Religiosity and well-being among Nigerians: Exploring the mediating role of fatalism

Abstract

The current study examined how intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations relate to hedonic and eudaimonic well-being and the mediating role of the dimensions of fatalism among Nigerians. Data were obtained from a survey of young Nigerians aged between 17 and 37 years (female = 53.85%; Christian = 88.72%). Results indicated that intrinsic religiosity and the belief in divine control, a dimension of fatalism, were associated with higher eudaimonic well-being and positive affect. Extrinsic religiosity correlated positively with eudaimonic well-being and negative affect. The belief in divine control also had a significant positive mediation effect on the influence of religiosity on eudaimonic well-being and positive affect for females. These findings are consistent with the view that religiosity and fatalism are social values associated with well-being in the Nigerian culture. One critical implication of these findings for both theory and research is that the idea that extrinsic religiosity and fatalism are detrimental to well-being is not universally tenable.

Keywords:

• eudaimonic well-being
• fatalism
• positive and negative affect
• religiosity

Conflict of interest

There is no conflict of interest associated with the current study.

Ethics statement

Approval was obtained from the University of Nigeria Research Ethics Committee (REC) with approval number D.PSY.UNN/REC/2021-4-000031.

Data availability

Data used in this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Additional information

Funding

The authors did not receive any funding for the study.