Religiosity/Spirituality (R/S) promotes positive development in midlife and old age. Little is known regarding which components of R/S (interpersonal religious commitment [RC] and intrapersonal RC) at the within-person (WP) and between-person (BP) levels promote positive midlife development in the context of adversity. Using data from 358 middle-aged adults (ages 50–65) who were assessed monthly for 2 years, we applied multilevel models to examine whether R/S at the WP and BP levels is protective against the adverse effects of monthly adversity on life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, and positive and negative affect. Reporting more R/S at monthly assessments (WP levels) where adversity occurred was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and negative affect. At the BP level, individuals who, on average, reported more involvement in interpersonal RC were buffered from the monthly adversity’s effect on each outcome. Higher BP levels of intrapersonal RC increased the impact of monthly adversity on each outcome. More WP and BP interpersonal RC but not intrapersonal RC were consistently protective against adversities in domains of close family, social network, and work. We elaborate on R/S’s role in promoting resilience in the context of adversity, emphasizing potential mechanisms and the need for thorough future explorations of these associations.
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