Bodily awareness: Religious culture’s associations with interoceptive sensibility

Abstract

Religions, as cultural systems, influence how people view and attune to their body. This research explores whether individual differences in various dimensions of religiosity are associated with interoceptive sensibility (IS), i.e., one’s perceived ability to detect and interpret bodily signals. In Study 1, Christians, Muslims, and Hindus (N = 1570) reported their religiosity and completed the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, a well-validated measure of IS. Results show that religious identity moderates the relationship between the centrality of religion in one’s life and IS such that the association is positive and medium for Christians, large for Muslims and Hindus. In addition, the medium positive correlation between frequency of religious practice and IS was similar across religious groups. Study 2 (N = 450) extended these results by measuring additional dimensions of religiosity and spirituality as well as investigating religious-related beliefs about the body, both positive (e.g., My body is holy) and negative (e.g., My body is sinful). Associations between religiosity and IS are replicated and found for spirituality as well. Interestingly, mediation analyses reveal that belief in the body as holy partially explains the association between religiosity and IS, but belief in the body as sinful suppresses such association. We discuss how religion, as a cultural factor, may influence beliefs about the body and bodily awareness, with implications for emotion regulation and mental health.