Women at Midlife: Spiritual Maturity and Life Satisfaction

This study examined the relationship between spiritual maturity and life satisfaction in a multi-ethnic, religiously diverse sample of women middle aged and older. Spiritual maturity was measured by the spiritual support and spiritual openness subscales of the Revised Spiritual Experience Index. Life-satisfaction was positively related to spiritual support and spiritual openness. European Americans and African Americans did not differ on life-satisfaction, spiritual support, or spiritual openness. Mean splits on the spiritual-support and spiritual-openness scales were used to classify subjects as underdeveloped, dogmatic, transitional, and growth-oriented. Growth-oriented subjects reported greater life-satisfaction than subjects in all other groups. No other group differences were found.