Impact of Religiosity on Subjective Well-Being in Various Groups: A Comparative Study

In the present era of globalization, where every person is trying to meet his needs, find happiness and realize his potential, the concept of subjective well-being becomes extremely important. In India, which is a land of religious multiplicity, religion immensely influences physical, social and psychological aspects of peoples' lives. Therefore, in the present study an attempt has been made to study the impact of religiosity on subjective well-being in various groups. The sample comprised of 400 participants from different localities of Jaipur city. These participants were divided on the basis of gender (men = 200 and women = 200); and age [higher age group (50-60 yrs) = 200; and lower age group (20-30 yrs) = 200]. Further on the basis of median value on the scale of religiosity they were divided into two groups (highly religious = 237 and less religious = 163). Tools used included Subjective well-being questionnaire (Nagpal & Sell, 1985) and Attitude towards religion scale (Banerjee, 1962). The results indicated that males and females do not differ significantly with respect to religiosity and subjective wellbeing. Both the higher and lower age groups believe in the importance of religion with similar intensity but the two groups differ on subjective wellbeing. Additionally, highly religious participants differ significantly on all the dimensions of subjective well-being from their less religious counterparts. This study highlights the beneficial and protective role played by religiosity in enhancing one's subjective well-being.