Mediated association between spirituality and life satisfaction in chronically ill undergraduate students

Kurzfassung/Abstract

Preservation of life satisfaction in the face of a chronic illness is of major importance for psychosocial functioning. We addressed in this study how spirituality relates to global life satisfaction in young people with chronic physical illnesses. Based on social-cognitive theory, the transactional model of stress and coping, and Pargament’s theory of religious coping, a serial mediation model with general self-efficacy beliefs and proactive coping as related linkage variables was proposed. In a cross-sectional design, 304 undergraduate students with different chronic physical diseases completed an online survey. As expected, students higher in spirituality reported higher general self-efficacy beliefs, which subsequently related to better proactive coping and which then subsequently related to higher life satisfaction (Bserial = 0.04, SEserial = 0.02, 95% CI [0.01, 0.09]). There was also a specific indirect effect of spirituality on life satisfaction through self-efficacy beliefs only (Bspecific M1 = 0.12, SEspecific M1 = 0.04, 95% CI [0.05, 0.20]). In addition, a direct association of spirituality and life satisfaction was revealed (Bdirect = 0.15, SEdirect = 0.07, p = .039). Findings indicate an important role of spirituality in well-being. General self-efficacy beliefs and proactive coping were identified as key variables in the relation between spirituality and global life satisfaction.