Spirituality, Religiosity and Their Relative Impacts on Quality of Life

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Results from a study using Structural Equations Modeling (SEM) in the United States with a primarily Catholic population show that there are indeed two discernible forms of religiosity (i.e., intrinsic and extrinsic), and both constructs were shown to be independent from spirituality. After demonstrating discriminant validity between these three exogenous constructs, intrinsic religiosity was shown to negatively influence materialism, while extrinsic religiosity was shown to positively influence materialism and community connectedness. Spirituality negatively influenced materialism and positively influenced life satisfaction. Finally, materialism negatively influenced community connectedness but not life satisfaction while the latter two constructs were shown to be strongly positively correlated. Implications for understanding human values, the theoretical and practical implications, as well as future research questions are also discussed.