Comparing Spiritual Well-Being, Happiness, and General Health among University and Seminary Students

Abstract

Background and Objective: Spirituality has been reported as one of the most important factors in increasing happiness and general health. Given the fact that one of the factors in creating spiritual well-being is spiritual environment, this comparative study was designed to investigate the relation between spiritual well-being and happiness as well as general health of university and seminary students in Kerman, Iran.Method: The statistical population of this causal – comparative study consisted of all students at Shahid Bahonar University and seminaries of Kerman. From among the university students, 376 were selected by random cluster sampling and 274 seminary students were selected through access sampling. The measurement instruments were Spiritual Well-being Questionnaire (SWB), Oxford Happiness Inventory (AHQ) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). The data were analyzed using multivariate regression, independent T-test, and Maan-Whiteney U test. In this study, all ethical issues were carefully observed and the authors have declared no conflict of interest.Results: Results showed that there was a significant and positive relationship between spiritual well-being, existential well-being and religious well-being (P<.001), but they have a significant and negative relationship to general health (P<.001). In addition, there was a significant difference between spiritual well-being and happiness among Shahid Bahonar and seminary students (P<.01); however, there weren't significant differences between them considering general health (P<0/05).Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate higher levels of spiritual well-being and happiness among seminary students, which confirms the effects of spirituality on these schools. Given that, steps should be taken to foster spiritual aspects.