Predicting Well-being from Different Dimensions of Religiousness:

Initial Application of 4-BDRS Scale in Indonesia

Yonathan Aditya

, Riryn Sani

, Ihan Martoyo

and Rudy Pramono

Department of Psychology, Universitas Pelita Harapan, Tangerang, Indonesia

Center for Research and Community Development, Universitas Pelita Harapan, Tangerang, Indonesia

Reformed Theological Seminary Indonesia (STTRI), Kemang, Jakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: Well-being, Religiousness, 4-BDRS, Islam, Christianity.

Abstract: As a nation based on the belief in one supreme God, Indonesia has depicted indigenous religious

phenomena worthy of scientific analysis. Due to the endorsement of religiousness in Indonesia, prior

research aimed to find empirical evidence on the effects of religiousness on well-being. However, most of

the prior research only focused on one religion, either Islam or Christianity. This paper shows and compares

how religiousness in both Islam and Christianity can predict well-being. This study will also show the

dynamics of different dimensions of religiousness using the Four Basic Dimensions of Religiousness Scale

(4-BDRS), which has been extensively used in the West, in explaining well-being. The empirical evidences

were derived from 614 college students from religious-based universities using 4-BDRS and the Satisfaction

with Life Scale (SWLS). The result demonstrated that for both Muslims and Christians, total religiousness

has a significant positive correlation with well-being (r=.34, ρ<.05; r=.39, ρ<.05). However, the results of

multiple regression test revealed that for Muslims, only Belonging has a significant effect on well-being

(β=.16, ρ<.05) while for Christians only Believing (β=.17, ρ<.05) and Belonging (β=.36, ρ<.05) have a

significant effect on well-being. Independent sample t-test indicated that Christian college students show a

significantly higher Belonging dimension (M=5.16, SD=1.23, N=275), than Muslim students (M=4.89,

SD=1.14, N=339), t (612) = -2.91, p<0.005. On the other hand, Muslim college students (M=6.15, SD=.77,

N=339) display a significantly higher Behaving dimension than Christians (M=5.91, SD=.91, N=275),

t (535.2) = 3.41, p <.05. These results shed some lights on how Muslims and Christians can be similar and

different at the same time, regarding their religiousness and satisfaction with life. Efforts to increase the

well-being of religious students might give more attention to the Believing and Belonging dimension of

religiousness.

1 INTRODUCTION

In recent times, numerous studies have been

conducted to investigate the effects of religiousness

on well-being. However, most of these studies were

done on Christian populations in the West. Only

recently have studies been done on Muslim

populations (Abu-Raiya 2013). Saroglou (2013), on

the other hand, wrote that the relationship between

religiousness and well-being was affected by the

type of religion and culture. This research studies

the interplay between religiousness and well-being

in the two largest religions in Indonesia, namely

Islam and Christianity, using a comprehensive

measure of religiousness created by Saroglou,

namely The Four Basic Dimensions of

Religiousness Scale (4-BDRS) (Saroglou 2011).

Religiousness is a construct to measure an

individual’s level of interest on religion (Saroglou

2013). Considering that religion is a

multidimensional construct, a good measure of

religiousness should be multidimensional as well

(Koenig 2018). A single item index of religiousness

or scale that focuses only on one dimension of

religiousness fails to understand the complexity of

religion. To answer this problem, Saroglou (2011)

analyzed all measures of religiousness and

concluded that all religions have four dimensions of

religiousness: Believing, Bonding, Behaving, and

Belonging. Saroglou then created the 4-BDRS,

which consisted of these four dimensions. Believing

458

Aditya, Y., Sani, R., Martoyo, I. and Pramono, R.

Predicting Well-being from Different Dimensions of Religiousness: Initial Application of 4-BDRS Scale in Indonesia.

DOI: 10.5220/0008590804580463

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Psychology in Health, Educational, Social, and Organizational Settings (ICP-HESOS 2018) - Improving Mental Health and Harmony in

Global Community, pages 458-463

ISBN: 978-989-758-435-0

is a set of beliefs about external transcendence (one

or many). Bonding is related to the emotional parts

of religiousness that unites an individual to the

external transcendence. Behaving is concerned with

norms and moral requirements, while Belonging

refers to cohesion with a community.

These four dimensions of religiousness reflect

four psychological processes, namely cognitive,

moral, emotional, and social, and they are not

limited to any single religious tradition. Therefore,

the four dimensions are presumably present in all

religions and culture (Saroglou, Vassilis and Cohen,

2013). The universality of the 4-BDRS makes this

measurement useful in cross-cultural and cross-

religion research. Although these four dimensions

are universal, the magnitude and correlations among

these four dimensions may vary from one religion to

another, as well as from one culture to another. The

same is also true on the effect of religiousness on

well-being (Saroglou 2011).

A majority of research found that religiousness

has a significant positive effect on well-being

(Koenig 2018). Religion affects well-being through

many ways, both psychologically and socially.

People high in religiousness tend to have better

coping strategies, which in turn reduces their levels

of stress (Ju, et al., 2018; Gebauer, et al., 2012).

Religion gives meaning in life, thus people with a

high level of religiousness perceive a better purpose

in life (Wang, et al., 2016). Furthermore, religious

communities tend to support their members.

Therefore, people high in religiousness tend to have

better social support. Low stress levels, purpose in

life, and greater social support are linked to better

well-being.

Research on the effects of religiousness on well-

being among Muslims showed similar results.

Muslims with high religiousness tend to have better

indicators of well-being such as more adaptive

coping, better relationships with others, and higher

satisfaction in life (Aflakseir and Coleman, 2009;

Ghorbani and Watson, 2006). However, considering

that many studies were not done using

multidimensional measure, it is difficult to know

which dimensions of religiousness play more

significant role on well-being (Abu-Raiya, 2013;

Koenig, 2018). A research done by Dimitrova and

Espinosa (2016) on Mexicans found that all

dimensions of 4-BDRS have a significant effect on

well-being, while the study of Dimitrova (2014)

among Dutch and Italians found no significant

correlations among all dimensions of 4-BDRS with

well-being. These results support the idea that

culture affects the relations between religiousness

and well-being. However, these studies were done

on Mexicans and Europeans and the majority of the

participants were not Muslim. Therefore, many

scholars in psychology of religion suggested

research on the effect of religiousness on well-being

in other religions and cultures other than Western

Christian populations (Abu-Raiya, 2013; Koenig,

2018; Saroglou, Vassilis and Cohen, 2013)

This study focuses on the relationship between

religiousness and well-being within the context of

Muslim and Christian college students in Indonesia.

Indonesia is a multi-ethnic and multi-religion

country. There are 1340 ethnics groups and 6

religions that are endorsed by the government.

According to the last census, the total population of

Indonesia is more than 237 millions with 87% of

Muslims and 7% Christians respectively. This makes

Indonesia the largest Muslim country in the world

(Badan Pusat Statistik Republik Indonesia, 2010).

However, it is important to note that Indonesia is

based on Pancasila (The five principles) as the state

foundation and not on any religion. The freedom of

religion is guaranteed by the constitution. Despite

some incidents of religious intolerance, in general

people from different religions are able to live

peacefully in Indonesia. This is reflected in the result

of the latest religious harmony survey done by

Religious Affairs Ministry which found index of

religious harmony in Indonesia is good (Didah,

2018). Therefore, with its unique culture, it will be

interesting to observe how Muslim and Christian

religiousness can affect the well-being of religious

individuals in Indonesia.

In general, Evangelical Christianity in Indonesia

seems to focus on doctrinal differences (Hoon,

2013) thus the cognitive (Believing) dimension is

emphasized. However, Charismatic Christian

communities are known for their emphasis on the

affective (Bonding) dimension through their livelier

style of worship. Non-Charismatic churches often

criticize the Charismatics to be too emotional

(Hocken, 2010). However, these two groups are not

mutually exclusive, as some churches attempt to

care for both the cognitive and affective in their

services.

Islam, on the other hand, focuses on religious

practices (the five pillars of Islam): (1) Belief in one

God, (2) Pray regularly (salat), (3) Give generously

to the poor, (4) Fast in the month of Ramadan, and if

possible (5) Pilgrimage to Mecca (Saeed, 2008,

p. 73).

However, there is a minority strand of Islam,

called Sufism, which concerns more on the spiritual

Predicting Well-being from Different Dimensions of Religiousness: Initial Application of 4-BDRS Scale in Indonesia

459

hidden meaning of Qur’anic verses than the physical

practices. Saeed describes Sufism as follows:

Proponents of mystical exegesis emphasized the

spiritual aspects of Islam, rather than the political,

legal and worldly dimensions. Sufi scholars often

preferred to explore questions regarding

knowledge of God or the nature of human

existence and its relation to the divine. They

believed that the mystical allusions in the Qur’anic

text were related most closely to the human

spiritual condition and were impossible to

understand through superficial readings or

arguments over points of law and theology. Thus,

in mystical exegesis, the spiritual and inner

meanings of the Qur’an were considered

paramount (Saeed, 2008, p. 206).

In the Sufi groups (tarekat), the chanting of prayers

and the counting of beads are not the focus, but they

are practiced for closeness to God and understanding

of His divinity (Pringle, 2010, p. 129). Although the

Indonesian traditionalists might see a risk of heresy

in mystical practices, Islam is clearly capable of

expressing the complete four dimensions of

religiousness, including the affective dimension

(Bonding).

Based on previous studies on the effects of

religousness on well-being, this current study

hypothesizes that both Muslim and Christian

religousness will have a significant positive effect on

well-being. However, the relationships of the 4-

BDRS dimensions to well-being in both religions

could not be predicted as there is no known prior

research on this subject.

2 METHOD

2.1 Participants

The total respondents who completed usable

questionnaires were 614 college students composed

of 339 Muslims and 275 Christians. These

respondents were taken from two Muslim based

universities, one Christian university, and two non-

religious based universities in Jabodetabek area

(Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi).

Most of the students (90%) were between the ages of

18-21 years old. 4% were 17 years old, 5% were

between 22-23, and the other 1 % were between 24-

28 years old. 25% of the participants were male

while 75% were female. Regarding ethnicity, 36%

of the participants reported being of mixed ethnicity,

20% as Javanese, 19% as Chinese, 9% as

Sundanese, while the other 17% were from Betawi,

Batak, Manado, Ambon, Timor and Papua.

2.2 Measures

Religiousness. The Four Basic Dimensions of

Religiousness Scale (4-BDRS) was used to measure

religiousness. This scale was developed by Saroglou

(2011) and measures 4 dimensions of religiousness.

Believing (3 items, e.g.,

“I feel attached to religion

because it helps me to have a purpose in my life”).

Bonding (3 items, e.g., “I like religious

ceremonies”). Behaving (3 items, e.g., “I am

attached to the religion for the values and ethics it

endorses”). Belonging (3 items, e.g., “In religion, I

enjoy belonging to a group/community”). The sum

of 12 items results in the total score of religiousness.

In this study, internal reliability measured by

Cronbach’s alpha was .89 for Muslims and .91 for

Christians sample.

Well-being. Well-being was measured using The

Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) (Diener, et al.,

1985). This scale consisted of five items (e.g., “I am

satisfied with my life”) on a 7-point Likert scale. In

this study, internal reliability measured by

Cronbach’s alpha was .71 for Muslims and .78 for

the Christians sample.

3 RESULT

Table 1: Means (and standard deviations) of samples

based on religion.

Total

Religiousne

Muslims

(n=339)

Christians

(n=275)

Group

Compariso

5.63

(.77)

5.63 (.86) t (553.51)

= .02, ρ

>.05

Believing 6.07

(.87)

5.95 (.91) t (612)

=1.56,

ρ >.05

Bonding 5.43

(1.02)

5.49

(1.03)

t (612) = -

.79,

>.05

Behaving 6.15

(.77)

5.91 (.91) t (535.2) =

3.41, ρ

<.01

Belonging 4.89

(1.14)

5.16

(1.23)

t (612) = -

2.91,

ρ <.01

Well-being 4.56

(.94)

4.54

(1.06)

t (550.8) =

.27,

ρ >.05

ICP-HESOS 2018 - International Conference on Psychology in Health, Educational, Social, and Organizational Settings

460

Independent sample t-test (Table 1) shows that

Muslim students (M=6.15, SD=.77, N=339) have a

significantly higher Behaving dimension than

Christian Students (M=5.91, SD=.91, N=275),

t (535.2) = 3.41, ρ <.05. On the other hand, Christian

students (M=5.16, SD=1.23, N=275) have a higher

score in Belonging than Muslim students (M=4.89,

SD=1.14, N=339), t (612) = -2.91, ρ<0.005. The

correlations in Table 2 show that for both Muslims

and Christians, total religiousness and all of its four

dimensions indicate significant positive correlations

with well-being. However, multiple regressions test

in Table 3 revealed that not all dimensions of

religiousness show a significant effect on well-

being. For Muslim students, only Belonging (β=.16,

ρ<.05) was found to have a significant positive

effect on well-being. In contrast, only Believing

(β=.17, ρ<.05) and Belonging (β=.36, ρ<.05) have a

significant positive effect on well-being among

Christian students.

Table 2: Correlations between religiousness, its

dimensions, and well-being based on religions

SWLS

Muslims Christians

Total 4-

BDRS

.34 <.05 .39 <.05

Believing .29 <.05 .31 <.05

Bonding .22 <.05 .31 <.05

Behavin

.30 <.05 .25 <.05

Belon

.28 <.05 .41 <.05

Table 3: Multiple regressions analysis of religiousness and

well-being based on religions

SWLS

Muslims Christians

β ρ β ρ

Believing .13 >.05 .17 <.05

Bonding -.01 >.05 .03 >.05

Behaving .14 >.05 -.10 >.05

Belonging .16 <.05 .36 <.05

4 DISCUSSION

The result of this study reveals that religiousness has

a positive effect on well-being for both Muslim and

Christian students. This means that both Muslim and

Christian students with higher level of religiousness

will have better well-being than that with lower level

of religiousness. This is similar with the result from

previous research (Dimitrova, R., Espinosa 2017).

However, the correlations between the dimensions

of religiousness and the total religiousness to well-

being in this current study are higher than that of

Dimitrova and Espinosa (2017) who did their study

on Mexican samples. In this current research, the

correlation scores are above .2, while in the previous

study the correlation scores are below .2. This result,

however, is not the same with the result of the study

done on Dutch and Italians which found no

significant correlations between religiousness and

well-being (Dimitrova 2014).

These facts highlight the effect of culture on the

relationship between religiousness and well-being. It

is likely that the wealth of a nation moderates the

effect of religiousness on well-being as revealed in

the survey result of Pew Research Center

(Theodorou, 2015). This survey found that people in

the poorer countries were more religious than people

in more wealthy countries. Among these four

countries (Italy, the Netherlands, Mexico,

Indonesia), Italy and the Netherlands are far more

prosperous than the other two, and they do not

consider religion to be very important in life.

Conversely, Indonesia is the least developed country

compared to the other three countries. Almost all

Indonesian believe in spiritual life (God, life after

death, soul, heaven and hell) that makes Indonesia

the world’s most believing country (Gallup

International, 2017). This fact explains the more

significant effect of religiousness to well-being in

Indonesia compared to the prior mentioned wealthier

countries.

Although the importance for religiousness is

decreasing with increasing GDP in a country, it is

interesting to note that there are some outliers to this

trend. The US is still showing a moderately high

religiousness compared to many European countries

despite the wealth of the nation (Theodorou, 2015).

As a nation based upon the belief in one supreme

God, Indonesia is one of the most believing

countries in the world (Gallup International, 2017).

God is in the every day conversation of the people.

Indonesian culture is collectivist as well. Geert

Hofstede’s studies into the culture of different

countries showed that Indonesia (individualism

index = 14), is more collectivist than Mexico

(individualism index = 30), and far more collectivist

than European countries, such as Italy

(individualism index =76) or the Netherlands

(individualism index = 80) (Hofstede, 2010, p. 95-

97). Hence, people tend to look for support from

their relatives, peer, or community (Markus, H.R., &

Predicting Well-being from Different Dimensions of Religiousness: Initial Application of 4-BDRS Scale in Indonesia

461

Kitayama, 1991; Kuo, 2013). Since the belief in God

is infused in every part of Indonesian culture, people

will be conditioned to use religious coping in time of

stress (Pargament, K.I., Falb, M.D., Ano, G.G. &

Wachholtz 2013). This is also one of the reasons as

to why Belonging shared the highest variance of

well-being for both Muslim and Christian students.

Jakarta and its surroundings display a kind of

individualistic, secularized environment. So, it

seems that religious Belonging can provide the sense

of rootedness for college students, who live in

Jakarta greater area that is becoming more like other

Western cities in terms of individualism and

competitiveness. Through religious belonging, they

can satisfy their basic need for social ties in a shared

value system. This result replicated the research of

ten Kate et. al. (2017) who found that Belonging

dimension of religiousness has a significant effect on

well-being for Catholics in the secularized and

pluralistic society of the Netherlands.

However, Muslim and Christian students display

differences in the dimensions of religiousness that

influence well-being. For Muslim students, only

Belonging indicates significant positive effect on the

well-being of Muslim students. On the other hand,

for Christian students, only Believing and Belonging

indicate significant positive effect. Bonding does not

show a significant effect on well-being for both

Muslim and Christian students. This result was

replicated in some previous research that found the

importance of Believing and Belonging dimensions

for life satisfaction (Kate, J.T., Koster, W.D.

2017)(Saputra, Goei & Lanawati 2017). Both studies

have similar non-Charismatic respondents, who tend

to focus on the cognitive aspects of religiousness.

In this study, Bonding did not show a significant

effect on well-being both for Muslim and Christian

students. Perhaps future research should be

conducted on Christian Charismatic communities or

Islamic Sufism, in which expressions of emotion and

mysticism are more deeply felt and explored.

The differences between the religious

dimensions that affect well-being between Muslim

and Christian students also call for further elaborate

research. Why is it that the Behaving dimension,

which is shown more by the Muslim students

(Table 1), does not predict well-being? Could it be

that because the Indonesian (and Asian) culture is

more collectivist than Western cultures, that the

Belonging dimension is more influential in

determining well-being.

5 CONCLUSIONS

The results of this study support the hypotheses for

both Muslim and Christian college students: The

higher their total religiousness, the higher their well-

being. However, further analysis revealed that only

the dimension of Belonging has a significant

positive effect for both Muslim and Christian

students. The dimension of Believing has a

significant positive effect only for Christians, while

the other two dimensions of The Four Basic

Dimensions of Religiousness (Bonding and

Behaving) did not have a significant effect.

This result emphasizes the effect of culture and

religion on the relationship between religiousness

and well-being. Both culture and religion can play a

significant role. Religious belonging can increase the

well-being of religious individuals by providing

social ties and a sense of identity within a

community with shared values. This happens for

both Muslim and Christian students. The Believing

dimension, on the other hand, can provide a coherent

meaning for one’s life, which in turn increases well-

being. This happens with the Christian students in

our samples. The strong collectivist character of

Indonesian culture may accentuate the result of this

study compared to the more individualistic Western

culture.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research is supported by the Indonesian

Ministry of Research and Higher Education No:

021/KM/PNT/2018, March 6, 2018; Kontrak

Penelitian Dasar Unggulan Perguruan Tinggi No:

147/LPPM-UPH/IV/2018.

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