This study examines the influence of religion on economic attitudes over time. To do this, it focuses on how the impact changes without camouflaging the effect of religious beliefs and practices. It partially adopts the approach by Guiso et al. (2003) to test the enduring importance of religion and then extended to capture its influence over time–using OLS and Panel regression models. An “Integrated Values Surveys 1981-2014” data set from both the World Values Survey (WVS) and the European Values Survey (EVS) is employed in the study, using the latest available waves. Over time, I find that religion remains significant and statistically correlated to the development of institutions favorable for economic growth. Although these effects vary across different religious denominations, however, none of them seems to be an impediment to the development of government institutions, and for the most part a free market economy. Further analysis reveals that religious belief, irrespective of service attendance, appears to be an important measure of religiosity, and excluding its effect from the study of religion seems to conceal much of its influence on people’s attitudes. Religious people tend to exhibit more positive economic attitudes than atheists, and these effects are virtually significant across categories, even if we focus on how they differ over time. However, religious people seem to be less concern about market competition but are more likely to support its fairness. For some religions, these effects tend to remain constant over time, while for others, there are significant changes across denominations. Another key observation is that conservative attitudes toward women for almost all religions tend to be weakening, moving one year in time, compared to the result reported by Guiso et al. (2003). But this effect is however opposite regarding women’s right to education and roles as housewives, where nearly all religions are becoming far more conservative over time. Perhaps not surprising also, all religions are becoming far more trustful of the government, the police, the army and the justice systems, although their attitudes toward strangers and people of other races seem to be moving in opposite direction. Therefore, contrary to conventional wisdom on the persistence of cultural traits on economic outcomes, this study provides one of the newest evidence that religious values and preferences are susceptible to changes over time, and that these effects are observable between generations, moving 33 years up, from 1981 to 2014. / Master's Thesis

Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Farrell J. Webb / The purpose of this thesis was to examine the well-being of adults from divorced and non-divorced family backgrounds. The thrust of this thesis was to examine if and how adult well-being is influenced by family background factors, specifically support, safety, religiosity and spirituality. Data for this analysis come from the National Survey of the Moral and Spiritual Lives of Children of Divorce, a nationally representative sample of 1,510 adults ages 18-35, evenly divided by either divorced or non-divorced backgrounds. Using Social Learning and Social Exchange Theories, a path model was created to inform and guide this investigation. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify similarities or differences within and between groups and test hypotheses. Results indicate that adults from divorced homes, lower in spirituality and higher in religiosity experience lower well-being than adults from non-divorced homes, those with higher spirituality or lower religiosity. Childhood religiosity was not related to adult well-being for those from a divorced background. However, childhood religiosity demonstrated a positive relationship with adult well-being for adults from non-divorced backgrounds. The path model uncovered that, among other variables, income and family support were important predictors of well-being across groups. For the divorce group, education appears to be uniquely salient, while spirituality is more influential for the non-divorce group.

Sexual health is related to sexual experience and the accurate understanding of HIV and STIs modes of transmission, symptoms, and prevention. An examination of the influence of sociocultural factors provides a greater understanding of the determinants of sexual health given that sexual conduct is socially and culturally constructed. Consequently, this study sought to examine the influence of acculturation as it related to identity, behaviours and values, and the effects of religiosity and perceived discrimination in Haitian-Canadian, Franco-Ontarian and Anglo-Canadian emerging adults on their level of sexual experience and knowledge of HIV and STIs. The results indicated that Haitian-Canadians were the least sexually experienced group. Haitian-Canadian women in particular, were less experienced than Franco-Ontarian and Anglo-Canadian young women. The three groups did not differ in their level of knowledge regarding HIV. Yet, Anglo-Canadians were the most knowledgeable regarding STIs, followed by Franco-Ontarians. The level of religiosity experienced by participants was the only significant predictor related to sexual experience for all three groups. More religiosity predicted less sexual experience. Furthermore, greater religiosity also predicted less knowledge of HIV for Franco-Ontarians. These findings suggest that more specific measures regarding sexual norms and values should be used to examine sexual acculturation.

The thesis is focused on relationship between income inequality and religiosity. Results of the analysis confirm correlation between income inequality and religiosity, however, causality of this relationship remains unclear. This relationship is established in the context of the theory of secularization, specifically in the new version -- the theory of existential insecurity. Analysis confirms this theory and is based on several sociological researches with a broad sample of countries and with several variables of religiosity separated into two groups (variables of religious participation and variables of personal faith), which is the main contribution of the analysis. Besides that, the thesis presents other explanations of the relationship between income inequality and religiosity. These theories are based on differences in preferences of religious and nonreligious individuals. The thesis also confirms ongoing secularization in the most countries of the world in last 20-30 years.

The thesis studies the possibilities of cultural animation of unused sacral monuments, especially churches. The theoretical part is searching for the reasons of the current poor condition of these buildings that have lost their regular liturgical function. The aim is to describe the position of religion and sacredness in the contemporary Czech society. It reviews the concept of cultural animation and its application on the specific case of the church. The practical part of the thesis is focused on the Karlovy Vary region, which was affected by the social discontinuity as a result of the post-war expulsion of Germans. There are many abandoned and ruined churches due to this reason. As a particular example of a successful animation is described Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary in Skoky by Žlutice and its animation activities initiated by members of the association Pod střechou.

The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of the relationship between religiosity and burnout and to investigate whether the resources religiosity offers can counteract burnout. The study is of a qualitative nature as the empirical material has been gathered through six interviews. The analysis of the empirical material includes the theories KASAM by Aaron Antonovsky, social capital by Pierre Bourdieu and the theory of anomie by Emilé Durkheim. The results show that religiosity has health benefits for individuals and can act as a resource that counteracts burnout.

The present study examined the use of MacDonald's Expressions of Spirituality instrument with a younger and older adult sample. Specifically, MacDonald's proposed five factor model was assessed for fit with a sample of college age participants as well as a sample of adults over the age of 65. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess the fit of this model with samples, and this was followed by an exploratory factor analysis, and the results were considered in light of measurement equivalence and the definitions of the constructs of religiosity and spirituality. Further analyses examined levels of religiousness as well as relationships between religiousness/spirituality and potential correlates, such as postformal thinking, life events including changes and losses, emotional and physical well-being, and family upbringing, comparing young and older adult samples. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis revealed a solution with a better fit than MacDonald's model for both younger and older adults. While the number of factors were the same for both samples, item loadings and cross-loadings differed between the younger and older adult samples. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a four factor solution, with religiousness and spirituality items loading onto one factor. With regard to measurement equivalence, findings appear to indicate that the five factor solution and MacDonald's Expressions of Spirituality instrument may not be as useful with older adults. Additionally, findings are discussed with regard to the measurement of the constructs of religiosity and spirituality. In addition to measurement issues, several findings pointed to differences between the younger and older adult samples. For young adults, more life changes were related to higher levels of postformal thinking, but for older adults more life losses were related to higher levels of postformal thinking. Also, the older adult sample had higher levels of religiousness than the young adult sample. Several results were the same for younger and older adults. First, no correlation existed between religious commitment and postformal thinking. Second, a family history of religiousness was positively correlated with current religiousness. Third, for younger and older adults, religiousness was positively correlated with emotional well-being for low loss groups. Limitations of the current study are discussed, and implications for clinical practice and future research are addressed.

Although a change of religious landscape in America in recent years has been suggested and widely accepted in the social sciences, most studies tend to focus on measures of religiosity and how it is changing. The subject of spirituality and its correlates seem to be mostly ignored. This study utilizes nationally representative data generated for the first time in General Social Survey (GSS) on the subject of spirituality to measure Americans' spirituality and daily spiritual experiences and their most significant correlates. In this study, most Americans (89%) showed to have some degree of spirituality and daily spiritual experiences. Moreover, variables of gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, religious origin, and residence in conservative region when growing up shown to be significant predictors of spirituality.

The marriage and family literature has identified a host of factors that contribute to a satisfactory marital union. For example, research on religious congruency has indicated that the more similar partners are in their religious beliefs the higher their reported marital satisfaction. Another construct studied in conjunction with marital satisfaction is adult attachment style. The attachment literature has consistently shown that secure couples tend to report higher marital satisfaction than couples with at least one insecure partner. The purpose of this study was to examine the combined role of religious commitment and attachment in marital satisfaction. Heterosexual couples (N = 184; 92 husbands, 92 wives) without children and married 1-5 years were administered a background information questionnaire, the Religious Commitment Inventory-10, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, and the Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory. Results indicated that couples with congruent religious commitment reported higher marital satisfaction than couples with large discrepancies in religious commitment. Religious commitment did not mediate the relationship between attachment and marital satisfaction, but instead was found to moderate this relationship. Results of this study will benefit clinicians working in the field to help newly married couples negotiate the marital relationship.

Two hundred twenty individuals participated in the present study from a university population. The study examined the relationship among attachment styles to caregivers, relationship with God, depressive symptomology, and depressive experiences. Attachment theorists have suggested a connection between childhood attachment to caregivers and current attachment to God through the idea that individuals have "working models" that form how they interpret present relationships. For the most part, the results of the current study supported the idea of correspondence between attachment to caregiver and attachment to God. Individual attachment styles to caregivers matched their attachment style to God. However, when caregiver religiousness was included as a moderating variable, results supported the theory of combined compensation-correspondence for those with insecure attachments to caregivers. Individuals with insecure attachment to caregivers were more likely to compensate for their insecure attachment bonds through participation in religious activity, whereas their internal, private relationship with God corresponded with their previous insecure attachment bonds. Individuals with insecure attachment to caregivers were more likely to endorse symptoms of depression and report introjective, but not anaclitic, depressive experiences. With respect to attachment to God, introjective depressive experiences were positively related to both anxious and avoidant attachments, whereas, anaclitic depressive experiences were positively related only to anxious attachment to God. Anxious attachment to God was found to partially mediate the relationship between insecure attachment to caregivers and depression symptoms. Finally, attachment effects were similar across gender, ethnicity, and age, with some notable exceptions.