Religiosity, Meaning in Life, and Clinical Symptomology: A Comparison of African-American and European-American College Students

Abstract

This study examined whether religiosity is subsumed under the broader construct of meaning in life as a predictor of psychological symptomology in college students from two ethnic groups. Data from 299 undergraduates indicated that among European-American students, religiosity predicted little variance in psychological symptomology and was subsumed by general meaning in life. Conversely, for African-American students, perceived meaning in life predicted little variance in symptomology and was subsumed by religiosity. The findings demonstrate that the link between religiosity and mental health among college students differs as a function of ethnic group membership and illustrate the perils of neglecting ethnicity when examining predictors of mental health variables.

KEYWORDS:

• clinical symptomology
• cross-cultural
• ethnicity
• existential health
• religiosity

We thank Fons van de Vijver for his guidance in evaluating the cross-cultural equivalence of the variable scales, Sarah Lueke for further assistance with the analyses, and Janice Yoder for general assistance in the preparation of this manuscript.