The Present Situation And Association Of Spiritual Beliefs With Happiness And Self-rated Health Among Some Universities Postgraduates In Henan

ObjectivesTo explore the status of spiritual beliefs and its relationship with self-rated health(SRH) and subjective well-being (SWB), we investigated the characteristics of thepresent situation of belief among postgraduates in Henan. And this would provide auseful reference and empirical support for the ideological education andpsychological education of postgraduates.MethodsA total of1100students from3comprehensive universities in Henan by clustersampling were investigated with the questionnaire of undergraduate Spiritual BeliefScale and scales of SRH and SWB. All the data were entered by EpiData3.1doubly.For statistical analysis, independent-sample T-test and ANOVA were conducted bySPSS17.0. In addition, stepwise regression was carried out to analyze the predictionof spiritual belief on mental health. And some underlying influence factors such asgrade, gender, profession, and family factors (family residence, parenting style,family atmosphere) were analyzed simultaneously.ResultsPresent status of belief (1) On overall, social belief ranked the first, thenpragmatistic belief, and the supernatural belief was the last; the score rank (from highto low) of the nine secondary dimensions on spiritual belief was nationalism, lifeworship, statism, familism, political belief, family worship, religion belief, moneyworship and worship of gods (P＜0.001).(2) As to gender, the boys had higherpragmatistic belief than the girls. Analysis on secondary dimensions showed that theboys’ family worship (P＜0.001) and money worship (P＜0.001) were both higherthan girls. While the girls had higher social belief compared to the boys（P<0.001), which represents mainly in nationalism and statism.(3) In addition, the social beliefand respectively for the three grades,（P=0.003) reduced as the grade get higher, andthere was significant difference among different grades on nationalism (P=0.003) andpolitical belief (P=0.045) for the secondary dimensions. For the pragmatistic belief(3.584,3.6663.722, respectively for the three grades), the score increased with thegrade getting higher.(P=0.008), and for the secondary dimensions, it was moneyworship that had different significance among different grades (P＜0.001).SWB: The status of College Graduates’ SWB in Henan was above the averagelevel, the life satisfaction of graduates had significant difference in profession andfamily factors (family residence, parenting style and family atmosphere)(P<0.05),the positive emotion score had significant difference in family residence (P<0.05),and the negative emotion score had significant difference in profession (P<0.05);while there was no significant difference in gender and grade about the SWB.SRH: The overall condition of SRH for graduates in Henan was optimistic,among which the lowest was self-rated mental health. For the physical healthsubscale, the scores had significant difference in grades and profession (P <0.05); Forthe mental health subscale, the difference was statistically significant (P <0.05) ingrades, profession and family factors (parenting style and family atmosphere); and forthe community health subscale, the significant difference was seen in family factors(parenting style and family atmosphere)(P <0.05). While neither gender nor familyresidence had significant effects in each subscale.Association of spiritual beliefs with SRH and SWB.(1) Spiritual beliefs hadsignificant predictive effect on the SRH. The nationalism, statism, political belief,family worship and familism could promote individual health, while worship of godsand money worship had erosion effect on individual health.(2) Spiritual beliefs couldalso predict the SWB significantly. The statism, religious beliefs and money worshipcould promote the individual SWB, while family worship and worship of godsimpared individual SWB.(3) After stratification by grade, gender and profession, thespiritual beliefs of graduates showed a certain predictive effects on the SRH andSWB. Conclusions:(1) The general condition of spiritual beliefs of graduates in Henan showed thehighest social belief, followed by pragmatistic belief and the supernatural belief.(2) The overall status of the SWB of graduates in Henan was above the averagelevel. Generally, the SRH of the graduates was optimistic.(3) The spiritual beliefs played a certain predictive role on SRH and SWB. Onoverall, the nationalism, statism, political belief, family worship, familism positive,worship of gods and money worship is its influencing factors. The spiritual beliefsplayed a certain predictive role to happiness. The statism, religious beliefs, moneyworship, family worship and worship of gods is its influencing factors.