Религиозная практика православных россиян как фактор экзистенциального благополучия

Психология. Журнал Высшей школы экономики. 2021. Т. 18. № 1. С. 203–210.

Klimochkina A.

The article addresses the issue of the relation between religiosity and psychological well-being of a person in an existential-psychological understanding. A correlational study has been conducted by means of an online survey on public platforms. From the original sample, the respondents have been chosen according to two criteria: the respondents' self-identification as individuals who believe in God and the respondents' affiliation to the Russian Orthodox Church. The final sample consisted of 153 people. Assessment of their existential well-being was based on the notion of “fulfillment”, which was measured with the Test of Existential Motivations (TEM). The frequency of several spiritual practices such as prayer, church attendance, reading the Bible, participation in religious celebrations and fasting, has been analyzed in terms of its partial and cumulative effect on the levels of existential fulfillment. For the purposes of assessment of the cumulative contribution that spiritual practices have on an individual, a scale of Objective Religiousness was created (Cronbach’s  = .89). The following methods were used for processing the results: one sample T-Test, correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis. The hypothesis about the positive correlation between the existential fulfillment of religious people and the frequency with which they carry out their spiritual practices has been confirmed. The results of this study demonstrate a higher level of existential fulfillment shown by Orthodox Christians as compared to the expected average levels of fulfillment according to TEM in the previous Russian studies. The frequency of religious practices is a significant predictor of fulfillment: Christians having an active spiritual life report higher levels of existential fulfillment. The most significant correlation ( = 0.31) has been revealed on the subscale, according to which life is perceived as meaningful. An interpretation of the revealed correlation has been suggested in accordance with the existential analytical theory: religiosity serves as a personal resource due to “exercising” spiritual activity by a person. The limitations and the prospects of the study have also been outlined.

Keywords: religious practices, религиозные практики, well-being, religiosity, религиозность, благополучие, экзистенциальная исполненность, православные христиане, Russian Orthodox Christians, existential fulfillment