Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Sep 22;19(19):12010.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph191912010.

Considering the Subjective Well-Being of Israeli Jews during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Messaging Insights from Religiosity and Spirituality as Coping Mechanisms

Sidharth Muralidharan  1 , Osnat Roth-Cohen  2 , Carrie LaFerle  1
Affiliations

Considering the Subjective Well-Being of Israeli Jews during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Messaging Insights from Religiosity and Spirituality as Coping Mechanisms

Sidharth Muralidharan et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Consistent with Terror Management Theory (TMT), COVID-19 has made us question our mortality and past studies have indicated the importance of religiosity to enhance subjective well-being (SWB), however, studies on spirituality's impact are incomplete. The pandemic has created an environment where both religiosity and spirituality may play a vital role. Israel was selected due to the emergence of Jewish spirituality, a phenomenon that is growing in importance but understudied. In response to these caveats, the current study examines the mediating role played by spirituality on the SWB of the religious during the pandemic. Participants from Israel (n = 138) were recruited via Qualtrics' online panels. Findings showed Jews' religiosity was important to enhance their SWB, i.e., religious beliefs bring certainty and happiness to one's life, especially, during the COVID-19 pandemic. More importantly, spirituality mediated the effect of religiosity on SWB, specifically, spirituality was important to enhance the well-being of low religious Jews. Implications for health messaging during a global pandemic are discussed.

Keywords: COVID-19; Israel; Jewish; brief report; health messaging; religiosity; spirituality; subjective well-being; terror management theory.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Hypothesized model.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Diener E., Suh E.M., Lucas R.E., Smith H.L. Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychol. Bull. 1999;125:276–302. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.276. - DOI
    1. Pyszczynski T., Lockett M., Greenberg J., Solomon S. Terror management theory and the COVID-19 pandemic. J. Humanist. Psychol. 2021;61:173–189. doi: 10.1177/0022167820959488. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pyszczynski T., Solomon S., Greenberg J. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Volume 52. Academic Press; Cambridge, MA, USA: 2015. Thirty years of terror management theory: From genesis to revelation; pp. 1–70.
    1. Greenberg J., Solomon S., Pyszczynski T. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Volume 29. Academic Press; Cambridge, MA, USA: 1997. Terror management theory of self-esteem and cultural worldviews: Empirical assessments and conceptual refinements; pp. 61–139.
    1. Pargament K.I. The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, Practice. The Guilford Press; New York, NY, USA: 1997.

Publication types