Perceived Religious Pressures as an Antecedent to Self-Reported Religious/Spiritual Development and Well-Being for Christians

Abstract

Past research has confirmed the utility of environmental variables, and perceptions of religious pressure (RP) in particular, in predicting faith maturity and religious schema scores for participants from Christian environments. Whether environmental variables predict religious development and whether religious development, in turn, leads to greater well-being for individuals from broader environments remain unknown. Utilizing participants from both Christian and non-Christian environments, the current study measures religious development variables that were constructed based on self-determination theory (SDT). We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to evaluate our hypothesis that religious pressures RP and autonomy supportive environment (ASE) are antecedents to religious/spiritual relatedness (R/S-R) and self-mastery (R/S-S), which in turn lead to greater well-being, as determined by the presence of meaning in life (MIL). Results indicate that both environmental variables of RP and ASE predicted higher scores on religious/spiritual relatedness and self-mastery, and this led to self-reports of greater well-being for both samples. Therefore, members of the broader religious environment of Christianity responded to RP similarly, implying that certain commonalities may shape Christians’ cognitions around obedience to God and authority across settings, although this result should be interpreted with caution. Further implications of these findings are explored and recommendations for future research provided.