OBC | Conventional religiosity and new age beliefs as predictors of subjective well-being in Europe
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This document investigates the relationship between conventional religiosity, new age beliefs, and subjective well-being (SWB) in Europe, using data from the 2008 European Values Study. The results suggest that while conventional religiosity generally shows a positive link to SWB, new age beliefs may increasingly influence well-being across different European contexts. Overall, the study highlights the context-dependent nature of SWB levels based on belief systems.
OBC | Conventional religiosity and new age beliefs as predictors of subjective well-being in Europe
- 1. C ONVENTIONAL N EW AGE BELIEFS RELIGIOSITY AND AS PREDICTORS OF SUBJECTIVE WELL - BEING IN E UROPE andrej.kirbis@um.si sergej.flere@um.si http://projects.ff.uni-mb.si/cepyus PAPER PRESENTED AT THE 2012 OUT OF THE BOX CONFERENCE ON INNOVATIVE WAYS TO IMPROVE THE CULTURE OF LIVING MAY 15-17, 2012 MARIBOR, SLOVENIA
- 2. I NTRODUCTION the link between religious involvement and well-being (e.g., self- rated happiness, life-satisfaction and health) majority of studies show positive link (for example, Milot and Bryant Ludden, 2009; for a review see Koenig, 1998; Paloutzian and Park, 2005; Green and Elliott, 2010; for a meta-analysis see Witter et al., 1985); some studies show no link (Snoep, 2008) context-dependent effect (Snoep, 2008; Diener et al., 2011; Eichhorn, 2011) past literature limitation – focus of conventional religiosity new/alternative forms of “spirituality” (New Age beliefs) New Age: mystical idea of one’s inner self, millenarianism, and eclecticism (for a review, see Flere and Kirbiš, 2009)
- 3. P RESENT STUDY study aim: to investigate the link between measures of conventional/ theistic religiosity and New Age beliefs and subjective well-being (SWB) in European context 2008 wave of European Values Study three groups of countries + Slovenia 1) twenty established EU democracies 2) nine Eastern and Central European EU member states (ECE9) 3) six non-EU post-Yugoslav countries 4) Slovenia
- 4. M ETHOD Dependent variable: subjective bell-being (SWB) self-rated happiness self-rated satisfaction with life self-rated health SWB summation scale standardized to 100 points principal component analysis, C. Alpha scores
- 5. M ETHOD (2) Independent variables: Item 1 Conventional/theistic religiosity (belief “in personal God”) New Age spirituality (belief “in spirit of life force”) Atheism (rejecting belief in both) Independent variables: Item 2 Conventional/theistic religiosity ”there is only one true religion” “there is one true religion, but other contain basic truths” New Age spirituality (“there is no one true religion, but all great world religions contain some basic truths”)
- 6. R ESULTS (1) Figure 1: SWB, conventional religiosity and New Age beliefs, 4 groups of countries, EVS 2008. SWB CR (personal Gold) NA (spirit or life force) 80 73 70 67 68 62 60 50 50 38 37 40 44 40 34 36 30 23 20 10 0 EU20 ECE9 POST-YU6 SLO Source: European Values Study (2008).
- 7. R ESULTS (2) impact of supernatural beliefs on SWB a series of regression analyses sociodemographic variables age monthly household income type of belief explained minimal additional variance in SWB in the four environments
- 8. R ESULTS (3) Table 1: Differences between CR, NA and atheists on SWB measure, 4 groups of countries, EVS 2008. Conventional New Age Atheists religiosity EU20 = = Lowest SWB ECE9 = = = POST-YU6 = = Lowest SWB SLO = = = Note: Independent variable: Personal God vs. Spirit or life force vs. atheists Conclusion: SWB levels context-dependent and belief-dependent? New Age beliefs might play a growing role in determining SWB in Europe
- 9. Thank you for your attention! andrej.kirbis@um.si sergej.flere@um.si http://projects.ff.uni-mb.si/cepyus