The Importance of Spiritual Consumption, Religious Expression and Subjective Well-Being among Christians in the US during COVID-19

Osnat Roth-Cohen; Sidharth Muralidharan; Carrie La Ferle

doi:10.1007/s10943-022-01509-5

The Importance of Spiritual Consumption, Religious Expression and Subjective Well-Being among Christians in the US during COVID-19

Osnat Roth-Cohen
, Sidharth Muralidharan
, Carrie La Ferle

Ariel University
Southern Methodist University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Uncertainty, fear, and distress have become prevalent in the lives of U.S. residents since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The unpredictable reality of social distancing, shutdowns, and isolation have affected daily routines and influenced well-being and health. Drawing on consumer culture theory, we conducted an exploratory study to examine the mediating role of consumer spirituality in the subjective well-being of religious Christians during COVID-19 and to discover links between well-being and health outcomes. Participants from the United States (n = 104) were recruited via a Qualtrics’ online panel. Findings show that religiosity among Christians enhanced subjective well-being, demonstrating the positive effect of religious beliefs, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, spiritual consumption mediated this relationship, suggesting the importance of possessions to religious expression and subjective well-being. Implications for messaging about health and well-being are discussed.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1719-1733
Number of pages	15
Journal	Journal of Religion and Health
Volume	61
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-022-01509-5
State	Published - Apr 2022
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Funding

We are grateful to have received funding from the following sources to help undertake this research: Ariel University Grants Program for COVID-19 Research (Israel), the Meadows School of the Arts, the Temerlin Advertising Institute, and the Marriott Family Endowed Professor Award at Southern Methodist University.

Funders
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Temerlin Advertising Institute
Ariel University

Keywords

COVID-19
Consumer spirituality
Health messaging
Religiosity
Subjective well-being
United States

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10.1007/s10943-022-01509-5

Cite this

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The Importance of Spiritual Consumption, Religious Expression and Subjective Well-Being among Christians in the US during COVID-19

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

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