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Based on the rich extant research in the field of mental health in acculturation, it is calling to identify religion as one of the meditative variables of the relationship between acculturation and mental health. In addition, little knowledge exists about the detailed religious experience of Chinese migrants in Ireland. This research adopted classic grounded theory to guide data collection and analysis. The findings show that Christian faith plays a significant role as a mediator in the cross-cultural adaptation of the participants with two aspects of the mental impacts: helping to cope with mental stress and providing spiritual satisfaction. The results in this paper are part of the findings from an investigation of the religious experience of the participants during their cross-cultural adaptation in Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is to describe the processes undertaken to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian translation of a new instrument developed to measure purpose in life among a sample of Italian adults: the Purpose in Life Scale (PILS). The specific psychometric processes used were: construct validity using factor analysis, reliability and internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, convergent validity of the PILS and the longer established Purpose in Life Test (PILT). The exploratory factor analysis revealed one factor for both tests confirming the monofactorial structure of their construct. Reliability analysis indicated that the PILS is reliable: Cronbach’s alpha was .86 for PILT and .90 for the PILS. Convergent validity of the PILS and PILT revealed a good correlation coefficient of .67. The Italian version of the questionnaire seems to work properly for the Italian population as its psychometric properties indicated that it is valid and reliable. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study aimed to develop and validate the Life-view Scale. In study one, a sample of 182 university students completed the questionnaire. The scale had good internal consistency (alpha =.81). Exploratory factor analysis of the initial scale resulted in five factors (satisfaction, purpose, search, direction, and doubt). Factors were significantly inter-correlated, except the Doubt factor which was not correlated with Search and Direction factors. In study two, a sample of 59 university students participated in answering the questionnaire on two occasions with an interval of 15 days. The test–retest correlation of the questionnaire was good (r =.81). In study three, a sample of 71 university lecturers completed the questionnaire alongside measures of burnout and job satisfaction. The Life-view Scale was found to be positively correlated to job-satisfaction only. In summary, the Life-view Scale was found to possess satisfactory measures of internal reliability, temporal stability, and convergent validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious beliefs are generally linked with less distress and higher psychological well-being, but few studies have been conducted with non-Christian samples or outside the United States. We examined how religious beliefs relate to distress and psychological well-being in a sample of Hindu students in India. 178 students (36% women, 64% men, mean age of 22.7 years) completed questionnaires regarding religious beliefs, distress (depression, anxiety, stress) and positive well-being (happiness, life satisfaction, meaning in life). Religious beliefs were unrelated to frequency of service attendance, importance of prayer, or influence of religion on one's life and related positively to depression and anxiety as well as meaning in life. Associations of religious beliefs and wellbeing were modest and did not strongly support general theoretical notions that religious beliefs are a source of comfort. Indian Hindus constitute a large portion of the world population and the impact of their religious beliefs warrants additional attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the classic model of balanced affect, the Francis Burnout Inventory (FBI) conceptualised good work-related psychological health among religious leaders in terms of negative affect being balanced by positive affect. In the FBI negative affect is assessed by the Scale of Emotional Exhaustion in Ministry (SEEM) and positive affect is assessed by the Satisfaction in Ministry Scale (SIMS). A sample of 99 Anglican clergy serving in a rural diocese in the Church of England (75 men and 24 women) completed SEEM and SIMS together with the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) as an independent measure of wellbeing. The results confirm the hypothesis that high SIMS scores reduced the negative effects of high SEEM scores on the independent measure of wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Purpose in Life Scale was designed to provide a 12-item unidimensional measure of purpose in life employing a five-point Likert rating for each item. The present study supports the psychometric properties of the Italian translation of this instrument among 155 Catholic priests (mean age = 46 years, SD = 12.16). Internal consistency reliability generated an alpha coefficient of.90. The first factor generated by principal component analysis accounted for 49.5% of variance. Concurrent validity against the Purpose in Life Test was supported by a correlation of.63. Construct validity was supported by a correlation of.54 with the Satisfaction in Ministry Scale and by a correlation of −.51 with the Scale of Emotional Exhaustion in Ministry. These properties commend the scale for future use among Catholic priests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research demonstrates beneficial associations between religiosity and measures of mental health. In this study, we examined whether religiosity benefits mental health (a) by limiting the negative impact of existential concerns, and (b) by enhancing purpose in life. Three hundred fifty-three undergraduates completed the following measures: Scale for Existential Thinking, Purpose in Life Test, Religiousness Measure, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale – Revised, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, and the Drug, Alcohol, and Nicotine Scale. We hypothesised that religiosity scores moderate the relationship between existential thinking and mental health, and purpose in life scores mediate the relationship between religiosity and mental health. Religiosity did not moderate the relationships between existential thinking and these outcomes, however, purpose in life scores mediated the relationships of religiosity with depression and anxiety, but not with substance use. Our findings confirm the significance of existential concerns and purpose in life in the religiosity-mental health connection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Religious Attribution Scale (RAS) was developed recently and validated with a predominantly Muslim Indonesian sample. This study aimed to demonstrate the validity of the RAS with a sample of individuals from the US. Students from two US colleges participated in this research. In addition to the RAS, other constructs such as meaning in life and life satisfaction were assessed. Reliabilities for all measures were acceptable. Similar to the findings reported for the Indonesian sample, positive religious attribution was associated positively with the presence of meaning in the US sample. However, different relations were observed between positive attribution and search for meaning in life in the US and Indonesian sample. We also found that positive religious attribution had positive correlations with life satisfaction and negative religious attribution factors were negatively related to life satisfaction. Mediational analysis revealed that meaning in life was a potential mediator for religious attribution and life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terror management theory suggests that humans invest in cultural worldviews that allay mortality-related anxiety by promising death transcendence. Many religious individuals adhere to belief in literal immortality – believing that one will live on after death. Across two studies (n = 1137), we explored the terror management function of such beliefs by exploring whether these beliefs are associated with lower death anxiety and greater meaning among individuals of varying religiousness. In both Study 1 (n = 236) and Study 2 (n = 901), belief in literal immortality was related to lower death anxiety only among intrinsically religious participants. Moreover, meaning in life mediated the relationship between belief in literal immortality and death anxiety. Study 2 clarified that this mediational relationship was only present for intrinsically religious individuals. We discuss the importance of particular religious beliefs in the provision of meaning in order to manage existential concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this study was to predict the quality and meaning in life from the level of religiousness. Also, the two variables were used to predict stress and stress-related problems at family and personal levels. To achieve the objectives of the study, 344 Muslim college students from Oman responded to tailored questionnaire. The questionnaire encompassed three major subscales: religiousness, meaning in life and stress-related problems. Religiousness consisted of three constructs; and stress consisted of four constructs: personal, emotional, family, and confidence problems. The constructs within each subscale revealed acceptable validity and reliability. The results revealed that the religiousness construct strongly linked to meaning in life, but guilt feelings and non-religiosity were not. Whereas positively predicted meaning in life, religiousness was only indirectly negatively related to the stress constructs. Non-religiosity linked to all stress constructs. An important implication of this study is that Islam is a cornerstone in the life of Muslims and can be employed in counselling and rehabilitation programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Religious attribution has known to be important not only for individual religiosity but also for individual psychological states. Studies have shown there is a need to have a religious attribution measurement which derive from culture and socio-economic status different than the Western. In this present study, we developed a Religious Attribution Scale with a sample of economically disadvantaged adolescents in Indonesia. Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out in two studies. The results supported factorial validity of scales to measure positive and negative religious attribution. Both scales had adequate alpha reliabilities. Participants also responded to religiosity scale and meaning in life scales. Positive religious attribution was related to religiosity and meaning in life. Negative religious attribution subscales was related to one of meaning in life indices but not related to religiosity. Positive religious attribution was found to be the best predictor for meaning in life. Findings are discussed in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We examined whether meaning in life and exposure to media mediate the association between religiosity and alcohol use among members of the Jewish-orthodox community in Israel. One hundred and ten young adult men self-identified as orthodox (n = 57) or secular (n = 53) participated in the study. Participants completed self-report measures designed to assess meaning in life, media exposure, alcohol use, and craving. Our findings show that orthodox participants consumed less alcohol and reported less alcohol craving compared to their secular counterparts. Importantly, search for meaning in life and media exposure mediated the relationship between religiosity and alcohol craving. Our findings suggest that religion provides a sense of meaning that serves as a protective factor against alcohol craving, supporting existential theories. Furthermore, our studies show that practices that are associated with a religious lifestyle such as low exposure to mass media also serve as protective factors for alcohol use and craving. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Increasing numbers of older people in Western countries are living with incurable cancer as a chronic disease, receiving palliative care from specialised healthcare contexts. The study's aim was to understand variations of cultural- and existential meaning-making adjustments in a Norwegian majority population of older people with incurable cancer. Semi-structured interviews from 21 participants, aged 70–88, were analysed according to three identified types of belief frames: atheistic/humanistic, religious, and spiritual. Kleinman's medical anthropology cultural framework was adapted and applied deductively together with a reframing metaphor concept in a four-part analytic process. Independent of the differences among the types of belief frames and heterogeneous illness reframing processes, changes in the existential cultural dimension seemed to facilitate psychosocial adjustments in relation to illness, daily living, relationships, and surroundings. The results point to the need for collecting and assessing the function of this type of patient information for better understanding the patient's framework of interpretation, and for identifying treatment-planning resources. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For those who believe in God, tragedy and misfortune often raise internal emotional and religious dissonance. Regardless of one's theological stance, emotional reactions to the Holocaust can be expected to elicit negative feelings towards God, resembling the reactions one would experience towards parents or caretakers who perpetrate or facilitate aggression. Coining the term “theistic object relations” to reflect the maturity level of relationship with God, it is posited that it is predicated on a safe and nurturing environment – paralleling the maturational development of healthy interpersonal interactions. In this context, survivors’ reactions are elaborated using the lens of parental abuse and neglect. Individual beliefs about God's role, while affecting the options for cognitive rationalisations among victims, are posited to have only minimal relevance to the expected negative emotionality. Variations in such reactions are explored from a psychoanalytic perspective within the intersectional context of trauma, divine providence, object relations development, and defence mechanism theory. Unresolved questions about the developmental hallmarks of theistic object relations are outlined insofar as they are relevant to our population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research has found positive links between happiness and various aspects of religiousness, yet it remains unclear how religion contributes to happiness and other well-being outcomes. One possible route is through purpose in life. Among a sample of 208 Christian Polish university students we investigated the mediating role of purpose in life between religion and subjective well-being. Intrinsic religiosity, as expected, was related to higher levels of purpose in life, happiness and life satisfaction, and positively predicted happiness and life satisfaction through purpose in life. The findings support the notion that eudaimonia and eudaimonic constructs like purpose in life may be the links between religion and well-being outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]