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When God is your only friend: Religious beliefs compensate for purpose in life in the socially disconnected
Author(s) -
Chan Todd,
Michalak Nicholas M.,
Ybarra Oscar
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/jopy.12401
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , religious life , social life , purpose in life , social relationship , leverage (statistics) , totally disconnected space , social responsibility , sociology , social science , locally compact space , philosophy , ecology , mathematics , religious studies , machine learning , computer science , pure mathematics , biology
Objective Social relationships supply purpose to life. How can socially disconnected people, who show lower levels of purpose, compensate for purpose in life? We propose that religious beliefs can compensate for the purpose in life that social relationships would otherwise provide, through providing (a) greater purpose to turn to and (b) divine figures that can substitute for social relationships. Method In three studies, we analyze three nationally representative and longitudinal data sets ( N = 19,775) using moderated regression and cross‐lagged panel analyses. Results Consistent with our hypotheses, religious beliefs were of minimal influence on purpose in life for socially connected individuals, who already held higher levels of purpose than socially disconnected individuals. However, for socially disconnected individuals, being highly religious predicted higher levels of purpose in life. Conclusions Results suggest that although people primarily derive purpose from social relationships, socially disconnected individuals may leverage their religious beliefs for purpose and social comfort until they can reconnect.