Within-person relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction: A 20-year study

Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have documented positive associations between religiosity and wellbeing. This study sought to reinvestigate the temporal relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction, utilizing the random-intercept cross-lagged panel model, which partitions the variance into between- and withinperson components. The data were drawn from a nationally representative survey of American adults (N = 4167) collected 3 times during about 2 decades. Consistent with previous cross-sectional studies, a positive but weak association was found between religiosity and life satisfaction at the between-person level. However, withinperson estimates (i.e., lagged cross-relations) were not significant, suggesting the absence of (Granger) causal relationships between religiosity and life satisfaction in this sample.

Automated summary

The study found a positive but weak association between religiosity and life satisfaction at the between-person level, but the within-person estimates were not significant, suggesting the absence of causal relationships between religiosity and life satisfaction in this sample.