GENDER DIFFERENCES IN WISDOM AND SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING OF NIGERIAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS

Despite the burgeoning number of empirical investigations of wisdom and spiritual well-being in recent times, there has been scant attention on these two constructs within the African society. Although wisdom and spiritual well-being are important for everyone, a group of people that are assumed to have high levels of such positive attributes are the religious leaders such as the ministers in the Christian faith. However, whether there are gender effects on wisdom and spiritual well-being of the clergy remains unknown. We examined gender differences in wisdom and spiritual well-being among priests and religious in Nigeria. Participants were 107 Catholic clergy (men = 31, women = 76), aged 21 to 69 years with a mean age of 47.45 years (SD = 8.45) who completed an online survey consisting of the Brief Self-assessed Wisdom Scale (BSAWS) and the Spiritual Well-being Scale (SWS). Data was analyzed using independent samples t-test. Results showed that there were no significant gender differences in wisdom between men (M = 43.16, SD = 8.73) and women (M = 42.96, SD = 8.51), t(107) = .11, p = .912. Similarly, men (M = 74.64, SD = 11.50) did not differ from women (M = 71.43, SD = 11.47) in spiritual well-being, t(107) = 1.23, p = .223). Findings provide preliminary evidence showing that men and women religious leaders do not differ in their wisdom and spiritual health. Due to the exploratory nature of the study, we suggested further inquiry in this direction to advance the existing body of knowledge on wisdom and spiritual health.

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