abstract: The purpose of this study was to create a brief strength of religious/nonreligious worldview scale that has language inclusive for nontheistic populations. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted using 207 participants from a major public southwestern university and a public midwestern university in the United States. It was determined that the Strength of Worldview Scale (SOWS) is a single-factor measure, which also demonstrated high test-retest reliability. It was hypothesized that scores on the SOWS would be negatively correlated with the Depression, Stress, and Anxiety Scale (DASS), positively correlated with the Purpose in Life Subscale, and not correlated with the Extraversion Subscale of the Big Five Inventory (BFI). Only a modest statistically significant correlation between the SOWS and Purpose in life was found. A regression analysis was also conducted with theistic/atheistic belief as a predictor of scores on the SOWS. A curvilinear relationship was found, indicating that strong theists and atheists score more highly in the SOWS than those who are unsure of their beliefs on the existence of a God, Gods, or Higher Power. Preliminary results suggest that the SOWS may be a promising measure for assessing strength of belief in both theist and nontheist populations. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Counseling Psychology 2015