THE INFLUENCE OF VALUE ATTACHED TO RELIGION ON PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING IN KERALA STATE, INDIA

Abstract

This study examines how the internalisation of religious values shapes psychological wellbeing in a multireligious social context, drawing on comparative evidence from Muslims and Hindus in Kerala, India. Using survey data from a randomly selected sample of 200 adults (100 Muslims and 100 Hindus), the study investigates the association between value attachment to religion, levels of religiosity, and self-reported psychological wellbeing, while controlling for basic sociodemographic factors. Religious value orientation was operationalised as the extent to which individuals cognitively and behaviourally integrate religious norms into everyday decision-making and moral reasoning. The findings reveal pronounced interreligious and intra-religious variation. Muslims reported significantly stronger and more uniform attachment to religious values across most dimensions, alongside consistently high religiosity and psychological wellbeing. Among Hindus, value attachment and wellbeing outcomes were more heterogeneous and strongly differentiated by individual religiosity levels. These patterns suggest that psychological wellbeing is less a function of religious affiliation per se than of the degree to which religious values are coherently internalised and experienced as meaningful, stable frameworks for life interpretation and action. Importantly, the results challenge deficit-oriented assumptions that highly structured or obligatory religious systems necessarily generate psychological strain. Instead, when religious values are deeply internalised and socially reinforced, they may operate as psychosocial resources that enhance perceived control, coherence, and emotional regulation. By conceptualising religion as a lived value system rather than a static belief category, this study contributes to interdisciplinary debates on religion, wellbeing, and mental health, and highlights the importance of contextual, relational, and meaning-based pathways linking religiosity to psychological outcomes.