Pathways to Well-Being: Examining the Contributions of Spirituality and Grit to Life Satisfaction in Undergraduates

Abstract

Life satisfaction can be a significant measure of subjective wellbeing especially in university students who regularly face academic, social and personal challenges. The need to uncover psychological resources that increase life satisfaction has thus become of interest to the research on positive psychology. The current research objectives were to test the correlation among spirituality, grit as well as life satisfaction, and to explore the mediating effect of grit between spirituality and life satisfaction. The sample was comprised of 370 undergraduate students who were recruited in Lahore, Pakistan, both from public and private universities. The subjects answered the Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES), the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S) and the Riverside Life Satisfaction Scale (RLSS). The correlation analysis indicated that spirituality had significant positive relationship with grit and life satisfaction, and grit also had a positive significant relationship with life satisfaction. In addition, mediation analysis showed that grit had a significant mediation role in the relationship of spirituality and life satisfaction. The findings also indicate that the development of spirituality and grit might help to enhance well-being in the educational environment of higher education.