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Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: Religiosity, Emotion Regulation and Well-Being in a Jewish and Christian Sample

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  • Allon Vishkin

    (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

  • Pazit Ben-Nun Bloom

    (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

  • Maya Tamir

    (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Abstract

People who are more religious tend to experience more positive affect and higher levels of life satisfaction. Current explanations for this relation include social support, meaning in life, and more positive emotional experiences. Adding cognitive reappraisal as a new mechanism, we propose that religion consistently trains people to reappraise emotional events, making the devout more effective in applying this emotion regulation practice, which cultivates more positive affect and greater life satisfaction. In two studies, involving Israeli Jewish (N = 288) and American Christian (N = 277) participants, we found that more frequent use of cognitive reappraisal mediated the relationship between religiosity and affective experiences, which in turn, were associated with greater life satisfaction. Religiosity was associated with more frequent cognitive reappraisal (in both samples) and less frequent expressive suppression (in the Christian sample). Cognitive reappraisal mediated the link between religiosity and positive affect (in both samples) as well as negative affect (in the Christian sample). We discuss implications for understanding the link between religion and emotional well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Allon Vishkin & Pazit Ben-Nun Bloom & Maya Tamir, 2019. "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: Religiosity, Emotion Regulation and Well-Being in a Jewish and Christian Sample," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 427-447, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:20:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s10902-017-9956-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-017-9956-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ed Diener & Derrick Wirtz & William Tov & Chu Kim-Prieto & Dong-won Choi & Shigehiro Oishi & Robert Biswas-Diener, 2010. "New Well-being Measures: Short Scales to Assess Flourishing and Positive and Negative Feelings," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 97(2), pages 143-156, June.
    2. Neal Krause, 2003. "Religious Meaning and Subjective Well-Being in Late Life," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 58(3), pages 160-170.
    3. Michael Kortt & Brian Dollery & Bligh Grant, 2015. "Religion and Life Satisfaction Down Under," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 277-293, April.
    4. Lim, Chaeyoon & Putnam, Robert David, 2010. "Religion, Social Networks, and Life Satisfaction," Scholarly Articles 11105537, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    5. Ben-Nun Bloom, Pazit & Arikan, Gizem & Courtemanche, Marie, 2015. "Religious Social Identity, Religious Belief, and Anti-Immigration Sentiment," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 109(2), pages 203-221, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Peter J. Jankowski & Sam Murphy & Jaclyn Johnson & Steven J. Sandage & David C. Wang & James Tomlinson, 2022. "The Influence of Experiential Avoidance, Humility and Patience on the Association Between Religious/Spiritual Exploration and Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 2137-2156, June.

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