Does Anger Toward God Moderate the Relationship Between Religiousness and Well-Being?

Yonathan Aditya; Jessica Ariela; Ihan Martoyo; Rudy Pramono

doi:10.18290/rpsych20234-4

Yonathan Aditya Pelita Harapan University, Department of Psychology, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2597-9118
Jessica Ariela Pelita Harapan University, Department of Psychology, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5232-9161
Ihan Martoyo Pelita Harapan University, Center for Research and Community Development; Reformed Theological Seminary Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9508-3168
Rudy Pramono Pelita Harapan University, Center for Research and Community Development, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3430-2942

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rpsych20234-4

Keywords: well-being, religiousness, anger toward God, Christian college students

Abstract

Most of the current research has found that highly religious people have better well-being compared to people with low religiousness. However, the former group is not immune from occasionally feeling anger toward God, which has an adverse effect on well-being. The purpose of this research is to study whether anger toward God moderates the effect of religiousness on the well-being of Christian college students. The data were derived from 228 respondents (55 male) from a religious university using the Four Basic Dimensions of Religiousness (4-BDRS), the Attitude toward God Scale (ATGS-9), and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). The results of the moderation analysis using Process version 3 demonstrated that Anger toward God significantly moderated the effect of religiousness toward well-being (b = .01, 95% Cl [.001, .023], t = 2.14, p < .05). The higher the level of anger toward God, the lesser the effect of religiousness on well-being. Therefore, it is essential for students to resolve their divine struggles. The implications and applications of this study are discussed.

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