Researchers from the University of Missouri found that a greater degree of spirituality could enhance mental health.
"In many ways, the results of our study support the idea that spirituality functions as a personality trait," Dan Cohen, one of the co-authors of the study said.
"With increased spirituality people reduce their sense of self and feel a greater sense of oneness and connectedness with the rest of the universe. What was interesting was that frequency of participation in religious activities or the perceived degree of congregational support was not found to be significant in the relationships between personality, spirituality, religion and health," Cohen said in a statement.
The study used results from three surveys to determine if correlations existed among participants' self-reported mental and physical health, personality factors, and spirituality in Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Catholics and Protestants.
Across all five faiths, a greater degree of spirituality was related to better mental health, specifically lower levels of neuroticism and greater extraversion.
Forgiveness was the only spiritual trait predictive of mental health after personality variables were considered.
"Our prior research shows that the mental health of people recovering from different medical conditions, such as cancer, stroke, spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury, appears to be related significantly to positive spiritual beliefs and especially congregational support and spiritual interventions," Cohen said.
"Spiritual beliefs may be a coping device to help individuals deal emotionally with stress," he added.
The study was published in the Journal of Religion and Health.
