Religious activities, modern media use, and subjective wellbeing: a cultural goal consistency perspective

Introduction In digital societies with evolving pathways to subjective well-being, modern media has become a new channel for individuals to seek cultural interaction and identity recognition beyond traditional religious methods. However, how these two mechanisms relate to subjective well-being across cultural contexts remains insufficiently understood. Methods Using large-scale samples from the China General Social Survey and the European Social Survey, this study conducts regression analyses to examine the relationships among religious activities, modern media use, and subjective well-being. Results The results indicate that (1) both religion and modern media function as channels connecting individuals with cultural meaning systems and significantly associated with subjective well-being; (2) the association between religious activities and subjective well-being across levels of modern media use: the positive association between religion and well-being is stronger in the Chinese sample with higher levels of media use, while this association is weaker in the European sample; and (3) the relationship between cultural connection mechanisms and subjective well-being varies according to cultural goal consistency. Discussion This study contributes to the literature on religion, digital media, and well-being by highlighting the cultural conditions under which traditional and emerging meaning systems are associated with subjective well-being in increasingly digitalized societies.