Religiousness and Subjective Well-Being Among Israeli-Palestinian College Students: Direct or Mediated Links?

Espousing a positive psychology orientation, this study aimed to explore the links between religiousness and subjective well-being, and test whether social support and self-control mediate the expected associations between these two variables. Participants were 264 Israeli-Palestinian college students, who were asked to provide demographic information and complete measures of religiousness, social support, self-control, subjective happiness, positive emotions and negative emotions. We found that religiousness was positively correlated with both subjective happiness and positive emotions, but no significant correlation was found between religiousness and negative emotions. Both social support and self-control partially mediated the links between religiousness and both subjective happiness and positive emotions. The findings of the study, as well as its implications and limitations, are discussed.