Self-Regulation: An \u27Active Ingredient\u27 in the Spirituality-Health Relationship

Recent research suggests that spirituality promotes physical well-being. Explaining this relationship proves difficult. This cross-sectional study was conducted to test whether self-regulatory ability acts as a mediator between spirituality and health. It has been proposed that high levels of spirituality are related to strong self-regulation, which in turn should be related to better physical well-being. To address this hypothesis, a questionnaire containing validated measures of the targeted constructs was administered to a sample of 78 Butler students. Additionally, some ancillary data were collected concerning participants\u27 level of religiosity. Regression-based mediational analyses indicated that self-regulatory ability does indeed function as a partial mediator of the spirituality-health relationship. The information resulting from the current study sheds much needed light on the processes that may allow spirituality to promote health