The Relation of Guilt and Shame to the mental Health and Religiosity

This study aimed to investigate the relations of guilt and shame with mental health and religiosity. In doing so, 180 university students answered the following scales: "Guilt and Shame Proneness Scale", "Interest in Religion", Single-item scales of religious orientation", Ryff's Scales of Psychological Well-being", "Subjective Happiness Scale", "General Satisfaction with Life Scale", and "General Health Questionnaire". Results showed that guilt was associated with positive psychological outcomes, while shame was associated with negative psychological outcomes. Guilt weakly yet positively correlated with interest in religion, whereas the relations of shame to religious variables were negative. The findings supported the theory of guilt being adaptive and shame being non-adaptive.