Predicting subjective well-being by religious and scientific attitudes with hope, purpose in life, and death anxiety as mediators

• Religious and scientific attitudes were related to higher subjective well-being (SWB).
• Hope mediated the relations of religious and scientific attitudes to SWB.
• Purpose in life mediated the relations of religious and scientific attitudes to SWB.
• Death anxiety failed to mediate the links of religious/scientific attitudes to SWB.
• Religiosity was moderately correlated to more positive attitudes toward science.

Much of the research in recent decades has associated religiousness with positive psychological outcomes. Recently, it has been shown that scientific belief can substitute religion as a source of comfort. In a sample of 474 Iranian Muslim university students, we examined how religious and scientific attitudes predicted life satisfaction, happiness, and self-esteem. Religiosity was positively related to all of these indicators of subjective well-being (SWB). Scientific attitudes too were related to higher levels of SWB. The relationships were fully mediated by hope and purpose in life. The results suggested that, believing either in God or science can contribute to SWB, through hope and purpose in life.