Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The Impact of Fasting on the Psychological Well-Being of Muslim Graduate Students

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Religion and Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The main objective of this research was to evaluate the impact of fasting on the psychological well-being of Muslim graduate students. In a single-group pretest posttest research design, students who intended to fast in the month of Ramadan were asked to respond to a psychological well-being scale and its subscales before and after the end of fasting month of Ramadan. Findings show that fasting led to the promotion of overall psychological well-being, self-acceptance, autonomy, positive relations, environmental mastery, and personal growth among students who fasted in this month.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abdel-Khalek, A. M., & Lester, D. (2017). The association between religiosity, generalized self-efficacy, mental health, and happiness in Arab college students. Personality and Individual Differences, 109, 12–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.12.10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abu-Raiya, H., Pargament, K. I., & Krause, N. (2016). Religion as problem, religion as solution: Religious buffers of the links between religious/spiritual struggles and well-being/mental health. Quality of Life Research, 25(5), 1265–1274. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-015-1163-8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Agorastos, A., Demiralay, C., & Huber, C. G. (2014). Influence of religious aspects and personal beliefs on psychological behavior: Focus on anxiety disorders. Journal of Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 7, 93–101. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S43666.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Alexander, A. C., Robinson, L. A., Ward, K. D., Farrell, A. S., & Ferkin, A. C. (2015). Religiousbeliefs against smoking among Black and White Urban Youth. Journal of Religion and Health, 55(6), 1907–1916. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-015-0128-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amirfakhraei, A., & Alinaghizadeh, A. (2012). The impact of praying and fasting on the mental health of students attending the Bandar Abbas Branch of Islamic Azad University in Iran in 2012. Life Science, 9(3), 2179–2184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bayani, A. A., Koocheki, A. M., & Bayani, A. (2008). Reliability and validity of Ryff’s psychological well-being scales. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, 14(2), 146–151.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellah, R. N. (2011). Religion in human evolution: From the Paleolithic to the axial age. Boston: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Clack, B., & Clack, B. R. (2008). Philosophy of religion: A critical introduction. Malden: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gwynne, P. (2009). World religions in practice: A comparative introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lauche, R., Fathi, I., Saddat, C., Klose, P., Al-Abtah, J., Büssing, A., et al. (2016). The effects of Ramadan fasting on physical and mental health in healthy adult Muslims study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Advances in Integrative Medicine, 3(1), 26–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aimed.2016.07.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mousavi, S. A., Rezaei, M., AmiriBaghni, S., & Seifi, M. (2014). Effect of fasting on mental health in the general population of Kermanshah, Iran. Journal of Fasting and Health, 2(2), 65–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor, B. D., Cobb, J., & O’Connor, C. R. (2003). Religiosity, stress and psychological distress: No evidence for an association among undergraduate students. Personality and Individual Differences, 34, 211–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-5545.8896(02)00035-1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patton, L. D., Renn, K. A., Guido, F. M., Quaye, S. J., Evans, N. J., & Forney, D. S. (2016). Student development in college: Theory, research, and practice. San Francisco: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Preston, J. L., & Ritter, R. S. (2013). Different effects of religion and God on prosociality with the in group and out group. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(11), 1471–1483. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213499937.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069–1081. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.57.6.1069.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Talib, M. A., & Abdollahi, A. (2017). Spirituality moderates hopelessness, depression, and suicidal behavior among Malaysian adolescents. Journal of Religion and Health, 56(3), 784–795. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-015-0133-3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van Cappellen, P., Toth-Gauthier, M., Saroglou, V., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2016). Religion and well-being: The mediating role of positive emotions. Journal of Happiness Studies, 17(2), 485–505. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9605-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, G. (2015). The role of religion in history. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilt, J. A., Grubbs, J. B., Exline, J. J., & Pargament, K. I. (2016). Personality, religious and spiritual struggles, and well-being. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 8(4), 341–351. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000054.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ali Asghar Bayani.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all participants in this study.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bayani, A.A., Esmaeili, R. & Ganji, G. The Impact of Fasting on the Psychological Well-Being of Muslim Graduate Students. J Relig Health 59, 3270–3275 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-00740-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-00740-3

Keywords

Navigation