Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Religion, spirituality and happiness

A study of 320 8-12-year-old children by researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada looked into the links between spirituality (defined as an inner belief system that a person relies on for strength and comfort), religious practice, temperament and happiness. The study found that those children who said they were more spiritual were happier. Feeling a sense of meaning and value about one's life and the quality and depth of interpersonal relationships were strong predictors of happiness. However, religious practices, such as attending church, praying and meditating had little effect. Temperament was also an important predictor of happiness with happier children being more sociable and less shy.

You can find out more about this research by clicking on the link in the title of this post.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Although an interesting study, as a spiritual life coach I am not surprised by the findings.

John Gale said...

Yes, I would agree with you 100% Sharon. I think there is far too much emphasis on doling out medication these days and not enough effort being spent to get to the root of people's problems and address the issue that happiness is not something that can always be brought about by consumerism and mindless escapism.
Best Wishes,
John

Voodoo said...

The relationship between ritual meaning and hope is complex. A ritual can do no more than get a person moving, provide a form of actions that reconstitute a group, or bring together people who would otherwise stand apart.