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
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:asu.edu/item:29686 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Contributors | Robele, Joseph (Author), Kinnier, Richard (Advisor), Kemer, Gulsah (Committee member), Santos, Carlos (Committee member), Arizona State University (Publisher) |
| Source Sets | Arizona State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Masters Thesis |
| Format | 69 pages |
| Rights | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/, All Rights Reserved |
Page generated in 0.0021 seconds