Mechanistic and Applied Insights into religious Emotion:Mediation–Moderation Evidence Linking Religiosityto Optimism–Pessimism in Taiwanese Undergraduates

Religious experience is inherently affective, yet the mechanisms by which religious belief relates to psychological ‎outlook remain under-specified. This study tests a three-factor model of emotions toward God as affective ‎mechanisms that mediate and/or moderate links between religiosity and dispositional outlook in Taiwanese ‎undergraduates. A sample of 551 students completed validated measures of multidimensional religiosity (CRSi-14), ‎emotions toward God (EtG; good, bad, moral), and dispositional optimism/pessimism (LOT-R). Confirmatory factor ‎analysis supported the three-factor EtG structure. Hayes PROCESS models examined mediation (Model 4) and ‎moderation (Model 1). Mediation analyses showed that good emotions significantly mediated the positive ‎association between religiosity and optimism (indirect β=0.32, 95% Confidence Interval; CI [0.13, 0.51]), whereas ‎bad emotions fully mediated the religiosity-pessimism link (indirect β=0.15, 95% CI [0.048, 0.254]); moral ‎emotions did not mediate either outcome. Moderation tests indicated that good emotions moderated the ‎religiosity-pessimism relationship (β interaction = -0.282, p=.019), such that religiosity related more strongly to ‎reduced pessimism when good emotions were lower; no significant moderation emerged for bad or moral emotions. ‎Findings advance basic affective theory by specifying valenced religious emotions as distinct mechanisms, and ‎they inform applied mental-health practice by identifying emotion-focused targets (amplifying “good” emotions, ‎addressing “bad” emotions) through which religiosity may shape youth outlook‎.