The Relationship between Religion and Mental Health: The Mediatory Role of Shame and Guilt

This study examined the impact of religion on mental health with respect to the two self-conscious emotions; shame and guilt. The participants were 286 undergraduate students of Semnan University selected by using multistage cluster sampling method. To assess the research variables, the participants completed three questionnaires: The Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3 (TOSCA-3, Tangney & Al, 2000), Religious Assessment Scale (Glock & Stark, 1965) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). The relationships between the variables were examined by a structural model. The path analysis using LISREL software, showed the mediating impacts of guilt on various aspects of religiosity and mental health. So that belief(16/0=β) , experimental(24/0=β), and ritual(14/0=β) aspects of religiosity positively predicted guilt, and they positively influenced on mental health by mediating this emotion(18/0=β) . No significant relationship was found between shame and aspects of religion, but this emotion(41/0-=β) predicted mental health negatively. Thus, some aspects of religion promote mental health by increasing positive emotions such as adaptive guilt, and others such as maladaptive shame increases the likelihood of mental illnesses and it endangers mental health.