The role, basis for, and function of idealism in religion and religiosity are examined as both an individual and social phenomenon. Religion is divided into two manifestations of idealism that are described as conventional religion and unconventional religion. William James' frozen lake, used as a metaphor for religious personality types, is expanded to include a range of fear and depression based emotional forces that prompt various forms of idealism. Karl Marx's concept of utopia, Max Weber's protestant ethic, Emile Durkheim's anomie and totemic worship and Georg Simmel's social forms are described and compared as idealist manifestations. Robert Bellah's American civil religion is extrapolated to an institutional form of civil religion in Texas A&M University's Corps of Cadets as an organization utilizing totemic and philosophical ideals, collective representations, collective effervescence, civil ceremonies and intolerance as elements of the social solidarity. A personal, qualitative account of the indoctrination into this unconventionally religious organization, including quotations from members, is compared to the paradigms of religion as theorized by Bellah and Durkheim in order to display the use of idealism in the institutional setting. Theoretical perspectives of consumerism as described by George Ritzer and Campbell, as well as Thorstein Veblen's account of devotion are shown to have idealistic representations on both an individual and social level. This dissertation takes the reader from a concept of a non-supernatural existence to the use of idealism in various forms in order to assuage the awareness of painful aspects of reality. A method for a positive, naturalistic approach to the frozen lake is offered.

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abstract: Relative to their heterosexual peers, sexual minority youth experience significant mental health disparities. This, in part, is due to prejudicial encounters (e.g., discrimination, victimization) because of their sexual minority status, and potential compounding stressors from prejudicial experiences related to their ethnic minority status, which could lead to worse mental health outcomes due to intersecting minority stress processes. Surprisingly, even though religiosity has been identified as a protective factor in the general literature for adolescents and young adults, few studies have examined whether religiosity serves as a potential buffer of the relations between stress and mental health outcomes in sexual minority Latinx youth. Thus, the goals of this study were to examine: (1) whether ethnic discrimination and sexuality discrimination have additive or interactive effects on depressive symptoms, and (2) whether self or family religiosity moderate the relations between discrimination and depressive symptoms, in a sample of 377 sexual minority Latinx youth (Mage = 20.29, SD = 2.61, age range 14-24). Results showed that there was no interactive effect between ethnic discrimination and sexuality discrimination in predicting depressive symptoms. There was a significant interaction between own religiosity and sexuality discrimination in predicting depressive symptoms, in which own religiosity was negatively associated with depressive symptoms only at low level of sexuality discrimination. No significant interaction emerged between own religiosity and ethnic discrimination. Finally, there were significant interactive effects between family religiosity and discrimination (ethnic and sexuality), in which family religiosity was negatively associated with depressive symptoms only at average and low level of discrimination. These findings highlight the importance of examining the intersection of religion, sexuality, and Latinx minority status in relation to mental health outcome. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2020

The negative association between religiosity and substance abuse is well established in previous literature. Scholarly research continues to find support for both intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity functioning as protective factors against substance abuse with intrinsic religiosity’s negative correlation with substance use being more established in literature than extrinsic religiosity. This study focuses on the relationship between college student intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity, measured by the Intrinsic/Extrinsic Religiosity Scale and substance use, measured by the Texas Christian University Drug Screen-5 (TCUDS-5). The Intrinsic/Extrinsic Religiosity Scale and the TCUDS-5 are well established instruments with historically high internal consistency. We hypothesized that there was a negative correlation between religiosity scores and substance use scores among our population. Additionally, we hypothesized that intrinsic religiosity would have a stronger relationship with substance use than extrinsic religiosity would. In order to test our hypothesis, a survey was administered to undergraduate students at a university in the southeast. After cleaning the data, our total sample consisted of 386 students. Of those surveyed, 256 are female, 127 are male, and 1 classified other. The majority of the population identified as White (n = 328), followed by Black (n = 28), Hispanic (n = 23), and Asian, Native American/Pacific Islander, Multiracial, or Other (n = 7). All students received extra credit as an incentive to voluntarily complete a larger battery of measures related to habits and addiction. However, this analysis will only include the Intrinsic/Extrinsic Religiosity Scale (M = 12.019, SD = 5.55) and the TCUDS-5 (M = 0.762, SD = 2.004). A Pearson correlation was completed to determine whether there was a statistically significant relationship between religiosity and substance use in college students. All analyses were conducted using JASP. Results supported our hypothesis with findings indicating evidence for a statistically significant negative correlation between intrinsic religiosity and substance abuse (r = -.142, p = .005). Our hypothesis that extrinsic religiosity will not be as strongly related to substance use as intrinsic religiosity was supported for social extrinsic religiosity (r = -.121, p =.018), but not supported for personal extrinsic religiosity measure (r = -.15, p =.002). The results of this study contribute to the converging evidence that intrinsic religiosity is inversely related to substance use and could serve as a protective factor against problematic substance use. Those who have internalized their faith may rely on faith to cope with stress rather than use substances or restrict use due to religious beliefs. Thus, this study provides potential support for the theory that religiosity is a protective factor against substance use disorders. Future research should investigate the longitudinal impact of religiosity on substance use in college students and other populations.

Robert Agnew’s (1992) General Strain Theory significantly revitalized traditional scholarship in the anomie/strain tradition by offering a general theory of crime; purported to account for both criminal and analogous behaviors. GST specifically extends anomie/strain theory by introducing new sources of strain (i.e. loss of positively valued stimuli, presentation of noxious stimuli) into the theoretical framework, as well as elucidating the causal pathways (including mediating and moderating effects) leading from the experience of strain to deviant coping mechanisms. An emerging trend within GST is the identification of previously untapped sources of strain (e.g. victimization, discrimination) that ostensibly have deviancegenerating properties. Concerning the latter trend, recent empirical iterations of GST have also introduced internal (e.g. self-esteem) and external conditioning factors (e.g. social control) that have been found to exert a mediating effect on the relationship between strain-generated negative emotions and deviant coping responses. Jang and Johnson-in a recent series of studies (2003, 2005)-offered a crucial extension to the General Strain Theory (GST) literature by finding that religiosity at least partially moderates the deviance-generating effects of strain-induced negative affect among a sample of African Americans. The current study offers a key extension to the Jang and Johnson thesis by offering the most comprehensive examination of the central tenets of their research to a nationally-representative, longitudinal sample of adolescents. Results from Waves I and II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health reveal support for GST in general, and qualified support for the Jang/Johnson thesis in particular. Strain was found to be a significant, positive predictor of depression and anger. With regard to the fundamental hypothesis of the current research, partial support was garnered for the Jang and Johnson hypothesis. In particular, religiosity only offered direct protective effects when predicting drug use, and failed to condition the relationship of strain on deviance across any of the deviance measures. Consequently, religiosity failed to moderate the effects of strain on deviant coping strategies among the full sample, although significant conditioning effects were observed for female deviance. Consequently, these results largely attribute the Jang and Johnson findings to elevated levels of religiosity in their sample.

Students enrolled in Roanoke County Schools in 2003 became voluntary participants in the Communities That Care Youth Survey (CTCYS), which had been administered to a group (N = 3022) of 6th through 12th graders. The students answered multiple choice questions to determine their attitudes concerning many important topics within their home, school, and community domains. The carefully documented evaluation was conducted to determine the significance of two protective factors, which were employed to explain associations between students who stated that their parents had clear alcohol, tobacco, and drug use rules in the home as well as those who stated they frequently attended religious services and activities, termed parent efficacity and religiosity, respectively. Because risk factors are common among adolescents and few well-designed studies are addressing the benefits of parent efficacity or religiosity as protective factors, this study analyzed the CTCYS data utilizing meta-analyses to assess the efficacy of these two environmental factors in relation to students’ expressed perceptions of smoking cigarettes as a popular adolescent risk activity. Variables are unique to each individual and sample, therefore, multiple factors demonstrating risk and protective qualities were measured using a 0 to 8 point Likert summated rating scale. The various areas were examined according to frequency of risk behavior (i.e., smoking status - current, past, or never). Findings yielded statistically conclusive relationships within the participant responses using Chi-square analysis at the 0.05 level (2-sided), indicating a significant level of interaction between the select protective factors and tobacco use study variables. / Ph. D.

There are substantial data exploring the link between religiosity and health, yet there is no consensus regarding the appropriate measurement tool for assessing religiosity in health psychology settings. The purpose of this study was to identify a set of items that could serve as a reliable and valid proxy measure of religiosity. Participants included 251 (M=19.02; range = 17-25) young adults who completed self-report measures of religiosity (Intrinsic-Extrinsic/Revised, Quest Scale, Faith Maturity Scale), psychological distress (SCL-90-R), and personality (NEOPI-R). Individual item pools for religiosity were developed by identifying significant correlations between each of the religiosity measures and the SCL-90-R items. Exploratory factor analyses and item-level analyses were conducted and convergent and discriminant validity were examined for each proposed measure. A group of items were identified that were associated with previously validated measures of religiosity. These religiosity measures were also associated with the personality domains of Openness to Experience and Agreeableness but were not associated with Neuroticism. There was insufficient evidence, however, to conclude that the proposed measures could serve as true proxy measures of religiosity as they were more strongly associated with Neuroticism than the religiosity measures from which they were derived. The results of this study underscore the importance of the religiosity construct to health-related outcomes, yet much work remains to delineate the optimal means of measuring the construct and the specific pathways by which religiosity may exert its influence on both mental and physical health.

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I examine whether religiosity is positively associated with the valuation multiples investors assign to fair valued items that are prone to managerial bias. Using a sample of U.S. banking firms, I find that the value relevance of net assets that are hard to verify is higher for firms located in more religious areas than for those located in less religious areas. Moreover, I hypothesize and find that audit quality and firm information environment quality moderate the positive association between religiosity and value relevance. I perform several robustness checks. First, I rule out several alternative explanations to my results. Second, I address the concern that my results suffer from an omitted correlated variable problem. Third, I show that my results hold for firms located in Urban as well as Rural areas. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2013-11-28 11:01:35.578

O sinal da cruz feito sobre o peito ao entrar no local de disputa sempre com o pé direito; dedos apontados para o céu enquanto uma reza ou oração é proferida antes da partida, ou em agradecimento por um gol ou ponto marcado, enfim, pela vitória, pela medalha pendurada no pescoço. Conseguimos encontrar com muita facilidade inúmeras manifestações cotidianas de religiosidade no meio esportivo. Essas crenças pessoais e o esporte podem conviver em paz e harmonia na vida de um atleta por toda sua carreira em total simbiose. Todavia, ambos, esporte e religiosidade podem se chocar e promover momentos de crise entre a religião professada, crenças pessoais e a carreira esportiva. Alguns exemplos disso podem ser percebidos nos conflitos envolvendo a observação de jejuns obrigatórios impostos pela religião durante competições, guarda de dias sagrados, abstenção e recusa em receber prêmios em bebida alcóolica, uso de uniformes com slogans contrários à crenças ou que mostram o corpo de forma imprópria, entre muitos outros. Como estes processos são percebidos na carreira de atletas olímpicos? Será que o esporte pode ser visto, de alguma forma, como um substituto, parceiro ou inimigo da religião para alguns atletas? Como a religião poderia influenciar os processos de treinamento e as competições? E ao mesmo tempo, como o esporte poderia influenciar as práticas religiosas cotidianas? Assim, quais as relações que os atletas percebem entre o esporte e suas crenças? Como os atletas enxergam e administram tais relações? Assim, foi objetivo desta pesquisa investigar, comparar e analisar as possíveis relações das vivências esportivas e da religiosidade de atletas olímpicos mediante entrevistas semiestruturadas baseadas no Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo (DSC) e Método de História Oral. Participaram deste estudo cinco atletas do sexo feminino e idade entre 27 e 56 anos, competidoras na última edição dos Jogos Olímpicos realizado no Brasil no ano de 2016 considerando a representatividade de tais atletas no cenário nacional nas modalidades Rugby, Luta (Wrestling), Remo, Taekwondo e Tiro Esportivo. Neste estudo exploratório descritivo de natureza qualitativa foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas baseadas nos métodos de História Oral Temática e os dados analisados a partir do DSC. Os resultados mostraram que a influência religiosa percebida diretamente na vivência esportiva é fraca: pontual - somente para determinados fins e esporádica - apenas em alguns momentos, estando sempre relacionada à superação de desafios e conquista de objetivos. A crença em Deus das atletas pesquisadas, embora sofra influência da religião familiar predominante, é exercida a sua maneira, subjetiva e individualmente e fornece suporte psicológico para a maioria das atletas ao ajudar a lidar com os constantes desafios da carreira esportiva promovendo resiliência, autoconfiança e esperança. Enquanto que a não crença é vista como um forma de ter mais autonomia no esporte, mais autonomia para agir no mundo sem precisar prestar conta ou esperar pela intervenção de um ser superior. As tendências de comportamentos das atletas, envolvidas com as orientações religiosas, são tão plurais quanto suas crenças, uma vez que a bricolagem de crenças e religiões é feita mais individualmente e menos coletivamente / The sign of the cross made on the chest when entering the place of dispute always with the right foot; fingers pointed to the sky while a prayer or prayer is given before the game, or in thanks for a goal or point marked, finally, by the victory, by the medal. We have been able to find with ease many daily manifestations of religiosity in the sport. These personal beliefs and sport can live in peace and harmony in the life of an athlete throughout his career in total symbiosis. However, both sport and religiosity may clash and promote moments of crisis between professed religion, personal beliefs and sports career. Some examples of this can be seen in conflicts involving the observance of mandatory fastings imposed by religion during competitions, sacred day keeping, abstention and refusal to receive alcoholic prizes, wearing uniforms with slogans that are contrary to beliefs or that show the body, among many others. How are these processes perceived in the career of Olympic athletes? Can sport be seen in any way as a substitute, partner, or enemy of religion for some athletes? How could religion influence training processes and competitions? And at the same time, how could sport influence everyday religious practices? So, what relationships do athletes perceive between sport and its beliefs? Thus, it was the objective of this research to investigate, compare and analyze the possible relationships of sporting experiences and the religiosity of Olympic athletes through semi-structured interviews based on the Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo (DSC) and Oral History Method. Participating in this study five female athletes, 27 until 56 years old, who competed in the last edition of the Olympic Games in Brazil 2016, considering the representation of such athletes in the national scenario in the Rugby, Wrestling, Taekwondo and Shooting. The results showed that the religious influence perceived directly in the sporting experience is weak: punctual - only for certain purposes and sporadic - only in some moments, being always related to overcoming challenges and achieving goals. The athletes\' belief in God while influenced by the predominant family religion, is exercised in their own way, subjectively and individually, and provides psychological support for most athletes by helping to deal with the constant challenges of a sports career by promoting resilience, self-confidence, and hope. While non-belief is seen as a way to have more autonomy in sport, more autonomy to act in the world without someone to care with or wait for the intervention. Athletes\' behavioral tendencies, involved with religious orientations, are as plural as their beliefs, since the bricolage of beliefs and religions is made more individually and less collectively