Women's Spiritual Intelligence is Associated With Fewer Depression Symptoms: Exploratory Results From a Canadian Sample.

Abstract

While some evidence suggests a relationship between spiritual intelligence and depression, overall, research has yielded inconclusive results. We set out to expand the literature by further exploring this relationship in a Canadian sample. We also aimed to investigate the moderating effect of gender, shedding additional light on an interaction mostly overlooked in the current research. A clinical sample of 39 participants (66.7% female) completed measures of SI and depression before receiving treatment for depression in an outpatient mental health clinic. Results indicated that overall, there was a negative relationship between SI and depression symptoms (r(39) = - 0.55, p < .001); our findings illustrate that this beneficial relationship was driven by women. Future research of interventions aimed at improving spirituality as a means of reducing depression symptoms is warranted.