Dissertation
Integrating personality and spirituality as predictors of subjective well-being
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
08/2011
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000006143
Abstract
This study was designed to determine how spirituality, religiosity, and meaning in life influence a person's emotional well-being and life satisfaction. Few studies have integrated personality in their research designs, and many have treated spirituality and religiosity interchangeably or have failed to explore mediational hypotheses. Participants were 251 undergraduate students at Washington State University from various departments and a spiritually-oriented student group who completed a demographic questionnaire, the Assessment of Spirituality and Religious Sentiments (ASPIRES; Piedmont, 2004a), the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ; Steger et al., 2006), the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et al., 1985), the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988), and the Big Five Inventory (BFI: Benet-Martinez & John, 1998). Hypotheses were: 1) Spirituality and meaning in life both provide unique prediction of SWB, 2) The positive relationship between spirituality and SWB will be partially mediated by meaning in life, 3) Spirituality and meaning in life both partially mediate the positive relationship between religiosity and SWB, 4) Spirituality, religiosity, and meaning in life have distinct Big 5 personality correlates, and 5) Spirituality and meaning in life provide incremental prediction of SWB beyond the effects of the Big Five personality traits. Results for Hypothesis 1 indicated that meaning provides unique prediction of overall SWB, whereas spirituality only predicts positive affect. Hypothesis 2 was not examined given that spirituality did not provide prediction of SWB. However, follow-up analyses revealed that meaning partially mediated the relationship between spirituality and positive affect. For Hypothesis 3, religiosity only predicted positive affect. As predicted, meaning in life and spirituality fully mediated this relationship. In the test of Hypothesis 4, spirituality, religiosity, and meaning in life were associated with a slightly different pattern of personality traits, although all best correlated with Big Five Agreeableness. For Hypothesis 5, meaning, but not spirituality, predicted SWB beyond personality. Gender differences in spirituality, personality, and meaning were identified. Interpretation and critique of the findings, applied and theoretical implications, and future directions are discussed.
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Details
- Title
- Integrating personality and spirituality as predictors of subjective well-being
- Creators
- Ladan Maleki
- Contributors
- A. Timothy Church (Chair)Laurie "Lali" McCubbin (Committee Member)Brian W McNeill (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Department of Kinesiology and Educational Psychology
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- College of Education
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 93
- Identifiers
- 99901055024601842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation