The influence of spirituality and religiosity on psychological well-being among black women

In this investigation, 167 Black women provided conceptualizations of religiosity and spirituality using an internet-based survey. The differential influence of religiosity and spirituality on psychological well-being as measured by the Mental Health Inventory (Stewart, Hays, & Ware, 1988) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffen, 1985) was also examined in the study. Thematic analysis of participants’ responses to open-ended questions about conceptualizations of the two constructs yielded seven themes for religiosity and eight for spirituality; three of the themes overlapped. Findings from the open-ended data replicate and extend Mattis’ (2000, 2002) research with Black women. In addition, hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that spirituality explains a significant amount of the variance in both mental health and life satisfaction over and above religiosity. Findings suggest that the conceptual distinction between religiosity and spirituality is empirically supported by differences in psychological well-being outcomes