God's Plan, God's Community? Divine Control, Congregational and Spiritual Support, and the Association with Subjective Well-Being in the United States.

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Titel: God's Plan, God's Community? Divine Control, Congregational and Spiritual Support, and the Association with Subjective Well-Being in the United States.
Autoren: Murdock R; Department of Sociology, Baylor University, 97326 One Bear Place, Waco, TX, 76798, USA., Upenieks L; Department of Sociology, Baylor University, 97326 One Bear Place, Waco, TX, 76798, USA. laura_upenieks@baylor.edu.
Quelle: Journal of religion and health [J Relig Health] 2025 Aug; Vol. 64 (4), pp. 2760-2789. Date of Electronic Publication: 2025 Jun 18.
Publikationsart: Journal Article
Sprache: English
Info zur Zeitschrift: Publisher: Springer Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 2985199R Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1573-6571 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00224197 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Relig Health Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s): Publication: New York, NY : Springer
Original Publication: New York : Academy of Religion and Mental Health.
MeSH-Schlagworte: Psychological Well-Being*/psychology , Spirituality* , Community Support*/psychology , Religion and Psychology*, United States ; Mental Health/statistics & numerical data ; Optimism/psychology ; Personal Satisfaction ; Surveys and Questionnaires/statistics & numerical data ; Christianity/psychology ; Judaism/psychology ; Humans ; Male ; Female
Abstract: Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing Interests: The authors have not disclosed any competing interests.
Divine control, the belief that God exerts authority over the course of a person's life, is an important religious cognition that has shown robust links with mental health and well-being. Despite this empirical basis, few studies have sought to understand why divine control is generally favorable for subjective well-being. This study expands the literature by considering the relationship between divine control and life meaning, optimism, and life satisfaction while integrating perceived congregational and spiritual support from religious communities. Drawing on data from an original survey of congregants (N = 1,556) collected in 2017-2019 from the San Antonio and Washington DC areas, regression results suggest that greater divine control predicted greater meaning in life, optimism, and life satisfaction. Parametric mediation results suggest a consistent pattern of mediation, where both congregational and spiritual support partially explained why divine control was positively associated with greater subjective well-being. We situate our findings within the growing body of research on religious cognitions like divine control in the social psychology of religion and emphasize the importance of the religious community in accounting for at least part of the religion and well-being connection.
(© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)
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Contributed Indexing: Keywords: Congregational support; Divine control; Mediation; Spiritual support; Subjective well-being
Entry Date(s): Date Created: 20250618 Date Completed: 20250826 Latest Revision: 20250826
Update Code: 20250902
DOI: 10.1007/s10943-025-02344-0
PMID: 40531344
Datenbank: MEDLINE
Beschreibung
Abstract:Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing Interests: The authors have not disclosed any competing interests.<br />Divine control, the belief that God exerts authority over the course of a person's life, is an important religious cognition that has shown robust links with mental health and well-being. Despite this empirical basis, few studies have sought to understand why divine control is generally favorable for subjective well-being. This study expands the literature by considering the relationship between divine control and life meaning, optimism, and life satisfaction while integrating perceived congregational and spiritual support from religious communities. Drawing on data from an original survey of congregants (N = 1,556) collected in 2017-2019 from the San Antonio and Washington DC areas, regression results suggest that greater divine control predicted greater meaning in life, optimism, and life satisfaction. Parametric mediation results suggest a consistent pattern of mediation, where both congregational and spiritual support partially explained why divine control was positively associated with greater subjective well-being. We situate our findings within the growing body of research on religious cognitions like divine control in the social psychology of religion and emphasize the importance of the religious community in accounting for at least part of the religion and well-being connection.<br /> (© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)
ISSN:1573-6571
DOI:10.1007/s10943-025-02344-0