225
Izvirni znanstveni članek/Article (1.01)
Bogoslovni vestnik/Theological Quarterly 81 (2021) 1, 225—239
Besedilo prejeto/Received:12/2020; sprejeto/Accepted:03/2021
UDK/UDC: 2-184.3-056.26
DOI: 10.34291/BV2021/01/Marinic
© 2021 Marinić et al., CC BY 4.0
Marko Marinić and Jasna Ćurković Nimac
The Correlation of Some Characteristics of Reli-
gious Identity with the Quality of Life of Persons 
with Disabilities
Povezanost posameznih značilnosti religiozne identi-
tete s kakovostjo življenja oseb z invalidnostjo
Abstract: Research on the correlation between religious identity and the quality 
of life of disabled persons is relatively rare and not always yielding the same 
results. In this paper, attempting to clarify the image of the mentioned relati-
onship, we examine the correlation of some characteristics of religious identi-
ty with happiness and personal well-being among persons with various disabi-
lities. An empirical study was conducted (N=684), and the results suggest that 
blind persons are the most religious, while the least religious are deaf persons. 
A positive correlation of happiness and personal well-being was found concer -
ning intrinsic characteristics of religiosity, while some extrinsic characteristics 
of religiosity (declarative belonging to a religious community and the frequen-
cy of attending religious seminars) did not show a significant correlation. Faith 
gives the feeling of belongingness and safety and can be a resource from whi -
ch disabled persons can draw the strength to cope with a disability; however, 
it needs to be lived and not expressed just declaratively or ritually.
Keywords: persons with disabilities, religiosity, religious identity, happiness, per -
sonal well-being, quality of life
Povzetek: Raziskave o povezavah med religioznostjo in kakovostjo življenja oseb z 
invalidnostjo so razmeroma redke. Njihovi rezultati se med seboj večkrat ne 
ujemajo. Da bi ugotovili jasnejše stanje glede medsebojne povezanosti obeh 
fenomenov, smo v tem članku preverili posamezne elemente religiozne iden-
titete z občutenjem sreče in blagostanja pri osebah z različnimi oblikami inva-
lidnosti. Empirična raziskava je zajela 684 oseb z invalidnostjo. Rezultati kažejo, 
da so najbolj religiozne slepe osebe (nevideči), najmanj pa gluhe (neslišeči). 
Pozitivna korelacija med občutenjem sreče v življenju in osebnim blagostanjem 
se pri invalidnih osebah izkazuje glede na intrinzične (globoko notranje) dejav -

226 Bogoslovni vestnik 81 (2021) • 1
nike religioznosti, medtem ko na drugi strani statistično značilne pozitivne ko-
relacije nista izkazala elementa samodeklarirane pripadnosti verski skupnosti 
in pogostosti izvajanja posameznih vrst verske prakse. Vera omogoča občutek 
pripadnosti in zanesljivosti, tako lahko za osebe z invalidnostjo pomeni vir, iz 
katerega črpajo moč za sobivanje z invalidnostjo. Zato morajo te osebe vero 
dejansko živeti, ne pa se z njo le deklarativno poistovetiti ali zgolj obiskovati 
verske obrede. 
Ključne besede: osebe z invalidnostjo, religioznost, religiozna identiteta, sreča, oseb-
no blagostanje, kakovost življenja
1. Introduction
Health is indeed one of the most represented topics, not only in scholarly and 
professional literature but also in everyday communication. As an ideal, which 
needs to be achieved or preserved, society invests excellent efforts in detecting 
the various factors contributing to health development and those causing its 
deterioration and inducing malfunctions, illnesses, or disabilities. The factors 
can be of different origin (biogenic, psychogenic, sociogenic), and it seems that 
a part of them are derived from the spiritual, i.e., the religious domain of the 
human being. 
2. Religion – health – disability 
We live in a time when health is often regarded as the ,highest good‘ and, as Karl 
Gabriel would suggest, based on the teaching of Thomas Luckmann, it is becoming 
a kind of a »this-worldly religion« (Gabriel 2006, 218–223). This lifelong ,jihad‘ for 
physical fitness, of a kind, reshapes the world around the body (Bauman 2005, 
94−95), often making people practically obsessed with bodily topics and hunting 
for health. Therefore, theologian and physician Manfred Lütz is suitable in poin -
ting out that the postmodern crisis of religion, i.e., the religious vacuum, is beco-
ming increasingly filled with health (Gabriel 2006, 222; Gašpar and Perković 2010, 
289). 
Nevertheless, the relationship between religion and health is not placed sole-
ly on the level of exclusivity. The notions of health/illness and religion have had a 
long history of mutual relationships and have been a subject of interest of practi-
cally all religions. Primitive medicine has, in fact, entirely relied on religion (and 
magic); medieval monastic and scholastic medicine used the interpretation of holy 
scriptures for healing. In contrast, ancient Islamic medicine relied on sacred texts 
stipulating hygiene and diet as health prerequisites (Žuškin et al . 2012). As far as 
scholarly interest is concerned, several empirical studies dealt with the topic in 
the 19
th
 century already; however, the positivistic oriented science often ignored 

227 Marko Marinić et al. - The Correlation of Some Characteristics ...
or pathologized the religious dimension of life. For example, Amariah Birgham 
lists the negative influences of religion on health in 1835, although pointing out 
some positive influences. He thus remarks that some religious rituals (circumci -
sion, castration, flagellation, bodily scarification, joint ankylosis), religious teach-
ing, inadequate spaces (cold, dim spaces), even the »peculiar influence of the 
Spirit« can harm human health (Birgham 1835, 49–76).
In the previous century also, some studies emphasize the negative influence 
of religion. Analyzing various studies, Ančić (2016, 8) finds that some of them 
suggest that a religious community can sometimes by its teaching impose cer -
tain beliefs that promote social deviance harmful to health, or that participa-
tion in a religious community can also contribute to the creation of social 
pressure, eventually leading to the consequences that harm health. Still, it is 
a fact that in the second half of the 20
th
 century, various epidemiological stud-
ies also emerged, which were pointing out the positive correlation of religion 
and the improvement of symptoms of various physical and organic malfunc-
tions. The latter also generally pointed to a positive relationship between re-
ligion and health in a broader sense (Ančić and Marinović Jerolimov 2011, 72; 
Ančić 2016, 8).
Nowadays, research often emphasizes positive correlations of spirituality and 
health, particularly in providing help with depressions (Platovnjak 2020). Religion 
reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular illnesses, high blood pressure, stroke, 
most cancers, and influences other domains of life quality, such as lower rates of 
divorces, alcoholism, drug addiction, and higher rates of life and marital satisfac-
tion (Thoresen 1999, 294). Lee and Newberg (2005, 456) assert that prayer and 
meditation affect human psychological health positively (psychological tranquil-
lity, finding the meaning of life, a more mature approach to life’s hardships, reduc-
ing anxiety and depression, and higher emotional stability self-actualization, etc.). 
Spirituality thus offers the meaning of life by its positive effects and provides ill 
persons with relief in coping with illness, ageing, and death (Macuh and Raspor 
2018, 647). Moreover, a negative correlation between religiosity and suicide has 
also been found (Nisbet et al. 2000)
Canda (2001, 110) finds that numerous studies in mental health and social 
work point out that spirituality contributes to developing resilience to illness 
among persons with disabilities. Edwards and collaborators (2016, 296) empha-
size that religion provides a »positive framework for illness«, and it is increasin -
gly pointed out that the inner world of a person, his/her attitudes towards life, 
his/her values, beliefs, and inspirations can provide help in coping with any of 
life’s challenges, including illness and disability. A similar finding is presented in 
one of the most recent studies (Mugeere et al. 2020, 69), by which it was shown 
that persons living with disablement attach great importance to faith or belie -
ving in a supreme being, which empowers them to face the challenges of disa-
blement, go further and understand the course of their lives more quickly. Kim 
(2020, 824) also finds that religiosity helps people face the emergence of disa-
bility. In other words, the very fact of becoming disabled undoubtedly decreases 

228 Bogoslovni vestnik 81 (2021) • 1
the level of personal well-being; however, to a much greater extent non-religi-
ous, than in religious persons.
Moreover, it suggests a significant difference between the levels of happiness 
in religious versus non-religious individuals. Thus, spirituality and religion have 
become sources of strength in difficult temptations (Pate 2016, 438). It is, there-
fore, unsurprising that some research suggests a high percentage of persons with 
disabilities who are religious (around 80–85 %) and who state that faith plays an 
essential role in their lives (Imhoff 2017, 186). Simultaneously, studying memoirs 
and biographies written by persons with disabilities, Imhoff finds that even those 
authors who are not religious convey the need to offer some religious or theolo -
gical explanation of their status.
3. Aims of the study
Research on the relations between religiosity and the characteristics of health 
status, psychosocial structure, and the quality of life of disabled persons is still 
rare, even on the global level. The existing ones do not always yield identical re-
sults, thus somewhat blurred by the nature of this relationship. Simultaneously, 
it is a fact that cultures, religions, and then forms of religiosity differ significantly 
from one setting to another. Therefore, it is plausible to presume that both their 
relationship to the health status can also vary significantly and that in order to 
have the whole mosaic of the relation between religion and health, it is necessa-
ry to have all of its pieces. This paper aims to contribute to the global knowledge 
on the correlation between some characteristics of religious identity and psycho-
social functioning of persons with disabilities (the feeling of happiness in life and 
the level of personal well-being).
4. Methods
4.1 Procedure 
The empirical study among persons with various disabilities was conducted in 
2015/2016 in Zagreb, Croatia. By employing systematic probabilistic sampling, the 
study included members of several civil society organizations of persons with di -
sabilities (Table 1), and the sample was stratified proportionally to the size of re-
spective CSOs.
Two research approaches were employed – postal survey and the method of 
direct surveying. The most significant number of answers was collected by the 
first method, while direct surveying was employed only in the deaf and hard of 
hearing, and the blind and partially sighted were unable to read and fill in the 
questionnaire without assistance. In both cases, the respondents were informed 
about the aims and the purpose of the study, and the participation in the study 

229 Marko Marinić et al. - The Correlation of Some Characteristics ...
was voluntary and anonymous. The respondents were not obliged to sign nor to 
give any data that might reveal their identity. At the same time, it was explained 
to them that the results would be used exclusively as a set of data for statistical 
analysis on the group and not the individual level.
4.2 Instruments
Religiosity is a rather intimate, multidimensional, and complex phenomenon that 
is very hard to measure (Marinić 2014; Klarin and Krasicki 2020). Nevertheless, it 
is possible to grasp some of its outlines by analyzing various characteristics of re-
ligious identity. This was attempted to be achieved by exploring a total of five 
questions/variables – belongingness to a particular religious community and 
acceptance of the teaching; level of religiosity; helpfulness of faith in life, illness 
and accepting one’s status; attendance of healing and spiritual renewal seminars; 
level of conviction that faith could heal a person. It was for this study that we con-
structed some of these questions, while the remaining scales were taken and 
modified from the study „Vjera i moral u Hrvatskoj“ [Faith and Morals in Croatia] 
(Valković et al. 1998). 
Happiness, i.e., the affective component of subjective well-being, is measured 
by the instrument constructed by Fordyce (1988). In it, the respondents are asked 
to assess their usual mood (happiness) on an 11-degree scale (0-extremely unha-
ppy, 10-extremely happy). 
To analyze specific and individual domains of subjective well-being, we emplo-
yed the modified International Well-being Index – IWI (Cummins et al. 2003) in 
our study. Initially, the questionnaire consists of the personal and national index; 
however, in this study, we analyzed only seven items of the personal well-being 
index: life standard, health, life achievement, relations with family and friends, 
the feeling of physical safety, the acceptance within the community and the fee -
ling of safety regarding the future. We also asked the participants to assess their 
satisfaction with the mentioned aspects of life on a scale of 11 degrees (0-extre-
mely unsatisfied, 10-extremely satisfied).
Additionally, we used the information on the socio-demographic characteristics 
of the participants and the data on the distinctive characteristics of their health 
status.
4.3 Achieved sample
Altogether, a total of 1630 persons with disabilities were contacted to participate 
in the study. A total of 42 % of them accepted and accurately filled in the questi-
onnaires. Thus, the final number of respondents was 684 persons with various 
types of disabilities. Due to the specificity of particular types of disablement, and 
to better overview the comparisons and table presentations of the results, the 
sample was first divided into persons with physical and those with sensory disa -
bilities. The sub-sample of persons suffering from physical disabilities was then 
divided into the easier moveable (those who can walk without assistance or with 

230 Bogoslovni vestnik 81 (2021) • 1
the help of medical aid or another person) and those hard of moving (who can 
move in a wheelchair or are completely immovable). The sub-sample of persons 
with sensory disabilities was divided into those with impaired hearing and impai-
red vision. The structure of the achieved sample divided as explained is presented 
in Table 1. 
 
Physical disability Sensory disability
Total
Easier 
movable
Hard of 
moving or 
immovable
Deaf and 
hard of 
hearing
Blind and 
partially 
sighted
Zagreb Muscular Dy -
strophy Society
N 43 49 0 0 92
% 46.74 53.26 0 0
Association of persons 
with cerebral palsy and 
polio Zagreb
N 44 45 0 0 89
% 49.44 50.56 0 0
Multiple Sclerosis Socie -
ty of Zagreb
N 95 34 0 0 129
% 73.64 26.36 0 0
Zagreb Association of 
the Physically Disabled
N 85 27 0 0 112
% 75.89 24.11 0 0
Association of the Deaf 
and Hard of Hearing of 
the City of Zagreb
N 0 0 103 0 103
% 0 0 100 0
Spinal Injuries Zagreb
N 6 44 0 0 50
% 12 88 0 0
Zagreb Association of 
Blind Persons
N 0 0 0 109 109
% 0 0 0 100
Total N 273 199 103 109 684
Table 1: Achieved sample according to types of disabilities.
In the context of sociodemographic characteristics, the sample was comprised 
of 56.14 % of women, and 43.86 % of men, respectively. The average age of the 
respondents was 50.99 (SD=16.292), and they were dispersed in all legal age gro -
ups (age range 18–98). 
From the aspect of characteristics related to disability, 29.5 % of persons were 
born with a disability, 24 % became disabled by the age of 20, and all the remai-
ning became persons with disabilities in somewhat later periods of life. Almost 
70 % of the respondents have the highest officially assessed degree of disability. 
It is often a consequence of a severe illness (60 %), while the remaining part is a 
consequence of traffic accident, occupational injury, war injury, or some other 
cause.

231 Marko Marinić et al. - The Correlation of Some Characteristics ...
5. Results
Based on our five variables, we first analyzed the characteristics of the religious 
identity of persons with disabilities.
1
 
Our first variable (on the declarative belongingness to a religious community 
and acceptance of the religious community’s teaching) showed that more than 
two-thirds of the respondents were members of some religious community, al-
beit a part of them accepted all that their religious community was teaching, whi-
le the other did not (37.96 compared to 31.71 %). The number of believers, but 
do not belong to any religious community is 13.41 %, while a little above 10% 
points out that they are not believers. (Table 2)
 
Physical disability Sensory disability
Total
Easier 
movable
Hard of mo-
ving or immo -
vable
Deaf and 
hard of 
hearing
Blind and 
partially 
sighted
I believe and accept 
all that my religious 
community teaches
N 118 61 24 46w 249
% 44.53 31.61 25.00 45.10 37.96
I believe but do not 
accept all that my 
religious community 
teaches
N 81 73 21 33 208
% 30.57 37.82 21.88 32.35 31.71
I believe in God or a 
higher force but do 
not belong to any 
religious community
N 28 28 21 11 88
% 10.57 14.51 21.88 10.78 13.41
I do not believe in 
God, nor a higher 
force
N 25 19 18 8 70
% 9.43 9.84 18.75 7.84 10.67
I am looking for 
answers
N 13 12 12 4 41
% 4.91 6.22 12.50 3.92 6.25
Total % 100 100 100 100 100
Table 2: Belongingness to a religious community. 
We observe the distribution of the answers classified across our groups: the 
highest percentage of those who believe and accept all that their religious com-
munity teaches in the group of the blind (45.10 %) and more accessible movable 
persons with a physical disability (44.53 %). On the other side, the highest number 
1 
A part of the results from Tables 2–6 are also presented in the final group overview of all the results 
obtained after the completion of the empirical study (See: Marinić and Rihtar 2016, 70,132-133). Ne -
vertheless, these results were weighted according to the sizes of corresponding CSOs and, unlike the 
results presented hereinafter, included only descriptive overviews (percentages and means), without 
concrete frequencies and more detailed statistical analyses (χ2 test, variance analysis, t-test and Pearson 
correlation). 

232 Bogoslovni vestnik 81 (2021) • 1
of convinced atheists is deaf and hard of hearing – as many as 18.75 %, while this 
percentage is below 10 % in other groups. Therefore, it is clear that the χ2 test 
revealed a statistically significant difference among the groups in the answers to 
this question (χ
2 
= 38.223; p=0.000).
On an 11-degree scale, we tested the respondents’ religiosity’s innate sense, 
regardless of formal (non)belonging to a religious community. The average answer 
on the scale ranging from 0 (not religious at all) to 10 (extremely religious), which 
is 5.66, points to a generally moderate level of religiosity. Nevertheless, by obser -
ving the results according to the groups of respondents with different disabilities, 
significant differences in mean values of the answers are also visible. Notably, it 
has been revealed that deaf and hard of hearing persons were the least religious 
(M=4.31), while the most religious were blind and partially sighted persons 
(M=6.37). The variance analysis points to the statistical significance of these dif -
ferences (F=6.965; p=0.000).
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
Easier movable 242 0 10 5.84 3.177
Hard of moving or immo -
vable
169 0 10 5.66 3.279
Deaf and hard of hearing 81 0 10 4.31 2.764
Blind and partially sighted 94 0 10 6.37 2.958
Total 586 0 10 5.66 3.167
Table 3: Level of religiosity.
The level of religiosity was tested with the respondents’ sex, and it was found 
that women were reporting a significantly higher level of religiosity (M=6.11) than 
men (M=5.17). The t-test analysis confirmed the finding (t=-3.569; p=0.000).
The same measure of religiosity was correlated to the respondents’ age. Unli -
ke the previous analysis, we did not find a significant correlation here (r=0.042; 
p=0.326), i.e., there were no large deviations and regularities in expressing the 
level of religiosity of respondents grouped according to age. 
In the context of the severity/degree of disability correlated with this variable, 
it was detected that there was no statistically significant correlation (r=0.028; 
p=0.503). Both the respondents with a less severe degree of disability and those 
with a more severe degree reported a similar level of religiosity.
In the subsequent analysis, we asked the respondents directly to what extent 
they found faith helping them cope with the disability. The results of the answer to 
the question »If you are a believer, can you assess how much your faith helps you 
in your life, illness and accepting your status?«, displayed in Table 4, indicate that 
around 42 % of the respondents see their faith as helpful in coping with their state. 
However, a fourth of them unambiguously point out not having this type of help. 

233 Marko Marinić et al. - The Correlation of Some Characteristics ...
 
Physical disability Sensory disability
Total
Easier mo-
vable
Hard of 
moving or 
immovable
Deaf and 
hard of 
hearing
Blind and 
partially 
sighted
I am not a believer
N 35 29 28 13 105
% 13.06 15.03 27.45 12.26 15.70
It does not help 
me at all
N 21 24 13 10 68
% 7.84 12.44 12.75 9.43 10.16
It both helps me 
and does not help
N 84 60 38 30 212
% 31.34 31.09 37.25 28.30 31.69
It helps me
N 74 37 22 34 167
% 27.61 19.17 21.57 32.08 24.96
It helps me a lot
N 54 43 1 19 117
% 20.15 22.28 0.98 17.92 17.49
Total % 100 100 100 100 100
Table 4:  Helpfulness of faith in coping with challenges due to disability.
Once again, it has been shown that in the deaf and hard of the hearing group, 
there was the highest percentage of those reporting not being believers or not 
feeling such help – around 40 % in total. Moreover, only one respondent from 
that group stated that faith was of great help to him. On the other side, if we add 
the answers »It helps me« and »It helps me a lot«, we see that the highest per -
centage (a little below 50 %) is in the group of the blind and partially sighted and 
in the group of the more straightforward movable persons with a physical disabil-
ity. The χ
2 
test points to the statistically significant difference in the groups’ an-
swers (χ
2
=41.053; p=0.000).
Since the respondents are persons with severe and permanent health prob -
lems, i.e., disabilities, we thought it would be interesting to ask them whether 
they attended healing and spiritual renewal seminars. Table 5 provides evidence 
that two-thirds of the respondents have never attended these types of worship, 
while only 17.21 % of them have been to such events multiple times.
Keeping in mind that most often, there are no sign language interpreters pres-
ent at worship, the most significant number of the respondents who have never 
been to a seminar or spiritual renewal is from the group of deaf and hard of hear -
ing persons (over 91 %). The most frequent attendees of this type of spiritual 
gatherings are the hard of moving or the completely immovable (23.32 %). The 
χ
2 
test again revealed a statistically significant difference in the groups’ answers 
(χ
2
=34.974; p=0.000).

234 Bogoslovni vestnik 81 (2021) • 1
 
Physical disability Sensory disability
Total
Easier mo-
vable
Hard of moving 
or immovable
Deaf and 
hard of hea-
ring
Blind and 
partially 
sighted
Never
N 174 115 94 70 453
% 64.44 59.59 91.26 64.81 67.21
Once
N 49 33 5 18 105
% 18.15 17.10 4.85 16.67 15.58
Multiple times
N 47 45 4 20 116
% 17.41 23.32 3.88 18.52 17.21
Total % 100 100 100 100 100
Table 5:  Attendance of healing and spiritual renewal seminars.
Finally, we asked them if they believed that strong faith in God could heal a 
person, regardless of the illness he/she was suffering from. A third of the respon-
dents thought that was impossible, and once again, it was shown that it mainly 
was the deaf and hard of hearing who had such an opinion (53.4 % of them).
We also tested the statistical significance of the differences in the groups’ an-
swers, and it was confirmed (χ
2
=32.614; p=0.000).
 
Physical disability Sensory disability
Total
Easier mo-
vable
Hard of moving or 
immovable
Deaf and 
hard of 
hearing
Blind and 
partially 
sighted
No
N 75 63 55 27 220
% 27.78 33.16 53.40 25.00 32.79
Both yes and 
no
N 86 58 28 36 208
% 31.85 30.53 27.18 33.33 31.00
Yes
N 75 40 9 27 151
% 27.78 21.05 8.74 25.00 22.50
I do not know
N 34 29 11 18 92
% 12.59 15.26 10.68 16.67 13.71
Total % 100 100 100 100 100
Table 6: Can strong faith heal a person.
In the following analyses, we used all the mentioned variables of religiosity as 
independent variables in assessing the correlation with some domains of life of 
persons with disabilities. Since the analysis was conducted by employing the me -
thod of Pearson correlation, we adjusted some questions so that the scale of an-
swers would be adequate. In the first question, regarding belonging to a religious 

235 Marko Marinić et al. - The Correlation of Some Characteristics ...
community, we excluded the answer »I am looking for answers«. Further on, in the 
question regarding whether strong faith could heal a person, we excluded the an-
swer »I do not know«. Finally, in the direct question on how helpful faith was in life, 
illness, and accepting one’s health conditions, we merged the answers »I am not a 
believer« and »It does not help me at all« in one answer. The questions were cor -
related with the level of happiness in life and the IWI Personal Well-being Index. 
It is clear from Table 7 that the very fact of declarative belonging to a religious 
community and accepting its teaching is not in correlation with any of the analyzed 
variables. In other words, those who belong to a religious community and accept 
declaratively all that a particular community teaches are equally happy, and their 
well-being index does not differ significantly. 
In the following question, in which the intrinsic dimension of religiosity was asses-
sed, i.e., the level of personal religiosity, there were significant correlations with all 
the analyzed characteristics of disabled persons’ lives. The persons express a higher 
level of religiosity while reporting higher levels of happiness and personal well-being.
The same was repeated in the direct question of how helpful faith was in their 
lives, illness, and accept their status. All the analyzed domains are positively cor -
related with this question, i.e., the more they think that faith helps them in life, 
the more satisfied they are with these domains.
The frequency of attending healing and spiritual renewal seminars is not related 
to happiness and personal well-being, while the very intrinsic level of the conviction 
that faith could heal a person is positively correlated with these variables. 
 
A feeling  
of personal happiness
IWI Personal  
Well-being Index
Belongingness to a parti -
cular religious community 
and acceptance of the 
teaching
r -0.002 0.019
p 0.968 0.661
N 575 520
Level of religiosity
r 0.181(**) 0.119(**)
p 0.000 0.007
N 551 504
Helpfulness of faith in life, 
illness, and accepting one‘s 
status
r 0.172(**) 0.121(**)
p 0.000 0.004
N 618 559
Attendance of healing and 
spiritual renewal seminars
r 0.069 0.048
p 0.085 0.256
N 622 562
Level of conviction that 
faith could heal a person
r 0.160(**) 0.092(*)
p 0.000 0.041
N 539 490
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed), 
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) 
Table 7: Pearson correlation of religiosity variables with personal happiness and IWI Perso-
nal Well-being Index. 

236 Bogoslovni vestnik 81 (2021) • 1
We also wanted to know which of the seven domains analyzed within the IWI 
Personal Well-being Index were correlated with religiosity (life standard, health, 
life achievement, relations with family and friends, feeling of physical safety, 
acceptance from the community, and feeling of safety regarding the future). The 
results indicate that the correlation of particular characteristics of religious iden -
tity with the analyzed domains of personal well-being is primarily detected in the 
domains referring to the feeling of safety regarding the future, satisfaction with 
the general acceptance within the community in which a person lives, and the 
social relations. The persons reporting a higher level of religiosity are more satis-
fied with these domains, while on the other side, none of the questions was cor -
related with life standard and achievements.
 
Satisfaction with the 
living standard
Satisfaction with  
the health
Satisfaction with life 
achievements
Satisfaction with  
personal relations
Satisfaction with the 
feeling of safety
Satisfaction with belon -
ging to the community 
where they live 
Satisfaction with the 
feeling of safety  
in the future
Belongingness to a particular 
religious community and accep -
tance of the teaching
r 0.009 0.097(*) 0.047 0.002 0.016 -0.084(*) -0.021
p 0.836 0.018 0.261 0.955 0.709 0.045 0.624
N 575 588 563 582 577 573 562
Level of religiosity
r 0.082 -0.021 0.04 0.096(*) 0.072 0.173(**) 0.144(**)
p 0.056 0.628 0.345 0.024 0.089 0.000 0.001
N 548 559 546 556 552 548 542
Helpfulness of faith in life, illness 
and accepting one‘s status
r 0.064 -0.006 0.051 0.075 0.090(*) 0.180(**) 0.157(**)
p 0.108 0.887 0.212 0.061 0.024 0.000 0.000
N 623 636 611 630 626 618 610
Attendance of healing and spiritu -
al renewal seminars
r 0.011 -0.017 0.045 0.052 0.036 0.048 0.082(*)
p 0.781 0.674 0.261 0.186 0.362 0.235 0.042
N 627 641 615 635 631 622 615
Level of conviction that faith could 
heal a person
r 0.059 -0.002 0.002 0.023 0.064 .151(**) .143(**)
p 0.170 0.954 0.961 0.583 0.138 0.000 0.001
N 540 554 534 549 546 539 534
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)  
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)  
Table 8: Pearson correlation of religiosity variables with all the analyzed domains of IWI 
Personal Well-being Index. 

237 Marko Marinić et al. - The Correlation of Some Characteristics ...
6. Discussion and conclusion 
Previous research has not always yielded identical results. However, a considera-
ble amount of them suggested a strong relationship between religiosity and per -
sons with disabilities, i.e., that disabled persons were highly religious (80–85 %) 
and emphasized the importance of faith in their lives (Imhoff 2017, 186). Our re-
search yielded the same percentage – 83 % of the surveyed persons with disabi -
lities declared themselves as believers from the declarative expression of religio -
us orientation. However, only 38 % of them accept all that their religious commu -
nity teaches, while the rest either accept one part of the official teaching or con -
sider themselves believers, despite formally not belonging to any religious com-
munity or not being believers at all.
A total of 42 % of the respondents pointed out that faith was helping them in 
life, while 67 % of them have never attended seminars and spiritual renewal me -
etings, and a little less than a fourth of them believed in the healing power of fa-
ith. They rarely report a declaratively atheistic orientation (11 %); nevertheless, 
it still is a fact that they can neither be labelled as highly religious. This is further 
supported by the finding suggesting that assessing the level of personal religiosi -
ty on a scale from 0 to 10 the respondents scored the average value of 5.66. The -
refore, it could be concluded that the most significant number of the respondents 
are indeed religious, but the average intensity of their religiosity is not high but 
relatively moderate. 
Women report a higher level of religiosity than men do, which aligns with the 
findings of research studies on the general population (Nikodem and Zrinščak 
2019, 381). On the other side, the degree of disability is not significantly correla-
ted with the level of religiosity, and the same is confirmed regarding age, which 
is not an expected finding. 
The blind and partially sighted proved to be the most religious, while on the 
other side, the deaf and hard of hearing reported the lowest level of religiosity. 
Moreover, this includes all the analyzed variables. One of the possible causes of 
such a finding is the question of pastoral. Deaf persons cannot adequately parti-
cipate in religious instructions and rituals if these are not translated into sign lan-
guage. Sign language is generally very rarely available in nowadays society, inclu -
ding in pastoral. Since some deaf persons cannot read without assistance, it is 
clear that it is challenging for them to access high-quality spiritual and religious 
content and information. They are often victims of discrimination by the social 
community (Marinić 2020, 568), suggesting that authors Mateljan and Korda 
(2009, 42) are suitable when arguing that the deaf is one of the most neglected 
groups within the Church. Our results support this hypothesis while simultaneo-
usly presenting an evident indicator of the need for further engagement in adju -
sting pastoral models to this category of persons with disabilities. It is essential 
not to forget that pastoral implies the conveyance of information and high-quali -
ty education and represents much more than the deaf persons need to be provi-
ded with the opportunity to participate in all aspects of church life, just like the 

238 Bogoslovni vestnik 81 (2021) • 1
rest, and be integrated completely, thus making them feel full members of their 
religious community.
Similar could be remarked regarding immovable and hard of moving persons, 
who reported the second-lowest level of religiosity following the deaf and hard of 
hearing. Although the communication model with them is less challenging, several 
other barriers need to be eliminated to make the pastoral among them effective.
By analyzing the relationship of religiosity variables with happiness in life and 
personal well-being, the results confirm the findings of some previously conduc -
ted studies (Kim 2020, 824; Thoresen 1999, 294). A significant correlation exists 
between happiness and personal well-being on one side, the variables of the level 
of personal religiosity self-assessment, the feeling that faith was helpful in life, 
and the conviction that faith had the power to heal. All three variables might in -
dicate the notion of ,intrinsic religiosity‘, i.e., of a lived and experienced faith, and 
it is evident that the higher the religiosity in that sense is, the happier individuals 
feel in their lives more excellent their well-being is. On the other hand, ‚external 
characteristics of religiosity‘ (declarative belonging to a particular religious com-
munity and the acceptance of its teaching, and the frequency of attending semi-
nars and spiritual renewal meetings) did not indicate a significant correlation with 
our variables. Indeed, this does not imply that belonging to a community is insi -
gnificant or that seminars and spiritual renewals are not a beneficial form of reli-
gious practice. It instead suggests that if the latter is only declarative and ritual, 
they alone do not mean much in the context of happiness and personal well-be -
ing. Religiosity needs to be internalized to be a resource that contributes to the 
quality of life. In this process of ‚internalization‘, perhaps spiritual renewal semi-
nars can help; however, since this was not the topic of this analysis, the conclusi -
on regarding the matter would not have the necessary substantiation. 
Regarding the context of the personal well-being domains, a statistically signi -
ficant correlation is confirmed with those domains of life related to the feeling of 
safety regarding the future and those related to social relations in satisfaction with 
being accepted within the community a person lives. The persons reporting hig -
her levels of religiosity express more satisfaction regarding these domains. 
By way of conclusion and briefly – the respondents are a moderately religious 
segment of the population. The level of religiosity varies significantly among per -
sons with different types of disabilities, and there is a need for additional pastoral 
efforts towards increasing the quality of catechesis and integration of all persons 
with disabilities into church life. The persons expressing higher levels of religiosi -
ty feel safer regarding their future, maintain better relations with their enviro-
nment and report higher happiness and personal well-being. Thus, religiosity can 
be a positive resource for persons with disabilities from which they draw the 
strength to cope with the challenges arising from their disablement. It needs to 
become a part of self-identity so that, as Tanja Pate asserts, merciful God’s inter -
vention would transform the pain, suffering, and problems inflicted by facing the 
illness and provide a more fulfilled life (Pate 2016, 438). 

239 Marko Marinić et al. - The Correlation of Some Characteristics ...
References
Ančić, Branko, and Dinka Marinović Jerolimov. 
2011. ‚Dao Bog zdravlja‘: o povezanosti religio -
znosti i zdravlja u Hrvatskoj. Sociologija i pro -
stor 49, no. 1:71–89.
Ančić, Branko. 2016. Religija i zdravlje: Vjerska 
zajednica kao socijalni resurs. Zagreb: Institut 
za društvena istraživanja u Zagrebu.
Bauman, Zygmunt. 2005. Liquid Life. Cambridge: 
Polity Press.
Birgham, Amariah. 1835. Observations on the 
Influence of Religion upon Health and Physical 
Welfare of Mankind. Boston: Marsh, Capen & 
Lyon. 
Canda, Edward. 2001. Transcending through 
disability and death: Transpersonal themes in 
living with cystic fibrosis. Social Thought 20, 
no. 1/2:109–34.
Cummins, Robert A., Richard Eckersley, Julie 
Pallant, Jackie van Vugt and Rose Anne Misa-
jon. 2003. IWI - International Well-Being Index 
/ Developing a national index of subjective well 
being: The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index. 
Social Indicators Research 64:159–90.
Edwards, Jill, Michelle Briggs, Jose Closs, Karl M. 
Atkin, Michael I. Bennett, Chris Swift and 
Ganesan Baranidharan. 2016. Self-Manage-
ment of Chronic Pain: The Role of Religious 
Faith. Journal of Disability & Religion 20, no. 
4:291–306.
Fordyce, Michael W. 1988. A review of results on 
the happiness measures: A sixty second index 
of happiness and mental health. Social Indica -
tors Research 20, no. 4:355–381.
Gabriel, Karl. 2005. Zdravlje – najviše dobro. Po -
gled na postmoderno shvaćanje ljudskog zdrav -
lja. Kršćanstvo i zdravlje 11, no. 1:211–225. 
Gašpar, V. Nela, and Ivan Perković. 2010. O 
zdravlju i religiji u suvremenom društvu. Jahr 1, 
no. 2:284–296. 
Imhoff, Sarah. 2017. Why Disability Studies Needs 
to Take Religion Seriously. Religions 8:186.
Kim, DaeHwan. 2020. The Effect of Becoming 
Disabled on the Subjective Well-Being of Reli -
gious and Nonreligious People. Journal Religi-
on and Health 59:816 –827.
Klarin, Mira, and Arkadiusz Krasicki. 2020. Religi-
oznost i neke dimenzije psihološke dobrobiti 
kod mladih. Nova prisutnost 18, no. 2:229–242.
Lee, Bruce Y., and Aandrew B. Newberg. 2005. 
Religion and Health. A Review and Critical 
Analysis: Zygon 40, no. 2:443–468.
Macuh, Bojan, and Andrej Raspor. 2018. Duhovna 
oskrba starejših v domovih za starejše. Bo -
goslovni vestnik 78, no. 2:641–660.
Marinić, Marko. 2014. Religioznost i Satisfaction 
životom; Analiza povezanosti nekih obilježja 
religioznosti s razinom osobnog blagostanja i 
sreće kod zagrebačkih studenata. In: Mijo Nikić 
and Kata Lamešić, eds. Religije i sreća , 227–
241. Zagreb: Filozofsko-teološki institut Družbe 
Isusove u Zagrebu.
– – –. 2020. The Correlation of Discrimination and 
Violence with Life Satisfaction, Happiness and 
Personal Well-being among Persons with 
Physical and Sensory Disabilites. Nova prisut -
nost 18, no. 3:561–574.
Marinić, Marko, and Stanko Rihtar. 2016. Živjeti s 
invaliditetom u urbanoj sredini: Analiza 
kvalitete života osoba s invaliditetom u Gradu 
Zagrebu. Zagreb: Institut društvenih znanosti 
Ivo Pilar. 
Mateljan, Ante, and Jakša Korda. 2009. Katehiza-
cija i sakramentalizacija gluhih osoba. Služba 
Božja 49, no. 1:5–43.
Mugeere, Buyinza A., Julius Omona, Andrew S. 
Ellias and Tom Shakespeare. 2020. »Oh God! 
Why Did You Let Me Have This Disability?«: 
Religion, Spirituality and Disability in Three 
African countries. Journal of Disability & Reli -
gion 24, no. 1:64–81.
Nikodem, Krunoslav, and Siniša Zrinščak. 2019. 
Između distancirane crkvenosti i intenzivne 
osobne religioznosti: religijske promjene u 
hrvatskom društvu od 1999. do 2018. godine. 
Društvena istraživanja 28, no. 3:371–390.
Nisbet, Paul A., Paul R. Duberstein, Yeates Con-
well and Larry Seidlitz. 2000. The Effect of 
Participation in Religious Activities on Suicide 
versus Natural Death in Adults 50 and Older. 
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 188, 
no. 8:543–546.
Pate, Tanja. 2016. Sistemska in duhovna perspek -
tiva zdravja in bolezni. Bogoslovni vestnik 76, 
no. 2:433–439. 
Platovnjak, Ivan. 2020. Spiritual Help for Persons 
Suffering from Depression. Nova prisutnost 18, 
no. 2:259–277.
Thoresen, Carl E. 1999. Spirituality and Health. Is 
There a Relationship? Journal of Health Psycho -
logy 4, no. 3:291–300.
Valković, Marijan, Gordan Črpić and Ivan Rimac. 
1998. Pregled postotaka i aritmetičkih sredina 
(mean) istraživanja. Vjera i moral u Hrvatskoj. 
Bogoslovska smotra 68, no. 4:483–511.
Žuškin, Eugenija, Jasna Pucarin Cvetković, Božica 
Kanceljak Macan, Ksenija Vitale, Nataša Janev 
Holcer and Marta Čivljak. 2013. Umijeće 
liječenja: povijesni prikaz. Socijalna psihijatrija 
41, no. 3:156–163.