Exploring the Interplay between Religion, Health, and Subjective Well-Being in Turkey

Abstract

Religion, a primary part of human life, has long been granted as an influential drive shaping individuals' beliefs, values, and behaviors. It permeates numerous aspects of life, granting support, guidance, and a sense of purpose to billions of adherents around the world. This paper investigates the intricate link between subjective well-being and religion by focusing on the influence of religious beliefs and practices on happiness, life satisfaction, and subjective health outcomes. While previous findings have provided inconsistent evidence about this relationship, most of it has been conducted in Western and Judeo-Christian contexts. Even though there are few studies addressing religion and subjective well-being in Turkey this study presents a different perspective by surveying national-level data from Turkey. Existing literature on religion and subjective well-being presents a divided narrative; while some studies suggest that religion positively affects well-being, others claim that it has negative or neutral effects. However, this paper enhances the existing literature by exploring these relationships within the framework of Islamic beliefs and practices examining how religious beliefs and practices influence subjective well-being outcomes in the Muslim framework. The study analyzes subjective well-being, including happiness and life satisfaction, in both cognitive and emotional dimensions. It also explores the connections between religion and subjective mental and physical health investigating the possible moderating effect of religion on Subjective wellbeing and health outcomes. First, it explores the moderating role of religion in the association of subjective well-being and subjective health. In addition, from an Islamic viewpoint, this study focuses on the multiple dimensions of religiosity in a Muslim-populated nation where religious membership and participation concepts vary from Western Christian societies. Islamic beliefs emphasize the importance of living a disciplined and devoted life by focusing on inner virtues and moral behavior. Islam advances a perception of happiness that transcends hedonism and highlights eudaimonic well-being by prioritizing the hereafter over worldly pleasures. The impact of religion on the well-being of Turkey, which has a unique cultural and political structure, is complex. This dichotomy of being secular and religious at the same time allows for significant religious differences, making Turkey an interesting subject of study. The research uses a series of hypotheses exploring the links between religion, happiness, life satisfaction, and health. Its aim is to reveal the relationships between these variables and to determine how religiosity directs these relationships. In addition, the research also investigates how subjective well-being results differ depending on the level of religiosity in Turkey. The data of this study are based on the well-known World Values Survey (WVS) 2012. Three dependent variables were used in the study: happiness, life satisfaction, and subjective health. Three religious determinants measure religious beliefs and practices, and a set of control variables accounts for sociodemographic factors. The findings of this study will contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the complex interaction between religion and health and well-being in different cultural and religious settings. The results present a series of multinomial logistic regression models designed to explore the relationships between independent variables and dependent outcomes. These models discover complex patterns in the data and offer insights into direct and indirect effects, as well as the moderating role of religion in mental health outcomes.