Growth in research on the psychology of religion is contributing to a greater understanding of the impact of religious variables on mental health. The purpose of the current project was to examine how religious orientation (RO), locus of control (LOC), and spiritual meaning (SM) relate to anxious symptoms (AS) and depressive symptoms (DS) in a college sample. Specifically, locus of control (LOC) and spiritual meaning (SM) were hypothesized to mediate the relations between RO and AS and DS. The sample analyzed consisted of 401 undergraduate students who were primarily Caucasian and Christian. Correlational analyses, mediated regression analyses, and moderated regression analyses were used to examine the hypotheses. Because gender differences are noted in the literature when examining the relations between RO and mental health variables and were also found in the present study, gender was controlled in all analyses. In the current study, females had lower levels of internal LOC (ILOC) and chance LOC (CLOC) and higher levels of God LOC (GLOC), AS, and SM than males. Many mediational hypotheses were supported. SM mediated the relations between intrinsic religiousness (IRO) and AS and between IRO and DS. SM partially mediated the relation between extrinsic religious orientation (ERO) and AS. ILOC was not found to mediate the relations between RO and AS or between RO and DS. Powerful others LOC (PO LOC) mediated the relation between IRO and AS. PO LOC partially mediated the relations between ERO and AS, between quest religiousness (QRO) and AS, between IRO and DS, and between QRO and DS. CLOC mediated the relations between IRO and AS, between ERO and AS, between QRO and AS, and between QRO and DS. CLOC partially mediated the relation between IRO and DS. GLOC partially mediated the relation between QRO and DS. Social desirability was examined as moderating the relations between RO and AS and between RO and DS. Social desirability was found to moderate the relation between ERO and DS. In sum, LOC and SM were found to mediate relations between RO and AS and DS. Social desirability moderated the relation between ERO and DS.

Student Number : 9805453M - MA research report - School of Human and Community Development - Faculty of Humanities / In recent years, there has been increased interest among multidisciplinary researchers in looking at the relationship between religion and health, with the bulk of the literature indicating that religion has largely positive effects on mental health (Masters, Hill, Kircher, Benson & Fallon, 2004; Pieper, 2004; Smith, McCullough & Poll, 2003). Hence this study has chosen to focus on the relationship between undergraduate students’ perceptions of religious orientation, as defined by Allport and Ross (1967), and their perceptions of pressure – a form of stress identified by Weiten (1988). Questionnaires comprising of the Religious Orientation Scale, the Pressure Inventory and demographic information in terms of age, gender and religious affiliation were administered to undergraduate engineering students at the University of the Witwatersrand to explore religious orientation and pressure respectively. The sample consisted of 76 undergraduate engineering students at the University of the Witwatersrand. The results revealed that in this sample religious orientation had no influence on perceptions of pressure. In terms of the demographic variables, neither age nor gender was found to influence students’ perceptions of religious orientation or pressure, respectively. However a significant difference was found between religious affiliation and both religious orientation and pressure. More specifically religious affiliation showed a significant difference in terms of intrinsic religious orientation, selfimposed pressure, pressure in intimate relations and total pressure.

Centuries of overt and covert segregation, oppression and discrimination against persons of African ancestry in America by their white counterparts have conditioned this marginalized group to be mistrustful of their relations with white Americans. This response, known as cultural mistrust, significantly contributes to negative help-seeking attitudes and underutilization of mental health services because the majority of practitioners are white (Grier and Cobbs, 1968; Whaley, 2001). This report will use multiple regression statistical analysis to explore racial identity, perceived racism, and religious orientation as predictors of cultural mistrust to propose ways practitioners can increase African-American utilization of mental health services. Gender differences in cultural mistrust will also be explored. / text

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Military spouses are often left at home when their service member deploys to areas outside the United States. These deployments can have a lasting impact on the military spouses' perception of marital happiness. Communication problems can occur within the marriage and military spouses may use their religious orientation to alleviate the stress that comes from deployments. This quantitative study used an online survey method to conduct bivariate correlations and multiple regression analysis from a sample of 128 military spouses. This study focused on the family stress theory and used the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale, Extrinsic and Intrinsic Religious Orientation Scale, and Primary Communication Inventory. Bivariate correlations indicated a significant relationship between communication, extrinsic religious orientation, intrinsic religious orientation, and marital happiness. Multiple regression indicated a strong significant relationship with communication and a negative significant relationship with extrinsic and intrinsic religious orientation. After controlling for the covariates, communication and age of spouse were significant, while the remaining variables were nonsignificant. In addition, binary logistic regression was conducted, and communication and intrinsic religious orientation were significant, while extrinsic religious orientation was nonsignificant with marital happiness. The experiences that military spouses undergo with deployments may be useful for therapists, chaplains, or military leaders to provide learning techniques on coping after deployments, promote longevity with military marriages through premarital workshops, chaplain-sponsored marital retreats, and marriage therapy for military spouses to promote marital happiness.

An intrinsic religious orientation has been linked to improved cardiovascular health. Individuals may be protected by their beliefs against anger/hostility, which have been linked to increased cardiovascular reactivity and disease. Health locus of control differentiates between internals, who take responsibility for health, and externals, who attribute responsibility to chance or powerful others. Internal health locus of control has been linked to healthy behaviors, but its relationship to religious orientation is unclear. Intrinsically held religious beliefs and internally held expectancies for health may, through the mechanism of reactivity, reduce risk for cardiovascular disease. This study explored relationships among health locus of control, religious orientation, and cardiovascular reactivity to an interpersonal stressor in an older adult population. Intrinsic religiousness and internal health locus of control emerged as highly related potential buffers against anger/hostility and cardiovascular reactivity.

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<p>As a psychological principle, the golden rule represents an ethic of universal empathic concern. It is, surprisingly, present in the sacred texts of virtually all religions, and in philosophical works across eras and continents. Building on the literature demonstrating a positive impact of prosocial behavior on well-being, the present study investigates the psychological function of universal empathic concern in Indian Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Sikhs.</p><p>I develop a measure of the centrality of the golden rule-based ethic, within an individual’s understanding of his or her religion, that is applicable to all theistic religions. I then explore the consistency of its relationships with psychological well-being and other variables across religious groups. </p><p>Results indicate that this construct, named Moral Concern Religious Focus, can be reliably measured in disparate religious groups, and consistently predicts well-being across them. With measures of Intrinsic, Extrinsic and Quest religious orientations in the model, only Moral Concern and religiosity predict well-being. Moral Concern alone mediates the relationship between religiosity and well-being, and explains more variance in well-being than religiosity alone. The relationship between Moral Concern and well-being is mediated by increased preference for prosocial values, more satisfying interpersonal relationships, and greater meaning in life. In addition, across religious groups Moral Concern is associated with better self-reported physical and mental health, and more compassionate attitudes toward oneself and others.</p><p>Two additional types of religious focus are identified: Personal Gain, representing the motive to use religion to improve one’s life, and Relationship with God. Personal Gain is found to predict reduced preference for prosocial values, less meaning in life, and lower quality of relationships. It is associated with greater interference of pain and physical or mental health problems with daily activities, and lower self-compassion. Relationship with God is found to be associated primarily with religious variables and greater meaning in life. </p><p>I conclude that individual differences in the centrality of the golden rule and its associated ethic of universal empathic concern may play an important role in explaining the variability in associations between religion, prosocial behavior and well-being noted in the literature.</p> / Dissertation

This study examined the relationship between the religious orientation quest and well-being using the 1998 General Social Survey. In addition to the religious orientation quest the extrinsic and intrinsic religious orientations were also investigated. Analysis of the data indicated that there was a slight negative association between quest and general well-being, while also demonstrating a strong positive association between quest and inner peace. These results underscore the supposition that quest is an orientation that is complex and ultimately deserves further attention.

En enkätstudie utfördes utifrån en regressionsdesign. Studien utfördes i syfte att redogöra förklaringsvärdet hos religiös orientering i subjektivt välmående för religiösa svenskar. Stickprov gjordes med ett internetbaserat klusterurval. Enkäten publicerades på fem slutna grupper för olika religiösa tillhörigheter på sociala medier. För att mäta religiös orientering gjordes en översättning på I/E-R som mätte religiös orientering i tre dimensioner. För att mäta subjektivt välmående användes SWLS. Två frågor mätte deltagares regelbundna religiösa aktivitet. En forced-entry multipel regressionsanalys gav ett signifikant förklaringsvärde för prediktorerna inre och yttre tro på 12 procent. Deltagarnas regelbundna religiösa aktivitet uppmättes vara enhetligt högt. Deltagarnas välmående uppmättes vara i den övre gränsen av vad som klassas som normalt välmående. Slutsatsen drogs att religiös aktivitet motverkade dysfunktionella effekter på välmående utan att leda till högre än normalt välmående. I tillägg gjordes slutsatsen att teori om religiös orientering är för kulturellt kontextkänslig för att vara tillförlitlig i det svenska samhället. Framtida forskning uppmanas till att kontrollera för sociala tillgångar och vilken specifik religion deltagare tillhör. / An electronic survey was performed to conduct a regression study. The study was conducted with the specific goal to find the explanatory value in religious orientation for subjective well-being for religious Swedes. Samples were drawn from internet based clusters. The survey was made available on five different closed groups for religiously active members on social media. I/E-R was translated and used to measure religious orientation on three dimensions. Subjective well-being was measured using SWLS. Two single items measured regular religious activity. A forced-entry multiple regression analysis showed an explanatory value of 12 percent for the predictors intrinsic and extrinsic belief. Regular religious activity was measured to be uniformly high. Subjective well-being was found to be in the upper levels of normal well-being. The conclusion drawn was that religious activity inhibited dysfunctional behavior and thus brought about a healthy well-being. In addition it was concluded that the cultural sensitivity in the religious orientation scale made measurements unreliable in the Swedish society. Future research is encouraged to control for social recourses when testing for effects on well-being as well as to control for what specific religion is practiced.