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The Psychological Significance of Cultural and Religious Values Among the Arab Population
Introduction: Values, which are the guiding principles and beliefs of our lives, have an influence over one’s psychological health. This study aims to investigate how Schwartz’s four higher-order values (conservation, openness to change, self-transcendence, and self-enhancement) and religious values...
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AUC Knowledge Fountain
2024
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| _version_ | 1867613424016424960 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Sherif Mikhail, Michel |
| author_browse | Sherif Mikhail, Michel |
| author_facet | Sherif Mikhail, Michel |
| author_sort | Sherif Mikhail, Michel |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Introduction: Values, which are the guiding principles and beliefs of our lives, have an influence over one’s psychological health. This study aims to investigate how Schwartz’s four higher-order values (conservation, openness to change, self-transcendence, and self-enhancement) and religious values influence psychological health among the Arab population. Methods: A total of 1,023 respondent from nine Arab countries aged 18 to 71 filled an online survey with measures of the following constructs: Schwartz’s four higher-order values (Portrait Value Questionnaire-21), religious values (Sahin’s Index of Islamic Moral Values), and general psychological health (General Health Questionnaire-28). Results: Two models of multiple regression were conducted to investigate the relationships between values and psychological health. Higher conservation, self-enhancement, and religious values were significantly associated with better psychological health, with conservation losing significance after adding religious values to the model. All Schwartz’s four values were found to have significant relationship with religious values. More of self-enhancement and conservation values was associated with higher identification of religious values, and the opposite was true for the other two values. Conclusion: The findings challenged existing assumptions that conservation values relate negatively to psychological health. This finding could be explained by the congruence of conservation values and the Arab culture. The most powerful relationships were those of self-enhancement and religious values, both of which were positively associated with psychological health. As such, therapists should be aware to reconsider biases against religious or conservation values, and rather pay attention to their potential positive influence over one’s psychological health. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-3366 |
| institution | American University in Cairo (Egypt) |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:35:55.364Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publishDateRange | 2024 |
| publishDateSort | 2024 |
| publisher | AUC Knowledge Fountain |
| publisherStr | AUC Knowledge Fountain |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress |
| spelling | oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-3366 The Psychological Significance of Cultural and Religious Values Among the Arab Population Sherif Mikhail, Michel Introduction: Values, which are the guiding principles and beliefs of our lives, have an influence over one’s psychological health. This study aims to investigate how Schwartz’s four higher-order values (conservation, openness to change, self-transcendence, and self-enhancement) and religious values influence psychological health among the Arab population. Methods: A total of 1,023 respondent from nine Arab countries aged 18 to 71 filled an online survey with measures of the following constructs: Schwartz’s four higher-order values (Portrait Value Questionnaire-21), religious values (Sahin’s Index of Islamic Moral Values), and general psychological health (General Health Questionnaire-28). Results: Two models of multiple regression were conducted to investigate the relationships between values and psychological health. Higher conservation, self-enhancement, and religious values were significantly associated with better psychological health, with conservation losing significance after adding religious values to the model. All Schwartz’s four values were found to have significant relationship with religious values. More of self-enhancement and conservation values was associated with higher identification of religious values, and the opposite was true for the other two values. Conclusion: The findings challenged existing assumptions that conservation values relate negatively to psychological health. This finding could be explained by the congruence of conservation values and the Arab culture. The most powerful relationships were those of self-enhancement and religious values, both of which were positively associated with psychological health. As such, therapists should be aware to reconsider biases against religious or conservation values, and rather pay attention to their potential positive influence over one’s psychological health. 2024-06-12T07:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2325 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/3366/viewcontent/auto_convert.pdf Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain Values Culture Psychological Health Schwartz Arab Values Arab Population Clinical Psychology Counseling Psychology Health Psychology Multicultural Psychology |
| spellingShingle | Values Culture Psychological Health Schwartz Arab Values Arab Population Clinical Psychology Counseling Psychology Health Psychology Multicultural Psychology Sherif Mikhail, Michel The Psychological Significance of Cultural and Religious Values Among the Arab Population |
| title | The Psychological Significance of Cultural and Religious Values Among the Arab Population |
| title_full | The Psychological Significance of Cultural and Religious Values Among the Arab Population |
| title_fullStr | The Psychological Significance of Cultural and Religious Values Among the Arab Population |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Psychological Significance of Cultural and Religious Values Among the Arab Population |
| title_short | The Psychological Significance of Cultural and Religious Values Among the Arab Population |
| title_sort | psychological significance of cultural and religious values among the arab population |
| topic | Values Culture Psychological Health Schwartz Arab Values Arab Population Clinical Psychology Counseling Psychology Health Psychology Multicultural Psychology |
| url | https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2325 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/3366/viewcontent/auto_convert.pdf |
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