C. J. Mancini, V. Quilliam, C. Camilleri and S. Sammut
Published in Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, December 2023
doi: 10.1016/j.jadr.2023.100680
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Highlights
- University student mental health remains a key issue.
- Scrupulosity negatively affected mental health.
- The relationship between scrupulosity and mental health was worsened by negative religious coping, and minimized by spirituality, but positive religious coping showed no impact.
- Depression, anxiety and stress were similarly impacted by religiosity and spirituality.
- Spirituality and religiosity cannot be used as an escape from the reality of problems that need to be faced, but as an assistance in the efforts of dealing with the challenges faced.
- Clinically, it is most beneficial to explore a deeper spirituality with an openness to positive religious behaviors, always being cautious that the latter do not become scrupulous.
Background:
Given the continued rise in negative mental health globally, including among university students, our research continues to investigate potential correlates that negatively or positively influence mental health. In order to successfully treat the existing negative mental health crisis, it is essential to delve deeper into human behavior, addressing with seriousness and without bias (and political correctness) the very essence of what makes the human person. This involves seriously considering such matters as spirituality and religiosity and how these impact human behavior and wellbeing. Spirituality (the deeper relationship with the Divine) has been shown to benefit mental health and religiosity (one’s customary religious practices) also can assist in this aspect. However, religiosity being the outward behavior can also be detrimental if inappropriate or expressed for the wrong reasons.
Goal of the Study:
Our study sought to investigate the relationship between religiosity, spirituality, scrupulosity and mental health among university students. Scrupulosity has been defined as a disorder of obsessive, unrealistic thoughts regarding morality, potentially accompanied by compulsive rituals aimed at abating guilt – an OCD-like/related behavior.
Results:
The findings of our study:
- A substantial proportion of participants reported severe or extremely severe depression, anxiety and stress, and potentially clinically relevant scrupulosity.
- Participants scoring worse in mental health scored higher in the negative experiences (e.g., negative religious coping) and lower in the positive experiences (e.g., positive religious coping) of religiosity and spirituality.
- Worse mental health was related to higher levels of scrupulosity.
- While both spirituality and negative religious coping mediated the relationship between scrupulosity and mental health (positively and negatively, respectively), positive religious coping was not involved in such mediation.
Conclusion:
- Despite the potential benefits of religiosity and spirituality, they can only be beneficial to the individual if they are utilized appropriately. Our findings potentially support such a relationship. Their appropriate use involves a constant effort to ensure that misuse/abuse does not occur, such as in the situation of “spiritual bypass” (defined as the use of spirituality as a distraction from addressing the very perceptible problems present in an individual’s life and has been shown to impede various recovery processes, such as in the case of alcohol or substance addiction). i.e. spirituality and religiosity cannot be used as an escape from the reality of problems that need to be faced, but as an assistance in the efforts to deal with the challenges faced.
- At a practical level, our results appear to suggest that in order to assist recovery from scrupulous behaviors, and possibly other obsessive-compulsive behaviors, it is potentially most beneficial, at the clinical level, to prioritize the exploration of a deeper spirituality, with an openness to positive religious behaviors. It is important, however, that such efforts proceed with caution in order to minimize the potential danger of the religious behavior becoming scrupulous.
- Our current study appears to highlight the importance of understanding and appropriately utilizing/applying and balancing behaviors that are known to enhance virtue. Most specifically relating to scrupulosity, it is important to ensure the consideration of the various facets of religious and spiritual experiences and their differential roles in influencing the relationship between scrupulosity and mental health in order to assist with the amelioration rather than exacerbation of mental health issues.
Sammut Lab 