Temporal Associations between Religiosity and Subjective Well-Being in a Nationally Representative Australian Sample

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examined the between-person and within-person associations between 4 components of subjective well-being (i.e., general life satisfaction, satisfaction with life domains, positive affect, and negative affect) and 2 components of religiosity (i.e., religious salience and religious participation). Data were drawn from the Household, Income, and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, collected 5 times between 2004 and 2018. The Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model was used to analyze the data. Results showed weak between-person associations between the components of religiosity and subjective well-being. At the within-person level, the cross-lagged associations between religiosity and subjective well-being variables were trivial and nonsignificant. This indicates a lack of robust temporal associations between religiosity and subjective well-being when measured at intervals of a few years.