Religiosity and Spirituality as Resiliency Resources: Moderation, Mediation, or Moderated Mediation?

Abstract

A growing body of literature indicates a modestly positive association between religiosity and spirituality as predictors of psychological health (anxiety and depression), suggesting they serve as personal resiliency factors. The purpose of this study was to expand our understanding of the relationships among these constructs. Using Lazarus’ Transactional Model of Stress as a theoretical framework, we examined a) the extent to which spirituality and religiosity mediated and/or moderated the association between perceived stress and psychological health, and b) whether there was a moderated (religiosity) mediation (spirituality) between stress and health. The Perceived Stress Scale, Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale, Religious Commitment Inventory, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were administered to measure the following constructs: stress, spirituality, religiosity, and psychological health. This study utilized a non-experimental, quantitative, correlational, cross-sectional, moderated-mediation design, and included a convenience sample of 331 research participants. Both spirituality and religiosity moderated stress and health. However, only spirituality (not religiosity) partially mediated the relationship. In addition, religiosity did not moderate the mediating effects of spirituality. Overall, this study confirmed the role of both religiosity and spirituality as effective resiliency resources.