De invloed van geaardheid en religie op zelfdiscrepantie en psychisch welzijn

Abstract

The present study investigated the possible effect of sexual preference and religion on psychological well-being, in which level of self discrepancy was expected to play an important role. The goal of this study was to improve the knowledge of social workers when it comes to certain issues related to these lifestyles. This study was conducted with 264 participants who were divided into four groups: heterosexual religious individuals, homosexual religious individuals, heterosexual non-religious individuals and homosexual non-religious individuals. Linear regression showed that self discrepancy and psychological well-being are negatively related. Religion is positively related with level of self discrepancy, while no such effect was found for level of homosexuality. However, acceptance of homosexuality turned out to be negatively related to level of self discrepancy. Having a promotion/prevention focus was a partial mediator on the effect of self discrepancy on psychological well-being. The overall conclusion is that sexual preference and religion influence the level of self discrepancy and psychological well-being. Implications are discussed.