The Prediction of Religion on Emotional, Social, and Psychological Well-Being in a Representative Sample of United States Citizens

Religion plays an important role in mental health, with research highlighting the impact of religious identity, practices, support and coping on mental illness. However, research often overlooks mental well-being in favour of mental illness, thereby neglecting aspects of mental health as a whole. Fewer studies have comprehensively examined mental well-being, considering its subfacets of emotional, social, and psychological well-being, and how these are affected by religion. The main aim of this study was to address the question: ‘How do religious coping, religious support, and private religious practices affect mental well-being across different religious streams?’. The Generalised Additive Mixed Models (GAMM) indicated religious support to positively predict mental well-being, while private religious practices negatively predicted mental well-being for all religious streams included. By identifying strengths associated with religious practices, interventions can be developed to help individuals, religious or non-religious, flourish and incorporate beneficial behaviours into their daily lives.