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Does Self-Transcendent Wisdom Mediate the Relation between Spirituality and Well-Being? A Test Across Six Nations

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Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to examine whether self-transcendent wisdom mediates the positive relation of spirituality on general well-being and life satisfaction. Design and Participants: We used ANOVA, bivariate correlations, and multi-group path analyses to assess whether spirituality is positively related to life satisfaction (LS) and general well-being (GWB), and whether these relations are mediated by self-transcendent wisdom (STW). Our sample included 630 adults (aged 19 to 99 years) from six countries (the USA, Canada, Serbia, Ukraine, Iran, and China), with approximately equal representation of young and older adults by nation and by gender. Results: Despite differences by nation in the means of spirituality, STW, LS, and GWB, self-transcendent wisdom fully mediated the positive association between spirituality and general well-being in all six nations. Self-transcendent wisdom partially mediated the positive relation between spirituality and life satisfaction in Canada, Iran, and China. In the USA, Serbia, and Ukraine, spirituality had only an indirect effect on life satisfaction, mediated by self-transcendent wisdom. Conclusions: The relation between spirituality and subjective well-being is mediated by self-transcendent wisdom among participants in Asian, East European, Middle-Eastern and North American national cultures, despite their very different religious and political systems. This finding suggests that spirituality tends to result in greater subjective well-being through the transcendence of egocentric concerns.

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Notes

  1. Translated as 神 (shen) in Chinese.

  2. Krause’s wisdom scale items explicitly ask whether respondents found or have learned over the years that something is a part of being wise or wisdom, which seems to ask whether someone believes something about wisdom rather than whether or not the participants themselves engage in such practices. The scale also does not include any items that respondents would have to disagree with to assess commonly accepted definitions of wisdom.

  3. While Canada is also arguably a Christian-majority nation, religion is consistently less important to Canadians than to Americans, while also diversifying faster at the time of data collection Pew Research Center. (2013). Canada’s changing religious landscape. Retrieved February 3, 2022 from https://www.pewforum.org/2013/06/27/canadas-changing-religious-landscape/.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the many graduate and undergraduate students in participating countries who assisted in the study as recruiters, interviewers, transcribers, and data enterers, and the research respondents in all these nations for their participation.

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  1. Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-7330, USA

    Monika Ardelt & Michel Ferrari

  2. Human Development and Applied Psychology, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON M5S 1V6, Canada

    Juensung J. Kim

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  1. Monika Ardelt
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Correspondence to Michel Ferrari.

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Ardelt, M., Kim, J.J. & Ferrari, M. Does Self-Transcendent Wisdom Mediate the Relation between Spirituality and Well-Being? A Test Across Six Nations. J Happiness Stud 24, 1683–1702 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-023-00637-3

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