Mechanistic and Applied Insights into religious Emotion:Mediation–‎Moderation Evidence Linking Religiosityto Optimism–Pessimism in ‎Taiwanese Undergraduates

  • Authors

    https://doi.org/10.14419/h8qnrw67

    Received date: November 10, 2025

    Accepted date: December 7, 2025

    Published date: December 12, 2025

  • Religiosity; Emotions Toward God; Optimism; Pessimism; Affective Mechanisms; Mediation; Moderation; ‎Taiwanese Undergraduates

  • Abstract

    Religious experience is inherently affective, yet the mechanisms by which religious belief relates to psychological ‎outlook remain under-specified. This study tests a three-factor model of emotions toward God as affective ‎mechanisms that mediate and/or moderate links between religiosity and dispositional outlook in Taiwanese ‎undergraduates. A sample of 551 students completed validated measures of multidimensional religiosity (CRSi-14), ‎emotions toward God (EtG; good, bad, moral), and dispositional optimism/pessimism (LOT-R). Confirmatory factor ‎analysis supported the three-factor EtG structure. Hayes PROCESS models examined mediation (Model 4) and ‎moderation (Model 1). Mediation analyses showed that good emotions significantly mediated the positive ‎association between religiosity and optimism (indirect β=0.32, 95% Confidence Interval; CI [0.13, 0.51]), whereas ‎bad emotions fully mediated the religiosity-pessimism link (indirect β=0.15, 95% CI [0.048, 0.254]); moral ‎emotions did not mediate either outcome. Moderation tests indicated that good emotions moderated the ‎religiosity-pessimism relationship (β interaction = -0.282, p=.019), such that religiosity related more strongly to ‎reduced pessimism when good emotions were lower; no significant moderation emerged for bad or moral emotions. ‎Findings advance basic affective theory by specifying valenced religious emotions as distinct mechanisms, and ‎they inform applied mental-health practice by identifying emotion-focused targets (amplifying “good” emotions, ‎addressing “bad” emotions) through which religiosity may shape youth outlook‎.

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    Ching, G. S., Edara, I. R., Hu, Y.-L., del Castillo, F., Chao, P.-C., & del Castillo, C. D. (2025). Mechanistic and Applied Insights into religious Emotion:Mediation–‎Moderation Evidence Linking Religiosityto Optimism–Pessimism in ‎Taiwanese Undergraduates. International Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 14(8), 198-211. https://doi.org/10.14419/h8qnrw67