Preoccupation with Devotional Songs and Spiritual Well-Being of Religious Individuals: The Mediating and Moderating Effects of Religiosity and Emotionally Adaptive Functions of Music

Abstract

This study identified the relationship between preoccupation with devotional songs and spiritual well-being of religious individuals, and examined the mediating effect of intrinsic religiosity on preoccupation with devotional songs and spiritual well-being, moderated by the emotionally adaptive functions of music. The participants were 427 male and female Korean religious individuals. PROCESS Macro 3.5 Model 7 was used to analyze the moderated mediating effects. The results revealed that preoccupation with devotional songs was positively correlated with the emotionally adaptive functions of music, religiosity, and spiritual well-being, whereas emotionally adaptive functions of music were not significantly correlated with intrinsic religiosity. Intrinsic religiosity was positively correlated with spiritual well-being, whereas extrinsic social religiosity was not. In a moderated mediating model, there was a significant interaction effect of preoccupation with devotional songs and the emotionally adaptive functions of music; however, intrinsic religiosity could mediate the relationship between preoccupation with devotional songs and spiritual well-being, regardless of the level of emotionally adaptive functions of music. These findings suggest that, although there may be a slight difference depending on the level of use of emotionally adaptive functions of music, preoccupation with devotional songs can promote intrinsic religiosity and lead to the spiritual well-being of religious individuals.

1. Introduction

Music has been used as needed by umans for a long time. Hardly a century ago, all music was live, and most people could access it in public (Cook 1998). Today, we can enjoy it regardless of time and place. In modern times, studies have verified that music can be used for therapy beyond enjoyment (Bruscia 2014), and can improve mental health and psychological and subjective wellbeing (Laukka 2007; Rebecchini 2021; Weinberg and Joseph 2017). However, this study focused on the use of religious music and its effects.

Music is so important to religion that it is difficult to think of religion without music. Beck (2019) emphasized that music plays an important role in religious experiences and spiritual appreciation in most religions worldwide. The use of music in religion has long been prevalent. Hammond (2014) investigated the religious and spiritual experiences of religious individuals in Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinist churches from the 16th to 18th centuries using analyses of differences in devotional music. This was possible because music is central to religious and spiritual experiences. Therefore, devotional songs have been used in religious ceremonies, such as worship (Goswami and Thielemann 2005). Anderson (1990) emphasized the message of scriptures that permeated the hymns of the three Protestant denominations in the 1980s.

However, one of the important reasons for using music in religion may be its psychological adaptive function. Although listening to religious music can promote mental health (Bradshaw et al. 2015), this study proposed that religious music can improve the spiritual wellbeing of religious individuals. Lipe (2002) emphasized that music plays an important role in promoting spirituality. Spirituality, is an innate construct that can be fluidly aligned with music, emphasizing that human spiritual experiences are amplified by musical experiences (Potvin and Argue 2014). Devotional songs focus on praising God; and it has been empirically found that praising God in worship raises religious individuals’ spiritual wellbeing (Tshabalala and Patel 2010). An experimental study with individuals who lost their family members to cancer attempted to examine whether sacred music could improve their spiritual well-being, found that there was no statistically significant difference in spiritual well-being between the group that applied sacred music vocals and the control group (da Silva et al. 2017). This may have been due to insufficient duration of the experiment for the devotional music’s effect on spiritual well-being to emerge. Alternatively, this may have been because the sacred music was not voluntary. Thus, this study examined the relationship between preoccupation with devotional songs of religious individuals and their spiritual well-being.

We assumed that preoccupation with devotional songs by religious individuals would allow them to experience spiritual well-being because it could stimulate their religiosity. In other words, religiosity was assumed to mediate the relationship between preoccupation with devotional songs and spiritual well-being. Preoccupation with devotional songs can be defined as religious individuals’ immersion in devotional religious music, such as hymns, psalmody, chants, and anthems, and their permeation into their lives. Weiss (1963) explained that religious music has unifying, focusing, and transcending power, allowing people to have religious experiences. Both music and religious experiences are related to happiness and well-being (Hills and Argyle 1998). Demmrich (2018) concluded that music can trigger religious experiences. Previous studies have shown that there is a significant correlation between religiosity and spiritual well-being (Jun and Suh 2012; Madrigal et al. 2020). As religious orientation fulfills inner spiritual needs, religiosity can improve spiritual well-being (Oracion and Madrigal 2019). A meta-analysis verified that religiosity positively influences subjective well-being (Witter et al. 1984), and may positively affect spiritual well-being (Beak et al. 2022; Chowdhury 2018). Such studies support the assumption that religiosity mediates the relationship between preoccupation with devotional songs and spiritual well-being of religious individuals.

However, we assumed that the relationship between preoccupation with devotional songs and religiosity would differ depending on religious individuals’ level of use of the emotionally adaptive functions of music. As religious music must stimulate and impress the emotions of religious individuals, traditional devotional music may incorporate the music style of the culture to which they belong (Sibanda and Makahamadze 2008). Miller and Strongman (2002) also pointed out that the emotional effect of music plays an important role in religious experience, and explored religious services, worship, and devotional music. It was found that habitual music engagement can improve individuals’ subjective well-being by making them feel happy (Weinberg and Joseph 2017). The positive influence of music on well-being may be due to the effect of emotional regulation (Chin and Rickard 2014). Park (2021) also found that adolescents who emotionally use music have higher expectations of future well-being. One study investigated whether religious experiences varied depending on the emotional effect of worship music and found that changes in mood before and after worship music significantly differed between charismatic and non-charismatic styles of music (Miller and Strongman 2002). Helena and Jakovljević (2021) emphasized that the emotional effects of music influence individuals’ daily and devotional lives, allowing psychological well-being and spiritual practices.

This study aimed to explore the relationship between preoccupation with devotional songs and spiritual well-being of religious individuals, and examined the moderated mediating effect of the emotionally adaptive functions of music through religiosity on the relationship between preoccupation with devotional songs and spiritual well-being. To achieve this aim, the following hypotheses were proposed. First, there are relationships among preoccupation with devotional songs, the emotionally adaptive functions of music, religiosity, and the spiritual well-being of religious individuals. Second, the emotionally adaptive functions of music have a moderating effect on the mediating role of religiosity on the relationship between preoccupation with devotional songs and the spiritual well-being of religious individuals. The hypothesized model is illustrated in Figure 1.

2. Methods

2.1. Participants

In total, 427 male and female Korean religious individuals were selected using convenience sampling. Data were collected by commissioning Embrain, an online research company. Thus, the participants were adults who reported having a religion when they were registered with an online research company across Korea. Among the participants, 210 (49.2%) were male, and 217 (50.8%) were female. The participants’ ages ranged from 20 to 69 years, with a mean of 44.60 ± 13.46 years.

Table 1. Characteristics of participants (N = 427).

Variables		Frequency	Percent (%)
Gender
	male	210	49.2
	female	217	50.8
Age
	20s	81	19.0
	30s	84	19.7
	40s	86	20.1
	50s	86	20.1
	60s	90	21.1
Religion
	Buddhist	111	26.0
	Catholic	98	23.0
	Protestant	214	50.1
	other	4	0.9
Attendance at religious services
	none	132	30.9
	once a month	97	22.7
	two or three times a month	49	11.5
	once a week	117	27.4
	more than twice a week	32	7.5

presents the participants’ characteristics. Eighty-one participants (19.0%) were in their 20s; 84 (19.7%), in their 30s; 86 (20.1%), in their 40s; 86 (20.1%), in their 50s; and 90 (21.1%), in their 60s or older. A total of 214 (50.1%) participants were Protestant; 111 (26.0%), Buddhist; 98 (23.0%), Catholic; and 4 (0.9%) reported believing in other religions. Among them, 132 (30.9%) reported that they did not attend religious services in their daily lives, 97 (22.7%) attended once a month, 49 (11.5%) attended twice or thrice a month, 117 (27.4%) attended once a week, and 32 (7.5%) attended more than twice a week.

2.2. Measures

2.2.1. Spiritual Well-Being

Participants’ spiritual well-being was measured using Paloutzian and Ellison’s Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS), used in Jun and Suh’s study (Jun and Suh 2012; Paloutzian and Ellison 1982). This scale has been used frequently in Korea and consists of 20 items with two factors: religious (ten items, e.g., “My relationship with God helps me not to feel lonely”) and existential well-being (ten items, e.g., “Life does not have much meaning”). Each item was rated on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from −3 (not at all true) to +3 (very true). In this study, confirmatory factor analysis showed unsatisfactory model fit (TLI = 0.849, CFI = 0.873, SRMR = 0.126, and RMSEA = 0.102 [CI: 0.053 to 0.064]), even though it was modified with some error covariances. Although the factorial structure of this scale for Korean religious individuals was unstable, the internal consistency (Cronbach’s α) of religious, existential, and total spiritual well-being were 0.90, 0.91, and 0.93, respectively.

2.2.2. Religiosity

Religiosity was measured using the Revised Intrinsic/Extrinsic Religious Orientation Scale (I/E-R, Intrinsic/Extrinsic-Revised), used in Jun and Suh’s study (Gorsuch and McPherson 1989; Jun and Suh 2012). This scale has been used frequently in Korea and consists of 14 items and three factors: intrinsic (I: eight items, e.g., “I pray mainly to gain relief and protection”), extrinsic personal (Ep: three items, e.g., “What religion offers me most is comfort in times of trouble and sorrow”), and extrinsic social religious orientations (Es: three items, e.g., “I go to church mostly to spend time with my friends”). Jun and Suh’s (2012) study was rated on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all true) to 7 (very true) to maximize variance. In this study, confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable model fit after allowing for three error covariances (TLI = 0.907, CFI = 0.927, SRMR = 0.071, and RMSEA = 0.088 [CI: 0.053 to 0.064]), and the internal consistencies (Cronbach’s α) of I, Ep, and Es were 0.89, 0.83, and 0.85, respectively.

2.2.3. Preoccupation with Devotional Songs

As there was no instrument to measure preoccupation with devotional songs, we developed items to measure it. We developed six items to measure religious individuals’ preoccupation with devotional songs (e.g., “I often sing hymns”, “I enjoy religious music”, and “I feel at peace when I listen to devotional songs”). In the factor analysis using the maximum likelihood method and oblimin rotation, a factor was retained. Each item is rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). In this study, the internal consistency of the six items (Cronbach’s α) was 0.93.

2.2.4. Emotionally Adaptive Functions of Music

To measure the participants’ emotionally adaptive functions of music, we used the sub-scales of the adaptive Functions of Music Listening scale (FML: Groarke and Hogan 2018). This scale originally consisted of 46 items and 11 subfactors: stress regulation (four items), strong emotional experiences (six items), rumination (five items), sleep (two items), reminiscence (four items), anger regulation (seven items), anxiety regulation (seven items), awe and admiration (three items), loneliness regulation (three items), cognitive regulation (two items), and identity regulation (five items). In this study, we used the subscales for strong emotional experiences, anger regulation, and anxiety regulation, because only these subscales are emotionally adaptive functions of music. We translated this scale into Korean, and revised it with reverse translation by a bilingual Korean American and with reviews of a psychologist and a composer who earned doctoral degrees in English-speaking countries. Each item is rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The internal consistency of the 20 items (Cronbach’s α) was 0.95.

2.3. Procedure

Prior to data gathering, we obtained approval from the institutional review board (IRB approval number: SYU 2022-02-007), and all procedures were performed ethically. Along with written informed consent, they procedures were presented to the participants online when data were collected. Participants were informed that they could withdraw at any time while answering the questionnaire if they felt any inconvenience.

2.4. Statistical Analysis

This study analyzed data using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows 25.0 and PROCESS Macro 3.5. The skewness and kurtosis of the variables were checked for parametric statistical analysis. Pearson product-moment correlational analysis was performed using SPSS, and analyses of the moderated mediating effect were performed using PROCESS Macro 3.5 Model 7 (Hayes 2018). Bootstrapping with 5000 resamples, and a 95% confidence interval, were used to analyze the significance of the moderated mediating models. As the period of having a current religion met the condition of the confounding variable, these models were adjusted for as a covariate. Additionally, preoccupation with devotional songs and emotionally adaptive functions of music were mean-centered.

3. Results

3.1. Relationship between Variables Involved in the Spiritual Well-Being of Religious Individuals

Table 2. Correlational matrix of preoccupation with devotional songs, the emotionally adaptive functions of music, religiosity, and spiritual well-being of religious individuals (N = 427).

Variables	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1	1
2	0.147 **	1
3	0.757 ***	0.088	1
4	0.410 ***	0.277 ***	0.465 ***	1
5	0.335 ***	0.112 *	0.284 ***	0.246 ***	1
6	0.443 ***	0.149 **	0.522 ***	0.320 ***	0.076	1
6-1	0.530 ***	0.134 **	0.620 ***	0.384 ***	0.079	0.966 ***	1
6-2	0.336 ***	0.154 **	0.400 ***	0.241 ***	0.069	0.971 ***	0.876 ***	1
M	17.87	69.05	32.35	14.50	7.56	14.64	6.79	7.85
SD	6.19	12.72	10.04	3.51	3.63	20.93	10.39	11.22
Skewness	−0.10	−0.65	0.17	−0.94	0.39	0.19	0.34	0.02
Kurtosis	−0.69	1.29	−0.46	1.16	−0.82	−0.36	−0.19	−0.49

* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p< 0.001. Note: 1 = preoccupation with devotional songs; 2 = the emotionally adaptive functions of music; 3 = intrinsic religiosity; 4 = extrinsic personal religiosity; 5 = extrinsic social religiosity; 6 = spiritual well-being; 6-1 = religious well-being; and 6-2 = existential well-being.

presents the correlational analysis of preoccupation with devotional songs, emotionally adaptive functions of music, religiosity, and spiritual well-being of religious individuals. None of the absolute values for skewness and kurtosis exceeded 2, indicating that all variable variances close to the normal distribution satisfied the condition for conducting parametric statistical analyses (West et al. 1995).

The correlational analysis revealed that preoccupation with devotional songs was positively correlated with emotionally adaptive functions of music (r = 0.147, p < 0.01), intrinsic religiosity (r = 0.757, p < 0.001), extrinsic personal religiosity (r = 0.410, p < 0.001), extrinsic social religiosity (r = 0.335, p < 0.001), and spiritual well-being (r = 0.443, p < 0.001). Preoccupation with devotional songs shared more variance with religious well-being (28.1%, r = 0.530, p < 0.001) than existential well-being (11.3%, r = 0.336, p < 0.001).

Emotionally adaptive functions of music were positively correlated with extrinsic personal religiosity (r = 0.277, p < 0.001), extrinsic social religiosity (r = 0.112, p < 0.05), and spiritual well-being (r = 0.149, p < 0.01), but were not significantly correlated with intrinsic religiosity. Intrinsic (r = 0.522, p < 0.001) and extrinsic personal religiosity (r = 0.320, p < 0.001) were positively correlated with spiritual well-being, whereas extrinsic social religiosity was not.

3.2. Verification of the Moderated Mediation Model for Spiritual Well-Being of Religious Individuals

This study examined the moderating mediating effect of the emotionally adaptive functions of music through intrinsic religiosity on the preoccupation with devotional songs and the spiritual well-being of religious individuals (

Table 3. Mediating effect of intrinsic religiosity moderated by the emotionally adaptive functions of music on the preoccupation with devotional songs and spiritual well-being.

Variables	B	S.E.		t		LLCI		ULCI
Mediating variable model (Outcome variable: Intrinsic religiosity)
Constant	30.042	0.655		45.89 ***		28.7553		31.3289
PDS	1.203	0.053		22.71 ***		1.0984		1.3066
EAPM	−0.018	0.025		−0.71		−0.0661		0.0310
PDS × EAPM	−0.011	0.004		−2.98 **		−0.0174		−0.0036
Increase of R2 with interaction		R2				F
		0.009				8.87 **
Dependent variable model (Outcome variable: Spiritual well-being)
Constant	−14.386	4.424		−3.25 **		−23.0815		−5.6896
PDS	0.386	0.217		1.78		−0.0403		0.8116
Intrinsic religiosity	0.927	0.134		6.92 ***		0.6637		1.1909
Conditional effects of the focal predictor at values of the moderator (EAPM)
EAPM	Effect	S.E.		t		LLCI		ULCI
M − 1SD	1.336	0.070		19.15 ***		1.1989		1.4731
M	1.203	0.053		22.71 ***		1.0984		1.3066
M + 1SD	1.069	0.069		15.49 ***		0.9334		1.2047
Conditional indirect effects of intrinsic religiosity by EAPM
EAPM	Effect		Boot S.E.		LLCI		ULCI
−12.72	1.251		0.203		0.8593		1.6467
0.00	1.119		0.177		0.7821		1.4727
12.72	0.986		0.165		0.6789		1.3318

** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001. Note: PDS = preoccupation with devotional songs; EAFM = emotionally adaptive functions of music; LLCI = lower-level confidence interval; ULCI = upper-level confidence interval.

).

The results revealed that preoccupation with devotional songs positively influenced intrinsic religiosity (B = 1.203, p < 0.001); however, the emotionally adaptive functions of music did not significantly influence intrinsic religiosity in this model (B = −0.018, n.s). Conversely, the interaction of preoccupation with devotional songs and the emotionally adaptive functions of music significantly influenced spiritual well-being (B = −0.011, p < 0.01), indicating moderating effect due to the emotionally adaptive functions of music between preoccupation with devotional songs and spiritual well-being.

The change in R² with the addition of the interaction term of preoccupation with devotional songs and emotionally adaptive functions of music was 0.009 and statistically significant. This meant that when the interaction term was added, this model could account for 0.9% more of the variance in spiritual well-being.

In this model, intrinsic religiosity positively influenced spiritual well-being (B = 0.927, p < 0.001), whereas preoccupation with devotional songs did not significantly influence it (B = 0.386, n.s). This meant that intrinsic religiosity completely mediated preoccupation with devotional songs and the spiritual well-being of religious individuals.

Figure 2 shows the interaction effect of preoccupation with devotional songs and emotionally adaptive functions of music on intrinsic religiosity. In this model, religious individuals, who made less use of emotionally adaptive functions of music (M − 1SD, z-score of −1 or below) were less likely to have intrinsic religiosity when levels of preoccupation with devotional songs were low. In contrast, religious individuals who made more use of emotionally adaptive functions of music (M + 1SD, z-score of 1 or above) were less likely to have intrinsic religiosity when levels of preoccupation with devotional songs were high.

Using bootstrapping, the conditional indirect effects of intrinsic religiosity on preoccupation with devotional and spiritual well-being (preoccupation with devotional songs → intrinsic religiosity → spiritual well-being) by emotionally adaptive functions of music were examined (Table 3). The results indicated that there was no zero between the upper and lower levels of the confidence interval of bootstrapping at a level of –12.72 (mean centered, M − 1SD), mean, and 12.72 (mean centered, M + 1SD); although there was a moderate effect of the emotionally adaptive functions of music on preoccupation with devotional songs and intrinsic religiosity.

The Johnson-Neyman’s floodlight analysis showed a significance area for the entire range of the moderating variable (

Table 4. Significant area in conditional effects of the focal predictor at values of the moderator (the emotionally adapted functions of music).

Value of the Moderator	B	S.E.	t	LLCI	ULCI
−49.0468	1.717	0.181	9.47 ***	1.3608	2.0740
−45.0968	1.676	0.168	9.97 ***	1.3455	2.0064
−41.1468	1.635	0.155	10.55 ***	1.3298	1.9391
−37.1968	1.593	0.142	11.22 ***	1.3140	1.8721
−33.2468	1.552	0.129	12.01 ***	1.2977	1.8054
−29.2968	1.510	0.117	12.95 ***	1.2809	1.7393
−25.3468	1.469	0.104	14.07 ***	1.2635	1.6738
−21.3968	1.427	0.093	15.41 ***	1.2450	1.6092
−17.4468	1.386	0.082	16.98 ***	1.2253	1.5461
−13.4968	1.344	0.072	18.78 ***	1.2035	1.4849
−9.5468	1.303	0.063	20.66 ***	1.1788	1.4267
−5.5968	1.261	0.057	22.24 ***	1.1498	1.3727
−1.6468	1.220	0.053	22.87 ***	1.1150	1.3246
2.3032	1.178	0.054	22.04 ***	1.0732	1.2835
6.2532	1.137	0.057	19.90 ***	1.0246	1.2492
10.2032	1.095	0.064	17.20 ***	0.9702	1.2206
14.1532	1.054	0.072	14.57 ***	0.9117	1.1962
18.1032	1.013	0.083	12.28 ***	0.8503	1.1746
22.0532	0.971	0.094	10.38 ***	0.7870	1.1550
26.0032	0.930	0.105	8.82 ***	0.7224	1.1366
29.9532	0.888	0.118	7.55 ***	0.6569	1.1193

*** p < 0.001. Note: LLCI = lower-level confidence interval; ULCI = upper-level confidence interval.

). This method identified the significant moderating effects of moderator values.

The influence of preoccupation with devotional songs on spiritual well-being through intrinsic religiosity was significant in all areas, consisting of the emotionally adaptive functions of music scores. In other words, intrinsic religiosity could mediate the relationship between preoccupation with devotional songs and spiritual well-being, regardless of the level of emotionally adaptive functions of music; although there was a significant moderating effect of emotionally adaptive functions of music on preoccupation with devotional songs and intrinsic religiosity.

4. Discussion

This study explored the relationships between preoccupation with devotional songs, emotionally adaptive functions of music, religiosity, and spiritual well-being of religious individuals. Furthermore, it examined the moderated mediating effect of the emotionally adaptive functions of music through religiosity on the relationship between preoccupation with devotional songs and spiritual well-being. The implications of this study’s findings are discussed below.

As hypothesized, the preoccupation of religious individuals with devotional songs was positively correlated with spiritual well-being. Religious individuals’ preoccupation with devotional songs accounted for approximately 28.1% (r = 0.530) of the variance with religious well-being, which is a subscale of spiritual well-being. This finding suggested that devotional music and religious well-being are closely related, and supports the argument that religious music plays an important role in religious and spiritual well-being (Potvin and Argue 2014; Tshabalala and Patel 2010). The preoccupation of religious individuals with devotional songs was also positively related to existential well-being, suggesting that religious music might provide existential feelings. Pio and Varkøy (2012) interpreted musical experience as an existential experience; their findings identified that devotional songs contained existential elements.

The more preoccupied religious individuals were with devotional songs, the more oriented they were toward religion. The preoccupation of religious individuals with devotional songs was closely correlated with intrinsic religiosity, accounting for approximately 57.3% (r = 0.757) of the variance. This result suggested that intrinsic religiosity may make religious individuals more preoccupied with devotional songs, but devotional songs may promote their intrinsic religiosity, because previous studies have shown that religious music can lead to religious experiences (Demmrich 2018; Weiss 1963). Therefore, devotional songs are included in religious rituals and services, such as worship, to stimulate faith or intrinsic religiosity of religious individuals.

In this study, the extrinsic social religiosity of religious individuals was not significantly correlated with spiritual well-being, whereas intrinsic and extrinsic personal religiosity were positively correlated. Extrinsic social religiosity was not significantly negatively correlated with well-being. For example, Li and Liu (2021) found that extrinsic social religiosity does not influence adolescents’ well-being. Beak et al. (2022) found that extrinsic social religiosity was negatively correlated with existential consciousness and savoring beliefs, whereas intrinsic religiosity was positively correlated. They concluded that religious orientation for social interaction and participation in social networks can interfere with the acquisition of existential well-being and savoring beliefs. Wnuk (2017) concluded that only intrinsic and extrinsic personal religiosity had positive effects on well-being, based on his study, in which extrinsic social religiosity was not correlated with hope, prayer, or positive religious coping. Based on these previous studies, it may not be an unexpected finding of this study that religiosity to meet social needs was not correlated with spiritual well-being.

We found that intrinsic religiosity mediates the relationship between preoccupation with devotional songs and spiritual well-being of religious individuals. This means that when religious individuals are preoccupied with devotional songs, their intrinsic religiosity increases, allowing them to experience spiritual well-being. Intrinsic religiosity completely mediates the relationship between preoccupation with devotional songs and spiritual well-being. When preoccupation with devotional songs entered intrinsic religiosity, accountability for the spiritual well-being of religiosity was not significant. This finding suggested that there is no factor whereby preoccupation with devotional songs can affect spiritual well-being without intrinsic religiosity. As explained by Weiss (1963), the preoccupation of religious individuals with devotional songs includes awe for God, transcendent power, and the discovery of existential meanings; it can promote religious and existential well-being.

However, it was found that the emotionally adaptive functions of music moderated the path between preoccupation with devotional songs and intrinsic religiosity in the mediating model, because the interaction effect of preoccupation with devotional songs and the emotionally adaptive functions of music on religious individuals’ intrinsic religiosity was significant. However, the effect was practically meaningless; therefore, the accountability of the mediating model increased by only 0.9% through this interaction effect. Johnson-Neyman’s floodlight analysis showed that religious individuals’ intrinsic religiosity can mediate preoccupation with devotional songs and spiritual well-being, regardless of the level of emotionally adaptive functions of music. This finding suggested that even religious individuals who do not use the emotionally adaptive functions of music can experience spiritual well-being by acquiring intrinsic religiosity when preoccupied with devotional songs. In other words, even religious people who do not use music emotionally in their daily lives can improve their spiritual well-being by listening to, or singing devotional songs frequently.

5. Conclusions and Limitations

This study has some limitations. In the sample of this study, religious individuals who responded to online surveys could not be considered representative of all religious individuals in Korea. Moreover, we cannot conclude the cause-and-effect relationship between the variables without an experimental study. In addition, we developed items to measure preoccupation with devotional songs, which have limitations in terms of reliability and validity because they were not developed for a validation study. As pointed out in previous studies (Suh and Chon 2004), the factorial structure of the SWBS for Korean religious individuals was unstable. Despite these limitations, this study provided useful information and knowledge regarding religious life, pastoral practices, and future studies.

This study explored the role of religious individuals’ preoccupation with devotional songs in their intrinsic religiosity and spiritual well-being. The preoccupation of religious individuals with devotional songs can increase their spiritual well-being by enhancing their intrinsic religiosity. Although the moderating effect of the emotionally adaptive functions of music for the mediation model of intrinsic religiosity on preoccupation with devotional songs and the spiritual well-being of religious individuals was statistically significant, it was not practically meaningful. These findings suggest that preoccupation with devotional songs plays a determining role in religious individuals’ intrinsic religiosity and spiritual well-being.