Religion and Life Satisfaction: A Correlational Study of Undergraduate Students in Trinidad

AbstractReligious behaviour tends to correlate positively with life satisfaction. The predictive power of this relationship is associated with various socio-demographic factors such as age, gender and religious affiliation. We investigated the relationship between religious involvement and life satisfaction in a multi-religious population of undergraduate medical students of the University of the West Indies. We used a cross-sectional design to assess 228 undergraduates (50 males and 178 females) on religiosity, religious well-being and life satisfaction using the Religious Orientation Test, Religious Well-Being subscale and the Satisfaction with Life Scale, respectively. Respondents also provided socio-demographic information such as age, gender and religious affiliation. “How religious one considers oneself” was the religiosity construct most significantly associated with life satisfaction while “frequency of prayer” was the least. Christians registered higher religiosity and religious well-being but non-Christians reported significantly higher life satisfac tion. Muslim and Hindu scores on religiosity, religious well-being and life satisfaction were not statistically different. Females scored higher than males on religiosity (borderline significant,p = .054) and significantly higher on religious well-being (p  <  .01); however, there was no significant difference between males and females on life satisfaction. The “religious affiliation” group scored...
Source: Journal of Religion and Health - Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research