The present study contributes to the widening body of spirituality research by conceptualizing it as a state-trait construct. A new measure of spirituality, the State-Trait Spirituality Inventory (STSI), was created and validated according to psychometric methods of test construction. In its current form, the STSI contains seven state spirituality items and six trait spirituality items. A thorough review of the literature identified common themes in spirituality definitions and assisted in developing definitions of trait and state spirituality. Internal consistency for the trait scale was .88 and for the state scale, .68. Good test-retest reliability was found with coefficients of .84 for trait spirituality and .81 for state spirituality. Results from a preliminary undergraduate sample as well as from the validation sample yielded a two-factor solution. In general, items determined by expert panels as trait items loaded on one factor and items deemed to be state items loaded on the second factor. Multitrait multimethod analysis yielded mixed findings for convergent, divergent, and concurrent validity for the spirituality and religiosity traits. Methods consisted of paper-and-pencil cognitive and behavioral measures. Cognitive measures were more likely to support convergent/divergent validity than were behavioral measures. A major emphasis in the study was to determine whether state and/or trait spirituality were able to predict current health status and provide evidence for predictive validity. Positive relationships were identified between trait spirituality and the mental health measures of the Short Form-36® (SF-36). In contrast, it was negatively related to the Role-Physical scale. State spirituality was inversely related to the Physical Component scale. These findings are discussed within the context of minimal research using the SF-36 and spirituality measures. The MTMM analysis was limited by available spirituality and religiosity measures that contain only cognitive or behavioral items. Suggestions for future research are offered.

Religiousness has been shown to have an inverse relationship with at least some types of addiction. The present study examined whether intrinsic religiousness predicts substance addiction in a sample of participants that included mostly undergraduate students from the Appalachian region, as well as some participants surveyed with the use of social media advertisements. Intrinsic religiousness has been defined as internalizing the tenets of one’s faith. Participants self-reported their religiousness using the Religious Surrender and Attendance Scale – 3 (RSAS-3), which has been shown to measure intrinsic religiousness. Substance use was measured by the TCU Drug Screen V (TCUDS). Religiousness, as measured by the RSAS-3, predicted lower levels of substance use addiction as measured by the TCUDS both continuously and dichotomized: X2 (1, N=517) =8.296, p=.004. The odds ratio for the model was 3.724 95% CI [1.305, 10.625] meaning that the odds of being addicted to a substance was 3.724 times more likely for someone who did not meet the threshold for being high in religious commitment than for someone who did. The present study extends findings regarding religiousness and addiction but further research should be done to analyze different theological traditions and their relationship with health outcomes.

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The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction among Latter-day Saints (LDS) college students. The scales used were the religiosity scale by Chadwick and Top (1993), and the life satisfaction scale by Neugarten, Havighurst and Tobin (1961). The analysis was based on data obtained from 222 students (55.5%) who responded. A prediction model was used to develop a regression equation. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between religiosity and life satisfaction. The regression equation is as follows: life satisfaction = 1.436815592 + 0.045915152 (spiritual experiences) + 0.042888274 (integration in congregation). A significant correlation of 0.0230 (p<.05) was found for spiritual experiences, and 0.0215 (p<.05) for integration in congregation. But no significant correlation was found between life satisfaction and the other factors such as gender, age, religious beliefs, private religious behavior, attendance/public behavior, and family religious. Spiritual experiences and integration in congregation were the only factors correlated with higher life satisfaction scores.

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No description available.

This dissertation examines correlations between religiousness and spirituality, to moral orientations using moral foundations theory as a framework. Using the 2012 Measuring Morality dataset, which provides a representative sample of the population of the United States, I create linear regressions which test associations between religiousness, spirituality, and each of the five moral foundations ((harm/care, fairness, in-group loyalty, respect for authority, and purity). I find that religiousness is negatively associated with concern for harm, and positively associated with respect for authority, a finding which implies that the moral behavior of religious people is rooted in respect for authority more than in any other moral concern. Spirituality is positively associated with concern for fairness. The implications of all findings are discussed, as well as limitations and recommendations for future research.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of women's anger and religiosity on their expression of violence toward their partner. The sample consisted of the 664 women who completed three interviews for Project HOW: Health Outcomes of Women, a study of low-income, ethnically diverse women in Dallas county. Across the waves, women completed measures of relationship violence, anger, and religiosity. Religiosity was not found to moderate the relationship between women's anger and their use of violence. When partners' threats and violence were included in the regression equations, these variables were consistently related to women's behavior. Due to several methodological limitations, clinical implications of the results should be considered with caution.

Då de äldre delarna av populationen förväntas bli en större andel av den svenska totalpopulationen är det av intresse att undersöka deras hälsotillstånd, där livstillfredsställelse tycks vara en viktig faktor för ett gott åldrande. Utomlands har ett starkt stöd för en korrelation mellan livstillfredsställelse och religiositet hittats. Ett delsyfte i denna studie var att undersöka om en sådan korrelation även kan hittas i sekulära Sverige. Utifrån att också en stark korrelation mellan livstillfredsställelse och sociala nätverk hittats både utomlands och i Sverige var nästa delsyfte att undersöka om de sociala nätverk som kan hittas via ett religiöst deltagande i till exempel en församling bättre kan förklara religionens effekt på livstillfredsställelse än just religiositeten själv. Deltagarna i studien var hämtade från en longitudinell studie kring åldrande och vård kallad "The Swedish National Study on Aging and Care" (SNAC). Resultaten kunde inte visa på någon korrelation mellan religiositet och livstillfredsställelse i Sverige. I och med detta utgick ansatsen till att förklara en sådan korrelation. Studien pekade på att effekten religiositet har på en svensk befolkning tycks skilja sig från den effekt den har på andra populationer. / As the elder parts of the population are expected to become a larger proportion of the Swedish total population there is an interest in investigating their state of health, for which life satisfaction seems to be an important factor. Strong support for a correlation between life satisfaction and religiousness has been found outside of Sweden. One aim of this study was to investigate if such a correlation could also be found in secular Sweden. A strong correlation between life satisfaction and social networks has also been found both in and outside of Sweden. Following this the next aim of the study was to investigate if the social network that can be found via religious participation in for example a congregation could better explain the effect of religion on life satisfaction than religiousness itself. The participants in the study were gathered from a longitudinal study about aging and care called "The Swedish National Study on Aging and Care"(SNAC). The results did not show any correlation between religiousness and life satisfaction in Sweden. The Study indicates that the effect religiousness has on the Swedish population seems to be different from the effect it has on other populations.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between ease of discussion of sexual likes and dislikes with a sexual partner and religious, expressive, and affectional influences in the family of origin.