Religion and gender differences in stress, happiness and life satisfaction
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51200/sapj.v1i1.5727Keywords:
happiness spiritual involvement life satisfactionAbstract
Although the positive association between religiosity and gender differences in stress, happiness and life satisfaction is well documented, much theoretical and empirical controversy surround the question of how religion and gender actually shape life satisfaction and effect stress and happiness. This study aims to look at religion and gender differences in stress, happiness and life satisfaction among the university students and also examined the effects of spiritual involvement and happiness on life satisfaction. One hundred and seventy eight (178) students from a public University in Malaysia participated in the study. Adapted version of Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale (Hatch et. Al., 1998), The Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) and The Oxford Happiness Inventory (Argyle, 2001) were used to collect data. t test was use to measure the differences in stress, spiritual involvement, happiness, and life satisfaction between the male and the female students, and it was found that, there were no significant differences between male and female students in terms of stress, spiritual involvement and life satisfaction but only happiness(t =2.59, p < .05). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was use to measure the differences in stress, spiritual involvement, happiness, and life satisfaction by the students’ religious affiliation. Regression analysis was used to examine the effect of stress, spiritual involvement and happiness on life satisfaction. The regression results showed that 30% of the variance in life satisfaction can be explained by the variable of stress, spiritual involvement and happiness. Findings of the present study can help students applying religion as a coping strategy against stress thus enhancing their life satisfaction and happiness.
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