The Relationship Between Faith Maturity and Life Satisfaction

This study attempted to assess the correlation between faith maturity and life satisfaction, as well as to compare that correlation coefficient to other indicators of life satisfaction, namely self-esteem and life orientation. Previous studies have shown that there are many components to life satisfaction, however faith maturity is not a factor that has been previously studied. This study attempts to determine the correlation between these two variables, as well as compare that correlation coefficient to other indicators of life satisfaction, namely self-esteem and life orientation. Participants at a small, private, religiously-affiliated liberal arts university were emailed a survey that included questions from several scales measuring life satisfaction, faith maturity, life orientation, self-esteem, and demographic questions. Analysis of the results showed that there is a statistically significant correlation between life satisfaction and faith maturity, although this correlation coefficient was less than the correlations coefficient between life orientation and life satisfaction and the correlation coefficient between self-esteem and life satisfaction. Results also showed that the average life satisfaction of participants in this study was significantly greater than the participants in the original Satisfaction with Life Scale study by Diener, Emmons, Larsen, and Griffin (1985), even though both groups of participants were undergraduate students from a Midwestern university. While faith maturity is not as significant a predictor of life satisfaction as life orientation or self-esteem, it does significantly correlate to life satisfaction and can predict some variability in life satisfaction