The Social Psychology of Religion and Wellbeing: Is a Belief in a God, Good for one’s Wellbeing? An Empirical Inquiry
Abstract
Objectives: The correlations between religion, age, education, ethnicity, social class, and subjective psychological wellbeing (SWB) of Jamaicans were examined and the predictability of those selected predisposing conditions on SWB were determined.
Method: Analysis of the data was by bivariate and multivariate analyses, taken from a nationally representative survey of 1,338 Jamaican adults ≥18 years. The survey was conducted between July and August 2006 by the Centre of Leadership and Governance (CLG), Department of Government, the University of the West Indies, Mona-Jamaica.
Findings: The findings indicated that religiosity was positively correlated with SWB as well as ethnicity, education and social class, and that gender was negatively related to SWB. It can be generalized, using multiple regressions, that religiosity, race, gender, education and social class can explain 7.7% of the variance in SWB of Jamaicans. Religiosity was found to be a weak predictor of subjective wellbeing (SWB), (1%), with race contributing 0.4% and gender at 0.3% been among the least suppliers to the model. However, self-reported social class made the most significant contribution to SWB - (3.9%) - along with years of schooling which contributed 2.2%.
Conclusion: The study showed that religion provides for a different psychological state for its practitioners as well as influences the general state of wellbeing.
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