The Causal Effect of Religious Orientation and Sense of Humor on Psychological Stress with the Mediation of Optimism

The present study was aimed at determining the effect of religious orientation and sense of humor on psychological stress with the mediation of optimism in students. The statistical population consisted of all the female senior high school students of Ahwaz, Iran who were studying in the academic year 2015-2016. From among them, 308 students were selected using the multistage random sampling method. The required data were collected using the Arian Religious Orientation Questionnaire (1998), the Sevari Sense of Humor Questionnaire (2016), the Shearer, Carver and Briggs Life Orientation Questionnaire (1994) and the Lovebound and Lovebound Psychological Stress Questionnaire (1995). The collected data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and path analysis. The results revealed that, while modifying some of the relationships in the proposed model, the religious orientation and sense of humor have a positive causal effect on optimism, and the same variables do not have a negative causal effect on psychological stress. It was further revealed that religious orientation and sense of humor have an indirect negative causal effect on psychological stress through optimism, and optimism has a direct negative causal effect on psychological stress. The findings were indicative of the effect of religious orientation and sense of humor on the reduction of psychological stress through optimism. Hence, a more prosperous and healthy future with less stress can be created for individuals, especially students, by enhancing religious orientation, sense of humor and optimism.