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refahj 2024, 24(93): 87-133 |
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babaei O. (2024). Meta-analysis of religiosity and happiness studies in Iran (Researches Related to religiosity and happiness from 2007 to 2021). refahj. 24(93), : 3 doi:10.32598/refahj.24.93.4450.1
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Introduction: Happiness is usually defined as a purely psychological and individual phenomenon, while sociologists consider individual states such as happiness to have a social basis (Glatzer, 2000) because happiness is always associated with satisfaction, hope, and trust, it can act as a catalyst and accelerates the development process of a society. Also, on the opposite point, its absence in society will lead to the creation of a cold and obstructed atmosphere that will not be able to provide the minimum emotional energy necessary for innovation and progress (Chalbi & Mousavi, 2007). In Iranian society, although the lack of happiness has not yet been considered a social issue in an intersubjective sense, and social harms such as addiction, divorce, violence, suicide, moral corruption, etc. are still recognized at the top of social issues. But it should be said that these issues all reveal the negative sides of the same thing, paying attention and focusing on its positive side (of which the feeling of happiness is a part of it) can significantly reduce the amount and destructive effects of this can reduce the damages by creating a cheerful and hopeful atmosphere among the people of the society, proposing new alternatives and dynamism for development and progress.
In Iran, a considerablenumber of quantitative research studies have been conducted on the factors affecting happiness. In these studies, several factors such as wealth, health, religion, social support, employment, entertainment, etc., are known to be effective in creating happiness. Considering the fact that we live in a religious country and religious beliefs and actions based on religious teachings are of special importance in our culture, it seems that the relationship between religiosity and happiness is of particular interest and worthy of consideration. In most of the relevant research studies, this relationship has been the attention of the researchers as a main hypothesis and has been tested. Although all these studies confirm a positive and significant relationship between religiosity and happiness, the correlations reported among them are very different. For example, the studies of TalebZadeh and Mezgi Nezhad (2021), Soltani Bahram and Qasim Zadeh (2021), Naseri (2019), Mohammadi and Seif Zadeh (2017), Arjamand et al. (2017), Samii Esfahani et al. (2017), Bokharai et al. (2015), Serajzadeh et al. (2015), Hajizadeh Maimandi and Torkan (2014), Haghighatian (2014) and etc., all indicate that there is a significant relationship between religiosity and happiness. And there is a direct relationship, that is, as the level of religiosity increases, the amount of happiness also increases, and as the level of religiosity decreases, the amount of happiness decreases as well, but the intensity of correlation between them is very different. Therefore, considering the dispersion of the intensity of correlation between religiosity and happiness in the studies, it is necessary to carry out a systematic and coherent meta-analysis in order to reach a more comprehensive picture and achieve the defects and shortcomings of these studies.
Method: The current research is of the meta-analysis type. The mateials of this research is all the scientific research conducted in Iran as regards the relationship between religiosity and happiness during the years 2008 to 2021, which is indexed in one of the scientific databases such as scientific information databases (Sid), noor specialized journal website (Noormags), information database of Iran's publications (Magiran), Iranian research institute for information science and technology (Irandoc). The selection criteria of the investigated research studies are: 1- The research has been conducted in Iran using a quantitative method. 2- In the relevant research, religiosity was used as an independent variable and happiness as a dependent variable. 3- The information related to the correlation coefficient, significance level, sample size and sampling method have been specified in the research under review. 4- In the research, the religiosity variable was measured with the "Muslim Religiosity Questionnaire" and the variable of happiness has been measured with the "Oxford Happiness Questionnaire". 5- The validity and reliability of the reviewed studies have been confirmed by at least three referees. Among the 29 related studies, seven studies that met the conditions and selection criteria were entered into the comprehensive meta-analysis (CMA) software to quantitatively combine the results and obtain the results of the statistical unit.
Finding: The findings also indicate that the average size of the effect of religiosity on happiness is equal to 0.277, which based on Cohen's table, indicates a small effect. The sensitivity analysis test shows that by removing only one of the studies, the effect size changes to 0.303, which is evaluated as "moderate" based on Cohen's interpretation system. The findings are also consistent with the opinions of Durkheim, Yinger, Ode, Weber, Geertz, Berger, Lockman, Vinhoven, King, and Putnam. This means that religiosity through a series of mechanisms and psychological variables, such as giving meaning to life, making life purposeful, providing psychological support, providing emotional security, giving hope, relieving pain and suffering, adapting to failures and deprivation. Besides, faith in God's predestination, as well as a series of social mechanisms and variables such as increasing social solidarity, increasing social order, building social networks in religious groups, social support, creating religious affiliation and increasing social capital can increase people’s level of happiness.
The findings also show that the dimensions of religiosity (ideological, ritualistic, emotional, and consequential) have a significant effect on happiness, so that the dimensions of ideological and emotional, respectively have the greatest effect on happiness (Table No. 1). In explaining this issue, itcan be said that belief in God and his eternal power, belief in the impermanence of the world, belief in life after death, and also the belief that everything is in the hands of God and that God is the protector and supporter of man, leads to decreasing w orry and anxiety, attaining heart confidence, clarity, hope, inner satisfaction, security of mind and as a result increase the level of happiness of a person.
Table 1: The effect size of dimensions of religiosity on happiness
Source: Author’s calculations
Discussion: Although religiosity has a significant relationship with the level of happiness, it explains only 27% of the changes in happiness and is unable to explain the other 73%. What could be the reason for this? First of all, it seems that in Iranian society, the culture of completing research questionnaires as it should and deserves has not yet been established, so that in many questionnaires, some items such as belief in God, belief in the Prophet, life after death, saying prayers, practicing fasting, sin, repentance, etc. make the respondents sensitive and they do not express their real answer. The second reason is related to the nature of happiness. It seems that happiness is too complicated to be explained with only one external variable; therefore, the rest of the changes should be based on other variables such as social capital, social trust, social security, cultural capital, social support, etc. explained that with correct and accurate planning, we can improve the level of happiness and prevent many harms that appear in the society following the poverty of happiness. In general, according to the findings of this research, it seems that religiosity is one of the most important and influential variables impacting happiness, and since the current study is of correlational type, not an experimental one, there is not causal relationships among the variables, so it can only be said that there is a relationship between religiosity and happiness; however, it cannot be claimed that religiosity is the cause of happiness.
Authors’ Contributions
The responsible author of the article is Omid Babaei.
Funding
This article has no financial sponsor.
Conflicts of Interest
This article does not overlap with other published works of the author.
Ethics of research
In this article, all rights related to research ethics have been observed.
Arjmand Siahposh, I., Rezapour, D., & Hasanpour, K. (2017). Investigation of the level of social vitality of teenagers covered by the Imam Khomeini (RA) relief committee in Poldokhtar city and the social factors affecting it, Social Development Quarterly, 13 (2), 141-162 (in Persian).
Bokharai, A., Talebi, M., & Mohtsham, S. (2015). Study of the level of social vitality in Bushehr city and social factors affecting it, Iran Social Science Studies, 13(48), 17-36 (in Persian).
Chalabi, M., Mousavi, M. (2007). Sociological investigation of factors affecting happiness at the micro and macro levels, Iranian Journal of Sociology, 9(1), 34-57 (in Persian).
Galatzer, w. (2000). Happiness: Classic Theory in the light of Current Research, journal of Happiness Studies. 1:501-511. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1011550727571
Haghighatian, M. (2014). Social factors affecting the social happiness of teachers in Isfahan city, Social and Cultural Strategy Quarterly, 4(16), 239-256 (in Persian).
Hajizadeh Meimandi, M., Turkan, R. (2014). Surveying the extent and social cultural factors related to social vitality (case study: students of Yazd University), Urban Sociological Studies, 5(16), 59-86 (in Persian).
Hejazi, M., Sobhi, A., & Hosseini, M. (2014). Relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction and happiness of student girls, Women and Family Studies, 6(22), 61-77 (in Persian).
Mohammadi, A., Seifzadeh, A. (2017). Cultural factors of social happiness (case study: Isfahan city youth), strategic studies of sport and youth, 18(43), 1-26 (in Persian).
Naseri, F. (2019). Investigation of sociological factors affecting the social vitality of teachers in Toisarkan city, master’s thesis (supervisor: Saeed Gudarzi), Payame Noor University, Hamadan center (in Persian).
Samii esfahani, A., Pourdanesh, S. (2017). Social factors affecting the social vitality of teachers, case study: teachers of Districts 20 and 21 of Tehran, Iranian Journal of Social Development Studies, 11(1), 89-100 (in Persian).
Serajzadeh, H., Jamehshourani, M., & Mohammadi, F. (2015). Religion and Happiness: Studying the Relationship between Religiosity and Happiness in a Sample of Students, Journal of Social Sciences, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, 13 (1), 37-48 (in Persian).
Soltani bahram, S., Qasimzadeh, D. (2021). Sociological explanation of youth happiness based on capital and non-capital factors, Social Development Welfare Planning Quarterly, 12(48), 65-103 (in Persian).
Talebzadeh Shoushtri, L., Mazginejad, S. (2021). Investigation of social vitality and factors affecting it (case study: city of Birjand), Scientific Quarterly of Cultural and Social Studies of Khorasan, 16(1), 33-60 (in Persian).
Introduction: Happiness is usually defined as a purely psychological and individual phenomenon, while sociologists consider individual states such as happiness to have a social basis (Glatzer, 2000) because happiness is always associated with satisfaction, hope, and trust, it can act as a catalyst and accelerates the development process of a society. Also, on the opposite point, its absence in society will lead to the creation of a cold and obstructed atmosphere that will not be able to provide the minimum emotional energy necessary for innovation and progress (Chalbi & Mousavi, 2007). In Iranian society, although the lack of happiness has not yet been considered a social issue in an intersubjective sense, and social harms such as addiction, divorce, violence, suicide, moral corruption, etc. are still recognized at the top of social issues. But it should be said that these issues all reveal the negative sides of the same thing, paying attention and focusing on its positive side (of which the feeling of happiness is a part of it) can significantly reduce the amount and destructive effects of this can reduce the damages by creating a cheerful and hopeful atmosphere among the people of the society, proposing new alternatives and dynamism for development and progress.
In Iran, a considerablenumber of quantitative research studies have been conducted on the factors affecting happiness. In these studies, several factors such as wealth, health, religion, social support, employment, entertainment, etc., are known to be effective in creating happiness. Considering the fact that we live in a religious country and religious beliefs and actions based on religious teachings are of special importance in our culture, it seems that the relationship between religiosity and happiness is of particular interest and worthy of consideration. In most of the relevant research studies, this relationship has been the attention of the researchers as a main hypothesis and has been tested. Although all these studies confirm a positive and significant relationship between religiosity and happiness, the correlations reported among them are very different. For example, the studies of TalebZadeh and Mezgi Nezhad (2021), Soltani Bahram and Qasim Zadeh (2021), Naseri (2019), Mohammadi and Seif Zadeh (2017), Arjamand et al. (2017), Samii Esfahani et al. (2017), Bokharai et al. (2015), Serajzadeh et al. (2015), Hajizadeh Maimandi and Torkan (2014), Haghighatian (2014) and etc., all indicate that there is a significant relationship between religiosity and happiness. And there is a direct relationship, that is, as the level of religiosity increases, the amount of happiness also increases, and as the level of religiosity decreases, the amount of happiness decreases as well, but the intensity of correlation between them is very different. Therefore, considering the dispersion of the intensity of correlation between religiosity and happiness in the studies, it is necessary to carry out a systematic and coherent meta-analysis in order to reach a more comprehensive picture and achieve the defects and shortcomings of these studies.
Method: The current research is of the meta-analysis type. The mateials of this research is all the scientific research conducted in Iran as regards the relationship between religiosity and happiness during the years 2008 to 2021, which is indexed in one of the scientific databases such as scientific information databases (Sid), noor specialized journal website (Noormags), information database of Iran's publications (Magiran), Iranian research institute for information science and technology (Irandoc). The selection criteria of the investigated research studies are: 1- The research has been conducted in Iran using a quantitative method. 2- In the relevant research, religiosity was used as an independent variable and happiness as a dependent variable. 3- The information related to the correlation coefficient, significance level, sample size and sampling method have been specified in the research under review. 4- In the research, the religiosity variable was measured with the "Muslim Religiosity Questionnaire" and the variable of happiness has been measured with the "Oxford Happiness Questionnaire". 5- The validity and reliability of the reviewed studies have been confirmed by at least three referees. Among the 29 related studies, seven studies that met the conditions and selection criteria were entered into the comprehensive meta-analysis (CMA) software to quantitatively combine the results and obtain the results of the statistical unit.
Finding: The findings also indicate that the average size of the effect of religiosity on happiness is equal to 0.277, which based on Cohen's table, indicates a small effect. The sensitivity analysis test shows that by removing only one of the studies, the effect size changes to 0.303, which is evaluated as "moderate" based on Cohen's interpretation system. The findings are also consistent with the opinions of Durkheim, Yinger, Ode, Weber, Geertz, Berger, Lockman, Vinhoven, King, and Putnam. This means that religiosity through a series of mechanisms and psychological variables, such as giving meaning to life, making life purposeful, providing psychological support, providing emotional security, giving hope, relieving pain and suffering, adapting to failures and deprivation. Besides, faith in God's predestination, as well as a series of social mechanisms and variables such as increasing social solidarity, increasing social order, building social networks in religious groups, social support, creating religious affiliation and increasing social capital can increase people’s level of happiness.
The findings also show that the dimensions of religiosity (ideological, ritualistic, emotional, and consequential) have a significant effect on happiness, so that the dimensions of ideological and emotional, respectively have the greatest effect on happiness (Table No. 1). In explaining this issue, itcan be said that belief in God and his eternal power, belief in the impermanence of the world, belief in life after death, and also the belief that everything is in the hands of God and that God is the protector and supporter of man, leads to decreasing w orry and anxiety, attaining heart confidence, clarity, hope, inner satisfaction, security of mind and as a result increase the level of happiness of a person.
Table 1: The effect size of dimensions of religiosity on happiness
| Dimensions of Religiosity | Effect Size | Lower limit | Upper limit | Z-Value | P-Value |
| Ideological | 0.336 | 0.290 | 13.406 | 4.551 | 0.000 |
| Ritualistic | 0.268 | 0.220 | 0.315 | 10.555 | 0.000 |
| Emotional | 0.270 | 0.222 | 0.317 | 10.643 | 0.000 |
| Consequential | 0.245 | 0.196 | 0.292 | 9.589 | 0.000 |
Discussion: Although religiosity has a significant relationship with the level of happiness, it explains only 27% of the changes in happiness and is unable to explain the other 73%. What could be the reason for this? First of all, it seems that in Iranian society, the culture of completing research questionnaires as it should and deserves has not yet been established, so that in many questionnaires, some items such as belief in God, belief in the Prophet, life after death, saying prayers, practicing fasting, sin, repentance, etc. make the respondents sensitive and they do not express their real answer. The second reason is related to the nature of happiness. It seems that happiness is too complicated to be explained with only one external variable; therefore, the rest of the changes should be based on other variables such as social capital, social trust, social security, cultural capital, social support, etc. explained that with correct and accurate planning, we can improve the level of happiness and prevent many harms that appear in the society following the poverty of happiness. In general, according to the findings of this research, it seems that religiosity is one of the most important and influential variables impacting happiness, and since the current study is of correlational type, not an experimental one, there is not causal relationships among the variables, so it can only be said that there is a relationship between religiosity and happiness; however, it cannot be claimed that religiosity is the cause of happiness.
Authors’ Contributions
The responsible author of the article is Omid Babaei.
Funding
This article has no financial sponsor.
Conflicts of Interest
This article does not overlap with other published works of the author.
Ethics of research
In this article, all rights related to research ethics have been observed.
Arjmand Siahposh, I., Rezapour, D., & Hasanpour, K. (2017). Investigation of the level of social vitality of teenagers covered by the Imam Khomeini (RA) relief committee in Poldokhtar city and the social factors affecting it, Social Development Quarterly, 13 (2), 141-162 (in Persian).
Bokharai, A., Talebi, M., & Mohtsham, S. (2015). Study of the level of social vitality in Bushehr city and social factors affecting it, Iran Social Science Studies, 13(48), 17-36 (in Persian).
Chalabi, M., Mousavi, M. (2007). Sociological investigation of factors affecting happiness at the micro and macro levels, Iranian Journal of Sociology, 9(1), 34-57 (in Persian).
Galatzer, w. (2000). Happiness: Classic Theory in the light of Current Research, journal of Happiness Studies. 1:501-511. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1011550727571
Haghighatian, M. (2014). Social factors affecting the social happiness of teachers in Isfahan city, Social and Cultural Strategy Quarterly, 4(16), 239-256 (in Persian).
Hajizadeh Meimandi, M., Turkan, R. (2014). Surveying the extent and social cultural factors related to social vitality (case study: students of Yazd University), Urban Sociological Studies, 5(16), 59-86 (in Persian).
Hejazi, M., Sobhi, A., & Hosseini, M. (2014). Relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction and happiness of student girls, Women and Family Studies, 6(22), 61-77 (in Persian).
Mohammadi, A., Seifzadeh, A. (2017). Cultural factors of social happiness (case study: Isfahan city youth), strategic studies of sport and youth, 18(43), 1-26 (in Persian).
Naseri, F. (2019). Investigation of sociological factors affecting the social vitality of teachers in Toisarkan city, master’s thesis (supervisor: Saeed Gudarzi), Payame Noor University, Hamadan center (in Persian).
Samii esfahani, A., Pourdanesh, S. (2017). Social factors affecting the social vitality of teachers, case study: teachers of Districts 20 and 21 of Tehran, Iranian Journal of Social Development Studies, 11(1), 89-100 (in Persian).
Serajzadeh, H., Jamehshourani, M., & Mohammadi, F. (2015). Religion and Happiness: Studying the Relationship between Religiosity and Happiness in a Sample of Students, Journal of Social Sciences, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, 13 (1), 37-48 (in Persian).
Soltani bahram, S., Qasimzadeh, D. (2021). Sociological explanation of youth happiness based on capital and non-capital factors, Social Development Welfare Planning Quarterly, 12(48), 65-103 (in Persian).
Talebzadeh Shoushtri, L., Mazginejad, S. (2021). Investigation of social vitality and factors affecting it (case study: city of Birjand), Scientific Quarterly of Cultural and Social Studies of Khorasan, 16(1), 33-60 (in Persian).
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Received: 2023/11/14 | Accepted: 2024/05/6 | Published: 2024/06/30
Received: 2023/11/14 | Accepted: 2024/05/6 | Published: 2024/06/30
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