Role of Gratitude and Religious Faith in Promoting Psychological Well-Being among University Students
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This correlational research explores the connection among gratitude, religious faith, and psychological well-being among university students. Through convenience sampling, data was collected from 300 Pakistani university students between the ages 18-25 years (M = 20.79, SD = 1.68) from various private and government universities both in group settings and online through Google forms. Participants were administered a demographics sheet, Gratitude, Questionnaire, Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire and Ryff’s Psychological Well-being Scale, respectively. The findings indicated that higher levels of gratitude are associated with improved psychological well-being. Religious faith was found to have a significant, positive and weak relationship with environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations, purpose in life, self-acceptance, and a non-significant relationship with autonomy. Only gratitude emerged to be a significant positive predictor of psychological well-being. Gender differences were found to be significant in terms of gratitude and religious faith, but not for psychological well-being. This suggests that women have significantly higher gratitude and religious faith than men, although the effect size of this difference is small. This study contributes to literature and may help form the foundation for a theoretical model of how gratitude-based exercises and religious activities can help improve well-being.
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