Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2025-3
Mattering in the Pews and Beyond: How the Concept of “Mattering” May Provide Religious Practitioners and Institutions with a Deeper Understanding of Well-Being
This brief essay aims to introduce the concept of “mattering” in its relevance for both the secular and spiritual realm. I argue for the importance of this psychosocial resource for a more holistic understanding of well-being and for its relevance for religious institutions and practitioners.
AndreN.UpenieksL.BonhagR. (2023). Does religious service attendance condition the link between relationship status and mattering to others? Evidence from the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Review of Religious Research, 65(3), 344–373. https://doi.org/10.1177/0034673X231208898
2.
BeckU. (2010). A God of one’s own: Religion’s capacity for peace and potential for violence (LivingstoneR., Trans.). Polity.
3.
BonhagR.UpenieksL. (2021). Mattering to God and to the congregation: Gendered effects in mattering as a mechanism between religiosity and mental health. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 60(4), 890–913. https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12753
4.
DavidmanL. (1991). Tradition in a rootless world: Women turn to orthodox Judaism. University of California Press.
5.
DixonA. L.ScheideggerC.McWhirterJ. J. (2009). The adolescent mattering experience: Gender variations in perceived mattering, anxiety, and depression. Journal of Counseling & Development, 87(3), 302–310. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6678.2009.tb00111.x
6.
EdgellP.GerteisJ.HartmannD. (2006). Atheists as “Other”: Moral boundaries and cultural membership in American society. American Sociological Review, 71(2), 211–234. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240607100203
7.
ElliottG. C.ColangeloM. F.GellesR. J. (2005). Mattering and suicide ideation: Establishing and elaborating a relationship. Social Psychology Quarterly, 68(3), 223–238. https://doi.org/10.1177/019027250506800303
8.
FazioE. M.NguyenK. B. (2014). Stress, mattering, and health. In CockerhamW. C.DingwallR.QuahS. R. (Eds.), The Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of health, illness, behavior, and society (pp. 2312–2317). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118410868.wbehibs408
9.
FlettG. L. (2018). The psychology of mattering: Understanding the human need to be significant. Academic Press.
10.
FlettG. L. (2022). An introduction, review, and conceptual analysis of mattering as an essential construct and an essential way of life. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 40(1), 3–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/07342829211057640
11.
FlettG. L.GoldsteinA. L.PechenkovI. G.NeponT.WekerleC. (2016). Antecedents, correlates, and consequences of feeling like you don’t matter: Associations with maltreatment, loneliness, social anxiety, and the five-factor model. Personality and Individual Differences, 92(2016), 52–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.12.014
12.
FlettG. L.HeiselM. J. (2021). Aging and feeling valued versus expendable during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A review and commentary of why mattering is fundamental to the health and well-being of older adults. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 19(6), 2443–2469. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00339-4
13.
FroeseP.BaderC. (2015). America’s four Gods: What we say about God – and what that says about us (Updated edition). Oxford University Press.
14.
JamesW. (1890/1981). The principles of psychology (BurkhardtF. H.BowersF.SkrupskelisI. K., Eds.; Vol. 1). Harvard University Press.
15.
MarcusF. M.RosenbergM. (1987). Mattering: Its measurement and significance in everyday life. Eastern Sociological Society Meetings.
16.
PearlinL. I.LeBlancA. J. (2001). Bereavement and the loss of mattering. In OwensT. J.StrykerS.GoodmanN. (Eds.), Extending self-esteem theory and research: Sociological and psychological currents (pp. 285–300). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511527739.013
17.
PrilleltenskyI.PrilleltenskyO. (2021). How people matter: Why it affects health, happiness, love, work, and society. Cambridge University Press.
18.
PutnamR. D.CampbellD. E. (2010). American grace: How religion divides and unites us. Simon & Schuster.
19.
RosenbergM. (1979). Conceiving the self. Basic Books.
20.
RosenbergM. (1985). Self-concept and psychological well-being in adolescence. In LeahyR. L. (Ed.), The development of the self (pp. 205–246). Academic Press.
21.
RosenbergM.McCulloughB. C. (1981). Mattering: Inferred significance and mental health among adolescents. Research in Community & Mental Health, 2, 163–182.
22.
SchiemanS.BiermanA.EllisonC. G. (2010). Religious involvement, beliefs about God, and the sense of mattering among older adults. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 49(3), 517–535. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2010.01526.x
23.
SchlossbergN. K. (1989). Marginality and mattering: Key issues in building community. New Directions for Student Services, 1989(48), 5–15. https://doi.org/10.1002/ss.37119894803
24.
TaylorJ.McFarlandM. J.CarrD. C. (2019). Age, perceptions of mattering, and allostatic load. Journal of Aging and Health, 31(10), 1830–1849. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264318795805
25.
TaylorJ.TurnerR. J. (2001). A longitudinal study of the role and significance of mattering to others for depressive symptoms. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 42(3), 310–325. https://doi.org/10.2307/3090217
