five Factor Inventory, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Positivity Scale, the Personal Religiousness Scale, and the Intensity of Religious Attitude Scale. Our hypotheses (H1 and H2) found their confirmation to a large degree. In fact, life satisfaction positively correlated with extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Moreover, life satisfaction negatively correlated with neuroticism. A similar pattern of results, even slightly stronger, was found in the case of positivity and personality traits. Contrary to our assumptions, neither life satisfaction nor positivity correlated with openness to experience. Extraversion and agreeableness correlated positively with religious attitude, personal religiousness and its four dimensions. Conscientiousness correlated positively only with faith, personal religiousness, and religious attitude. We also found negative and significant correlations between openness and all of the dimensions of personal religiousness. A lack of correlation was found between: (1) neuroticism and all of the dimensions of religiosity; (2) conscientiousness and religious practices, and religious self. Our research offers a contribution to the field by providing evidence that some personality traits predict life satisfaction/positivity because respondents display a personal religiousness/religious attitude.

Background Among many possible variables that can be associated with gratitude, researchers list personality traits. Considering that these relationships are not always consistent, the first purpose of the present study was to verify how the Big Five factors connect to dispositional gratitude in a sample of Polish participants. The second purpose was to assess the unique contribution of personality traits on gratitude with multiple regression analyses. Moreover, because much remains to be learned about whether these associations are indirectly influenced by different personal or social variables, the third goal was to explore the role of emotional intelligence as a potential mediational mechanism implicated in the relationship between personality traits and gratitude. Participants, Methods and Data Collection The sample consisted of 712 Polish respondents who were aged between 17 and 88. Most of them were women (64.3%). They answered questionnaires concerning their personality traits, emotional intelligence, and gratitude. The research was conducted using the paper-and-pencil method through convenience sampling. Results The results showed that both gratitude and emotional intelligence correlated positively and significantly with extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Gratitude and emotional intelligence correlated negatively and significantly with neuroticism. The personality predictor of gratitude with the highest and positive standardized regression value was agreeableness, followed by openness to experience and extraversion. Neuroticism had a negative impact on gratitude. Conscientiousness was the only statistically insignificant predictor in the tested multiple regression model. Moreover, emotional intelligence mediated the relationship between four dimensions of personality (extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and gratitude and acted as a suppressor between neuroticism and gratitude. Conclusion The current study broadens our comprehension of the interaction among personality traits, emotional intelligence, and a grateful disposition. Moreover, it imparts a noteworthy foundation not only for the mediatory role of emotional intelligence between four dimensions of personality and gratitude but also for its suppressor effect between neuroticism and being grateful.

A growing number of researchers are testing potential problematic forms of religiousness that denote anxieties regarding sacred matters. However, only a few studies have assessed how religious/spiritual struggle is associated with positive outcomes. Because people’s coping responses to stressors are key determinants of their well-being, we expected that different coping strategies could be potential mediators between religious problems/tensions and life satisfaction. The research was conducted on a group of 744 Roman Catholics. We used the Religious Comfort and Strain Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE) questionnaire. The outcomes show that religious comfort correlated positively with life satisfaction, while fear/guilt, negative emotions toward God, and negative social interactions surrounding religion correlated negatively with life satisfaction. Our research amplifies the understanding of the religious/spiritual struggles and life satisfaction relationship, mediated by “secular” coping strategies. It confirms that both religious and secular methods of experiencing different strains seem to coexist with multiple other strategies in the context of broadly understood life satisfaction.