The mediating effect of gratitude and social support: Exploring the relation between religiosity and psychological well-being in a national sample

Previous research has found that religiosity is associated with psychological well-being (i.e., depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and life satisfaction), and this study sought to improve our understanding of this relation by examining two mediators: gratitude and social support. Additionally, this study sought to examine the effect of having been a custodial grandparent on social support and psychological well-being. These issues were examined using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and two subsets of participants from national samples (i.e., participants from the MIDUS II and MIDUS Refresher who completed outcome questionnaires with the Biomarker follow-up). Consistent with previous research, religiosity was associated with psychological well-being. Gratitude and social support, which themselves covaried, mediated that relation. Former or current status as a custodial grandparent was not associated with poor psychological well-being or less social support. These findings served as a replication and extension of previous research that showed gratitude may mediate the relation between religiosity and psychological well-being. Implications and limitations to this study are discussed