The Influence of Spiritual Well-Being on Depression among Protestant College Seminarians in Korea With a Focus on the Mediating Effect of Self-Esteem

Spirituality and depression have been studied in relation to mental health for many years, but not in the context of Korean seminarians. This study explored the association between spiritual well-being, depression, and self-esteem—the latter playing a mediating role—using a sample of Korean Protestant College seminarians. In addition, gender differences in the values of variables were examined using the latent mean analysis (LMA) method; the mediational pathway from spiritual well-being to depression via self-esteem was investigated through the multigroup structural model analysis. A total of 434 seminarians from one Baptist theological university/seminary and one Presbyterian college in South Korea responded to survey questions about spiritual well-being—it was categorized into religious well-being (RWB) and existential well-being (EWB)—self-esteem, and depression. Male seminarians (N = 177) obtained a higher mean score on a measure of self-esteem; female seminarians (N = 246) obtained a higher mean score on a measure of depression. EWB had a significant direct effect on self-esteem and depression in both groups. However, EWB had a significant indirect effect on depression via self-esteem as a mediator only for female seminarians. Meanwhile, RWB did not influence self-esteem or depression in either group. Implications based on these findings are discussed.