The Relationship between Friendship, Religion and Happiness

This study explores the connection between friendship, religion and happiness. The research aims to find out how religion and friendship affect happiness of an individual living in a particular society. The paper discusses the conceptual framework, research methodology, statistical analysis of the data and conclusion.

Running head: DATA ANALYTICS
Data Analytics
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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................2
1.1 Problem statement.................................................................................................................2
1.2 Research aim..........................................................................................................................3
2.0 Conceptual framework...............................................................................................................3
2.1 Hypotheses.............................................................................................................................5
3.0 Research methodology...............................................................................................................5
4.0 Data analysis..............................................................................................................................6
4.1 Statistical assumption............................................................................................................6
4.2 Descriptive statistics............................................................................................................10
4.3 Correlation...........................................................................................................................11
4.4 Regression............................................................................................................................12
5.0 Discussion and Conclusion......................................................................................................14
6.0 References................................................................................................................................16

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1.0 Introduction
1.1 Problem statement
There are different dimensions of happiness derived from different sources. Friendships
are considered as one important source of bringing happiness. Despite the fact that most
variation in happiness has been sourced from genetic factor, recent studies find that close
relationship brings happiness beyond the contribution of individual’s personality. Finding of
these studies encourage further research to find out the connectedness between happiness and
friendship. Empirical investigation has been made to evaluate the role of friendship in happiness.
In literatures, there are different definition of friendship (Demir, Tyra and Özen-Çıplak 2018).
Friendship refers to the voluntary interdependence that developed overtime between the two
persons. Followed by its name, friendship defines to a qualitative relationship. Scholars also
argued that friend is actually a mixed blessing involving various degree of conflict. The two
main dimension of friendship thus are conflict and quality. Most researchers support the claim
that friendship is one vital source of happiness (Holder and Coleman 2015). The conflict
dimension of friendship however suggests a negative association between friendship and
happiness. Further study thus needed to explore any proposed relation between the two
friendship and happiness.
Another aspect that is often considered to be one factor contributing to happiness is
religion. Religion has been found to be one factor that enhances happiness. Many researches
concludes a positive association between happiness and religiosity. Some studies also found
happiness to be independent of religiosity (Aghababaei and Błachnio 2014). The measurement of
happiness is responsible for producing inconsistent results among studies. Researches claim that
40 percent variation in happiness has been explained by the intentional activities. In order to find

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out factors explaining rest of the variation in happiness several factors have been taken into
consideration. Researches have confirmed that there is a satisfactory interlinkage between
happiness and satisfactory social relation (Mandeville 2017). Evidences also support that the
relationship between religiosity and material well-being. This leads to a research area for
scrutinizing the relationship between religion and happiness.
1.2 Research aim
Aims of this research study is to find out how religion and friendship affect happiness of
an individual living in particular society.
The paper is arranged into the following subsections. The second section discusses
conceptual framework of the research consistent with past literatures and research aims. The
subsequent sections are research methodology, statistical analysis of the data and discussion and
conclusion.
2.0 Conceptual framework
Religion
Friendship
Happiness

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Friendship is regarded one source of enhancing happiness. Past literatures support this
claim in three ways. These are focus on overall quality of friendship, particular features of
friendship and number of friends. One study found that best friendship quality and associated
conflict are related with happiness especially for young and late adolescent. This study showed
that the most important features of friendship are self-validation and companionship. The support
received friendship or companionship is an important attribute of happiness. The closeness and
satisfaction received from friendship are associated with happiness (Demir et al. 2018). These
studies are based on the either best friendship or general friendship. Some study found a negative
association between happiness and conflicts resulted from friendship especially among late
adolescent. Researches based on conflict and other indices of adjustment also assert a negative
relation between friendship and happiness. There have been considerable number of researches
establishing the relationship between quality and conflict with happiness. Studies based on
quality of friendship confirms a positive connection between happiness and quality of friendship.
These studies conclude two things. Firstly, more the number of friends happier a person is.
Secondly, individual benefit from all friends they have. This however is not true always. All the
friendly do not always equally benefit an individual (Lynch 2015). Most study confirm the first
is more likely to happen that is more friends means more happiness contributing to economic
well-being. People often distinguishes among friends depending on degree of happiness. In
relation to already existing literatures, the present study attempts to find how friendship is
actually associated with happiness.
One aspect contributing to happiness is the religiosity. Several researches conclude that
religiosity has a positive influence on happiness. There are also some studies finding no
association between religion and happiness. Measuring happiness is considered as an important

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factor in finding out how religiosity influence happiness (Sander 2017). The two widely used
index Oxford Happiness Questionnaire and Depression Happiness scale produced inconsistent
result among several studies. Recently, researchers have been found it import to assess the state
of health and wellbeing of atheists in relation to their emergence as an important socio cultural
group. One study found an appealing case where non-religious are found to have a lower scale of
happiness when directly compared with the religious are. Most studies however are limited in its
scope in making a comparative assessment between religious and non-religious group making it
difficult to draw conclusion. International comparisons reveal a contradictory finding. These
studies find that higher level of happiness are recorded by higher levels of non-religious (Edling,
Rydgren and Bohma 2014). This is in direct contraction with the claim that religious people
document a higher degree of well-being. One study conducted on satisfaction, one measure of
happiness and religious, atheists and agonistic found no significant relation between happiness
and religion.
2.1 Hypotheses
The following two hypotheses are developed to address the research questions
Hypothesis 1
Null hypothesis: There is no statistically significant association between happiness and
friendship.
Alternative hypothesis: Friendship has a statistically significant relation with happiness
Hypothesis 2
Null hypothesis: There is no statistically significant association between happiness and religion

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Alternative hypothesis: Religion has a statistically significant relation with happiness
3.0 Research methodology
This section discusses the research methods that have been employed in this paper to
reach to the final conclusion. Research design is an important part of research study. The
research methodology comprises of data collection or gathering data, relevant information and
analyzes those data and information to achieve the research aim. Exploratory research is
conducted in areas lacking clear research and sufficient description (DeWitt 2017). The first
important part of research methodology is data collection. Data are collected from either
primary or secondary sources The primary data are collected through design of questionnaire and
gathering response from a selected population. The reliable source for secondary data are
authorized websites, peer reviewed journal, research article and periodicals. The method of
random sampling is an appropriate method of selecting sample from the entire population. The
collection of data has succeeded by analysis of the data. The basic statistical assumptions are
examined through the test of normality, linearity, multicollinearity and homoscedasticity. The
descriptive statistics have been computed to understand nature of the distribution (Creswell and
Creswell 2017). The correlation and regression analysis are finally used to evaluate and establish
relationship between happiness, friendship and religion.
4.0 Data analysis
4.1 Statistical assumption
The basic statistical assumptions of a distribution include assumption of normality,
linearity, multicollinearity and homoscedasticity. To test the normality histograms of each of the
variables constructed. The multicollinearityamong the variables are examined through computed

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of VIF and tolerance. Finally, the assumption of linearity and homoscedasticity have been
examined through Q-Q plots of normality for the variables.
Figure 1: Histogram and normality test of happiness
Figure 2: Histogram and normality test of friendship

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Figure 3: Histogram and normality test of religion
Table 1: Test for collinearity
Coefficientsa
Model Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig. Collinearity
Statistics
B Std. Error Beta Tolerance VIF
1
(Constant) 6.476 .139 46.495 .000
How often socially
meet with friends,
relatives or colleagues
.222 .026 .189 8.493 .000 .997 1.003
How religious are you .023 .013 .039 1.764 .078 .997 1.003
a. Dependent Variable: How happy are you
From the above table, it has been observed that that the value of VIF is less than 5
implying multicollinearity is not a problem for either of the variable.

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Figure 5: Test of linearity and homoscedasticity for happiness
Figure 6: Test of linearity and homoscedasticity for friendship

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Figure 7: Test of linearity and homoscedasticity for religion
From the above three figures it has been observed that the residuals are constituting
almost a linear trend. This therefore satisfies the assumption of heteroscedasticity.
4.2 Descriptive statistics
Table 2: Descriptive statistics for happiness, religion and friendship
Statistics
How happy are
you
How often
socially meet
with friends,
relatives or
colleagues
How religious
are you
N Valid 1958 1958 1950
Missing 1 1 9
Mean 7.64 4.85 3.76
Median 8.00 5.00 4.00
Mode 8 6 0
Std. Deviation 1.813 1.544 3.127

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The mean, median and mode of happiness are 7, 8 and 8 respectively. This implies most
of the respondent response in favor of extreme happiness. The mean, median and mode for
friendship are 4, 5 and 6 respectively indicating friendship to be an important factor. For religion
also mean and median are close to 4 implying religion is as important as friendship is.
4.3 Correlation
Table 3: Correlation matrix of happiness, religion and friendship
Correlations
How happy are
you
How often
socially meet
with friends,
relatives or
colleagues
How religious
are you
How happy are you
Pearson Correlation 1 .193** .049*
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .029
Sum of Squares and Cross-
products 6431.091 1054.636 546.160
Covariance 3.286 .539 .280
N 1958 1958 1949
How often socially meet with
friends, relatives or
colleagues
Pearson Correlation .193** 1 .054*
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .018
Sum of Squares and Cross-
products 1054.636 4664.932 506.198
Covariance .539 2.384 .260
N 1958 1958 1949
How religious are you
Pearson Correlation .049* .054* 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .029 .018
Sum of Squares and Cross-
products 546.160 506.198 19055.592
Covariance .280 .260 9.777
N 1949 1949 1950
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

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The correlation coefficient between happiness and friendship is 0.193. The positive
correlation coefficient implies that there is a positive association between happiness and
friendship. The correlation is statistically valid at 1% level of significance. For religion, the
correlation coefficient with happiness is 0.049. This again shows religion has a positive
association with happiness. The correlation is statistically significant at 5% level of significance.
4.4 Regression
Table 4: Summary of the regression model
Model Summary
Model R R Square Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of the
Estimate
1 .195a .038 .037 1.779
a. Predictors: (Constant), How religious are you, How often socially
meet with friends, relatives or colleagues
From the model the value of R square is obtained as 0.037. The R square value implies
religion and happiness together can explain only 3% variation in the happiness.

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Table 5: ANOVA table
ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1
Regression 243.846 2 121.923 38.541 .000b
Residual 6156.139 1946 3.163
Total 6399.985 1948
a. Dependent Variable: How happy are you
b. Predictors: (Constant), How religious are you, How often socially meet with friends, relatives or
colleagues
The overall significance of the model can be understood from the ANOVA table. The p
value for significant F is 0.000. As the p value is lower than the significance level of 0.05. The
model is statistically significant.
Table 6: Regression coefficient
Coefficientsa
Model Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig. Collinearity
Statistics
B Std. Error Beta Tolerance VIF
1
(Constant) 6.476 .139 46.495 .000
How often socially
meet with friends,
relatives or colleagues
.222 .026 .189 8.493 .000 .997 1.003
How religious are you .023 .013 .039 1.764 .078 .997 1.003
a. Dependent Variable: How happy are you
The regression coefficient of friendship is 0.189. This means friendship a has a positive
effect on happiness. With 1 percent increase in friendship happiness increases by 0.19 percent. P
value for the associated coefficient is 0.000. The p value lower than significance level of 0.05

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implies rejection of null hypothesis of no significant association between friendship and
happiness.
The regression coefficient of friendship is 0.039. This means friendship a has a positive
effect on happiness. P value for the associated coefficient is 0.078. The p value greater than
significance level of 0.05 implies acceptance of null hypothesis of no significant association
between religion and happiness.
5.0 Discussion and Conclusion
Hypothesis 1: Relation between happiness and friendship
The first hypothesis aims to evaluate validity of a statistically significant relation between
happiness and friendship. The result of multiple linear regression gives a positive coefficient for
happiness. This suggest happiness is positively associated with friendship. That means presence
of more and more friends enhances happiness. The obtained p value is less than 5% significance
level suggesting rejection of null hypothesis of no significant relation between friendship and
happiness. The regression result thus supports the claim that friendship is an important
determinant of happiness in one’s life. This is consistent with most of the past studies stating a
positive relation between friendship and happiness.
Hypothesis 2: Relation between happiness and religion
The second hypothesis has been formulated to evaluate the relation between happiness
and religion. From the regression result though a positive coefficient is obtained for religiosity
the coefficient however is not statistically significant. The p value exceeds statistical significance
level of 0.05. The result thus rejects the null hypothesis of no significant relation supporting the

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claim that happiness is independent of religion. This contradicts past literatures that found a
close association between religion and happiness.
The findings of the research paper suggest that there is a positive significant association
between happiness and friendship. The paper however does not found any significant relation
between religion and happiness. It can therefore be stated that religion does not have any
significant influence on happiness. Friendship on the other hand is a positive significant
determinant of happiness. With increase in number of friends’ people document more happiness.
Friendship or companionship provide the feeling of happiness. Some studies though found a
positive significant association between religiosity and happiness, the present paper however
finds no such evidences.
Happiness is a qualitative aspect of human life. Most of the variation in happiness though
explained by intentional action there are other factor influencing happiness as well. For the
current study, two factors that are considered to influence happiness are religion and friendship.
Many studies documented that religion leads to a higher level of happiness and vice-versa. The
paper however finds happiness to be independent of religion. Analysis however confirms that
friendship has a beneficial effect on happiness and well-being.

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6.0 References
Aghababaei, N. and Błachnio, A., 2014. Purpose in life mediates the relationship between
religiosity and happiness: Evidence from Poland. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 17(8),
pp.827-831.
Creswell, J.W. and Creswell, J.D., 2017. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed
methods approaches. Sage publications.
Demir, M., Tyra, A. and Özen-Çıplak, A., 2018. Be There For Me and I Will Be There For You:
Friendship Maintenance Mediates the Relationship Between Capitalization and
Happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies, pp.1-21.
Demir, M., Vento, I., Boyd, R. and Hanks, E., 2018. My relationships are my estate:
Relationships with kin and voluntary bonds as predictors of happiness among emerging adults.
In Close Relationships and Happiness across Cultures(pp. 105-129). Springer, Cham.
DeWitt, B.S., 2017. Exploratory research session on the quantization of the gravitational
field. The European Physical Journal H, 42(2), pp.159-176.
Edling, C., Rydgren, J. and Bohman, L., 2014. Faith or Social Foci? Happiness, Religion, and
Social Networks in Sweden. European sociological review, 30(5), pp.615-626.
Holder, M.D. and Coleman, B., 2015. Children’s friendships and positive well-being.
In Friendship and happiness (pp. 81-97). Springer, Dordrecht.
Lynch, S., 2015. Friendship and Happiness From a Philosophical Perspective. In Friendship and
Happiness (pp. 3-18). Springer, Dordrecht.
Mandeville, B., 2017. Free thoughts on religion, the church, and national happiness. Routledge.

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Sander, W., 2017. Religion, Religiosity, and Happiness. Review of Religious Research, 59(2),
pp.251-262.