Conventional and unconventional forms of religiosity: identifying predictive factors and wellbeing outcomes

This study examines sociodemographic and wellbeing factors associated with forms of religiosity involving conventional religious belief (CRB) and daily spiritual experience (DSE), and unconventional paranormal beliefs in lifeforms (UPBL) and paranormal beliefs excluding extraordinary lifeforms (UPBEEL). Self-reported data collected from Australian Facebook users (N=760; Female: 57%) suggest that CRB was significantly higher in Christian participants and lower in those who identify as non-religious and spiritual. However, levels of unconventional religiosity involving UPBL and UPBEEL were significantly higher among Pagans and those who identify as spiritual but not religious, but lower among non-religious participants. Compared to Christian participants, being spiritual and pagan were negatively associated with the level of security. After controlling for relevant sociodemographic characteristics, conventional forms of religiosity involving DSE were positively related to life satisfaction, life security, and trust level. UPBL was also positively associated with wellbeing outcomes but UPBEEL was inversely related to all wellbeing outcomes. Further analysis reveals that religious status moderates the links between conventional and unconventional forms of religiosity, such that paranormal beliefs tended to be higher when CRB and DSE each had a unique interaction with religious status. These results show that forms of religiosity are related to wellbeing differently and suggest the influence of cognitive biases related to religious/spiritual teachings and experiences in enacting the quest for deeper spiritual, paranormal experiences. Study limitations are discussed.