title: Role of Religiosity in Psychological Well-Being Among Medical and Non-medical Students.
abstract: Religion has been generally considered as a protective factor for the psychological health of the people. As many studies have publicized a high prevalence of psychological morbidities among the medical students during their academic stages of medical schools, it is significant to investigate whether religiosity functions as a protective factor, to explore religiosity as a predictor of psychological well-being in a sample of medical students, and to compare the results of medical students as well as non-medical students with respect to religiosity and psychological well-being. The study is carried out in Federal Medical and Dental College and International Islamic University, Islamabad. The present study examined a sample of 120 medical students from Federal Medical and Dental College and 120 non-medical students from International Islamic University, Islamabad. Purposive sampling was used. The respondents completed religious orientation scale and scale of psychological well-being scale along with a demographic data sheet. In order to measure the study variables, linear regression and t test were used. The findings revealed that religiosity is a strong predictor of psychological well-being. Extrinsic and intrinsic religiosity predicts psychological well-being among the students. The results indicated a significant difference in psychological well-being between medical and non-medical students. No significant difference was found in religiosity of medical and non-medical students. The gender differences in religiosity and psychological well-being were found to be insignificant. The results emphasize that psychological well-being is prophesied by religiosity. The present research suggests further investigations and also endows with trends for psychological evaluation, development of religious beliefs, and interventions for augmenting psychological well-being among the medical students.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Federal Medical and Dental College, Chak Shehzad, Islamabad, Pakistan. drshemailasaleem@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Shemaila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saleem
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Tamkeen
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saleem
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010154:Pakistan; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Medical student; Psychological; Psychological well-being; Religion; Religiosity