Does thinking about the meaning of life make you happy in a religious and globalised world? A 75-nation study

Joshanloo, Mohsen; Weijers, Dan

doi:10.1080/14330237.2014.904093

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(46 reference statements)

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“…The associations with pondering life’s meaning are relatively similar to those with importance in god, perhaps suggesting some overlap in connotation. Whether our measure of meaning is or is not a good indicator of religiosity, it is a very strong predictor of health in some countries, which stands is in contrast to its association with other measures of well-being (Joshanloo & Weijers, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Religiosity and health: A global comparative study

Zimmer

Rojo

Ofstedal

et al. 2019

SSM - Population Health

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The objective of this paper is to understand global connections between indicators of religiosity and health and how these differ cross-nationally. Data are from World Values Surveys (93 countries, N=121,770). Health is based on a self-assessed question about overall health. First, country-specific regressions are examined to determine the association separately in each country. Next, country-level variables and cross-level interactions are added to multilevel models to assess whether and how context affects health and religiosity slopes. Results indicate enormous variation in associations between religiosity and health across countries and religiosity indicators. Significant positive associations between all religiosity measures and health exist in only three countries (Georgia, South Africa, and USA); negative associations in only two (Slovenia and Tunisia). Macro-level variables explain some of this divergence. Greater participation in religious activity relates to better health in countries characterized as being religiously diverse. The importance in god and pondering life’s meaning is more likely associated with better health in countries with low levels of the Human Development Index. Pondering life’s meaning more likely associates with better health in countries that place more stringent restrictions on religious practice. Religiosity is less likely to be related to good health in communist and former communist countries of Asia and Eastern Europe. In conclusion, the association between religiosity and health is complex, being partly shaped by geopolitical and macro psychosocial contexts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Religiosity and health: A global comparative study

Zimmer

Rojo

Ofstedal

et al. 2019

SSM - Population Health

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“…It should be emphasized that this research consolidates previous propositions positing that religious practice differs from religious identity [64], and should thus be inspected as an independent variable in addition to religious identity. When religious identity was controlled for in the present study, engaging in religious practices or not led to different associations and vice versa.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Who Is Happier in China? Exploring Determinant Factors Using Religion as a Moderator

Sun

Zhang

2019

IJERPH

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The relationship between religion and happiness has been seriously understudied in non-Western and non-Islamic societies. Taking religious identity and religious practice as strata, the 2015 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) data were used to examine the predicting power of health, politics, and social relationships with regard to happiness in four different groups, as follows: People with a religious identity and practice, people with no religious identity but with a practice, people with a religious identity but no practice, and people with neither a religious identity nor practice. Multiple regression analyses were conducted using the Ordinary Least Squares method. The results demonstrate the influence of the independent variables in the four groups, thus confirming the expectation that different religious practices, as well as identities, play a vital role in moderating the degree of happiness. Physical and mental health are significant predictors of happiness regardless of different religious situations, with the effect of mental health here found to be greater in magnitude on happiness than that of physical health. Political participation was not found to be related to happiness, but having a left-wing political attitude did emerge as strongly predicting happiness. The results concerning social relationships further consolidate the hypothesis that religious practice should be taken into consideration separately from religious identity. This study indicates the importance of further investigating religious practice as an independent factor in religious studies in the context of Chinese society.

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“…Previous work suggests that meaning reflectivity may be related to better psychological functioning . This may be especially so for more religious individuals (Joshanloo and Weijers, 2014). While the present study unfortunately did not include a measure for religion, in secularized Western nations such as the country in which this study was conducted (Belgium), older adults tend to be more religious than younger generations, likely both due to cohort differences and developmental changes (Bengtson et al, 2015).…”

Section: Present Studymentioning

confidence: 82%

“…However, previous work suggests that reflecting on topics like meaning in life may not always be equally beneficial. More specifically, adults without a guiding religious framework or adults living in a highly globalized society may experience difficulties in finding satisfying answers to questions of meaning when reflecting on it, which may be accompanied by a decrease rather than increase in psychological well-being (Joshanloo and Weijers, 2014). The context of the current study (Belgium) can be regarded as a globalized and secular country, but older adults often remain more religious.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Reflecting on meaning in life may also not be unambiguously beneficial for psychological functioning. In a large multi-national study, Joshanloo and Weijers (2014) used a single item to explore whether the extent that people think about the meaning or purpose of life was related to their overall life satisfaction. They found that this relationship was moderated by religiosity and globalization.…”

Section: The Role Of Meaning Reflectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Meaning Reflectivity in Later Life: The Relationship Between Reflecting on Meaning in Life, Presence and Search for Meaning, and Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults Over the Age of 75

Dewitte

Dezutter

2021

Front. Psychol.

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Background: Over the last decades, there is growing attention for the importance of meaning in life for older adults. However, there is virtually no insight into the mental processes that contribute to this experience. Some scholars recently called for an investigation of meaning reflectivity, or the process of reflecting on issues specifically related to meaning in life. In this study, we explored to what extent older adults talk and think about issues of meaning in life, and how this meaning reflectivity is related to the search for and presence of meaning in life, and to depressive symptoms.Method: In this cross-sectional observational study, 282 community-residing older adults (75 or older) in Belgium filled in paper questionnaires on meaning in life (presence and search), depressive symptoms, and meaning reflectivity (categorical item). ANOVA analyses were used to explore differences in meaning in life and depressive symptoms across the meaning reflectivity categories. Regression and negative binomial models investigated the association between meaning reflectivity and presence, search and depressive symptoms. Finally, an exploratory structural equation model examined whether presence of meaning statistically mediated the relationship between meaning reflectivity and depressive symptoms.Results: The majority of participants (42.4%) indicated that they had thought about meaning in life before, 23.2% indicated that they had talked about it before, 18% indicated that they hadn’t thought about it before but found it interesting, and 16.4% indicated that they were indifferent/unconcerned about meaning in life. The latter group reported lower levels of presence of meaning and search for meaning and higher levels of depressive symptoms. Belonging to this category was also associated with lower presence and search in regression analyses, but not with depressive symptoms above the effect of presence of meaning. Exploratory mediation analyses suggested that presence of meaning may be a mediator between meaning reflectivity and depressive symptoms.Conclusion: Meaning reflectivity is an important process to consider in the context of the experience of meaning in life for older adults. Those older adults who are indifferent about issues of meaning in life might be more vulnerable to experience a lack of meaning and depressive symptoms.

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Does thinking about the meaning of life make you happy in a religious and globalised world? A 75-nation study

Cited by 4 publications

References 40 publications

Religiosity and health: A global comparative study

Religiosity and health: A global comparative study

Who Is Happier in China? Exploring Determinant Factors Using Religion as a Moderator

Meaning Reflectivity in Later Life: The Relationship Between Reflecting on Meaning in Life, Presence and Search for Meaning, and Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults Over the Age of 75

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