Nonsuicidal Self-Injury and Attachment to God or a Higher Power

The relationship between nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and spirituality is an emerging area of research deserving additional investigation. The authors examined the link between NSSI and attachment to God or a higher power among college students (N = 516). They found a statistically significant relationship between anxious attachment to God or a higher power and NSSI and avoidant attachment to God or a higher power and NSSI. Researchers and counselors can draw implications from these findings.     

Between God and self: exploring the attachment to God and authenticity/inauthenticity tendencies of South African Christian youths

The paper explores the relationship between attachment to God (AG) and authenticity/inauthenticity among Christian youths in relation to a range of socio-demographic variables. Cross-sectional data were collected from 100 South African Christian youths using measures of AG and authenticity/inauthenticity. The correlation results reveal that feelings of insecurity in terms of having anxiety in a relationship with God is positively related to self-alienation (feeling out of touch with oneself) and accepting external influences (conforming to the standards and expectations of others), but negatively correlated to authentic living (being in tune with one’s self). Feelings of insecurity in terms of avoidant God-attachment was also related to self-alienation. In addition, demographic differences were observed for gender and church denomination. These results suggest that insecurity with God may either be linked to feelings of authenticity or self-estrangement among Christian youths and have broad implications, both for clinical usage and further cross-cultural research.     

Gendered God Imagery and Attitudes Toward Mothers’ Labor Force Participation: Examining the Transposable Character of Religious Schemas

God imagery has been shown to have a profound influence on a diverse array of attitudes and behaviors. Research has also underscored the religious antecedents of traditionalist gender ideologies. This study integrates these parallel literatures by examining the degree to which gendered God imagery is a transposable schema that is associated with attitudes toward mothers’ paid labor force participation. We hypothesize that otherworldly schemas predicated on gender difference—namely, paternal and maternal images of God—have this‐worldly consequences by reinforcing opposition to mothers’ workforce participation. Analyses of General Social Survey data reveal strong support for this hypothesis. The evidence also demonstrates that paternal God images produce particularly robust and persistent opposition to mothers’ labor force participation net of other factors. Additional hypotheses about the interaction effects exhibited by gendered God imagery, prayer, and worship service attendance are modestly supported. We conclude by discussing our study's implications and outlining directions for future research.     

Racism in the Hands of an Angry God: How Image of God Impacts Cultural Racism in Relation to Police Treatment of African Americans

Previous research suggests an angry God image is a narrative schema predicting support for more punitive forms of criminal justice. However, this research has not explored the possibility that racialization may impact one's God image. We perform logistic regression on Wave V of the Baylor Religion Survey to examine the correlation between an angry God image and the belief that police shoot Blacks more often because Blacks are more violent than Whites (a context-specific form of cultural racism). Engaging critical insights from intersectionality theory, we also interact angry God image with both racialized identity and racialized religious tradition. Results suggest that the angry God schema is associated with this form of cultural racism for White people generally as well as White Evangelicals, yet for Black Protestants, belief in an angry God is associated with resistance against this type of cultural racism.     

Perceived relationship with God moderates the relationship between social comparison and body appreciation

Social comparison has been shown to contribute to the negative attitudes that most Western women have towards their bodies. However, minimal research has addressed the relationship between social comparison and body appreciation, which entails holding favourable opinions towards the body, accepting the body along with its deviations from societal beauty ideals, respecting the body by engaging in healthy behaviours, and protecting the body by rejecting unrealistic media appearance ideals. This study tested whether feeling loved and accepted by God would weaken the inverse relationship between social comparison and body appreciation among a sample of 186 female undergraduates. Results showed that frequent body-related comparisons were related to lower body appreciation, but this relationship was conditional upon the quality of women's perceived relationship with God. Results suggest that future research should explore interventions designed to create improved secure attachment relationships between clients and God.     

Ungraceful God: Masculinity and Images of God in Brazilian Popular Culture

Abstract

The article investigates how God is represented in popular culture, especially in music, in Brazil. It gives a general background about Brazilian culture showing how religion is part of the identity constructions of Brazilian people and how it is marked by multiplicity, syncretism and hybridization. It then analyses two popular songs that make explicit statements about "who God is" and how those statements are related to traditional masculine gender constructions. Finally, the article discusses how issues of masculinity and religion have been approached in recent scholarship and points to the need for other ways of imagining God that are related to people's experience.     

Closeness to God,anger toward God,and seeing such anger as morally acceptable: links to life satisfaction

This study examined the relationships among closeness with and anger toward God, moral acceptability of anger toward God, and life satisfaction (LS) in a sample of undergraduates (N?=?196). Findings showed that closeness to God moderated the association between anger toward God and LS, such that high anger combined with high closeness was associated with lower LS. Contrary to predictions, seeing anger toward God as morally acceptable did not moderate the connection between anger and LS, and in the context of closeness to God, it weakened the association between closeness and LS. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of understanding the dynamic and nuanced role of human emotions and perceptions in personal relationships with the Divine.     

Children's Theories of God: Explanations for Difficult-to-Explain Phenomena

Participants in 3 age groups (preschoolers, 3rd graders, and college students) generated explanations for various phenomena. Participants with higher levels of religious involvement provided more attributions to God than participants with lower levels of religious involvement. Also, older participants provided more attributions to God than younger participants. The results suggest that individuals who have higher levels of religious involvement develop theorylike understanding based on their conception of God. It appears that this theorylike understanding has explanatory utility that increases with age.     

Attachment to God,religious tradition,and firm attributes in workplace commitment

Research on organizational commitment suggests there is an association between American theists’ emotional attachment to God and their emotional commitment to the workplace. A sense of divine calling has been shown to partially mediate this association but, beyond that, little is known. The purpose of this study is to shed further light on the relationship between secure attachment to God and affective organizational commitment. I do so by testing whether the employee’s religious tradition is associated with affective organizational commitment and whether the employee’s firm attributes moderate the relationship between attachment to God and organizational commitment. Results suggest that: 1) Catholics evince higher levels of organizational commitment than Evangelicals, and 2) firm size significantly moderates the relationship between attachment to God and organizational commitment across religious affiliations.     

God image and Five-Factor Model personality characteristics in later life: A study among inhabitants of Sassenheim in The Netherlands

Affective or emotional aspects of religiousness are considered to be crucial in the association between religiousness and well-being, especially in later life. Such affective aspects can be understood as pertaining to the God–object relationship, corresponding to feelings of trust towards God or to religious discontent. Personality characteristics, such as those defined by the Five-Factor Model of Personality, are expected to correspond with God image. A small sample of older mainline church members in Sassenheim, The Netherlands (n = 53), aged 68–93, filled out a questionnaire, including 120 items of the NEO-PI-R, the Questionnaire God Image, frequency of prayer, church attendance, and depressive symptoms. Neuroticism was associated with feelings of anxiety towards God as well as discontent towards God. Agreeableness was associated with perceiving God as supportive and with prayer. These findings persisted after adjustment for depressive symptoms. For the other three personality factors, no clear patterns emerged. Results were compared with those from studies of God image and the Five-Factor Model of personality among younger people.     

青少年和父母对心理咨询认识的质性研究

用访谈法探讨8个已求助和5个未求助家庭的青少年和父母对心理咨询的认识;比较已求助者和未求助者、青少年和父母对心理咨询认识的差异。结果显示,青少年和父母从6个方面描述心理咨询:功能、形式、适用问题、服务提供者、求助者和效果,各方面提及次数最多的分别是问题解决、谈话法、心理困扰、心理医生、心理有病的人和有帮助;误解包括心理咨询是针对心理有病的人,只有严重问题才需要求助。已求助者比未求助者更了解心理咨询,提及问题解决、心理困扰和有帮助的次数更多。青少年更多认为心理咨询是心理老师处理正常群体的心理困扰;父母更多认为心理咨询是心理医生处理心理疾病。青少年和父母对心理咨询的认识趋于理性和准确,但仍有误解需要澄清。     

Attachment style,attachment to God,religiosity, and moral disengagement: a study on offenders

The present study investigates religiosity, moral disengagement, attachment to God, and interpersonal attachment in 30 offenders within Italian jails. We administered a semi-structured interview to collect data about family, social and medical history, and the manner in which the deviant act was carried out; the Moral Disengagement Scale; the Attachment to God Inventory; the Revised Intrinsic/Extrinsic Religious Orientation Scale; and the Attachment Style Questionnaire. Results show how intrinsic religiosity negatively predicts moral disengagement; the “Preoccupation with Relationships” Scale (anxious/ambivalent attachment) predicts avoidant attachment to God; and the “Secondariety for Relationship” Scale (dismissing attachment) predicts personal extrinsic religiosity and negatively predicts intrinsic religiosity. Studying these constructs in offenders is important not only to increase the literature but also to implement interventions aimed at reeducation focused on issues relevant to personal adjustment.     

God Versus Party: Competing Effects on Attitudes Concerning Criminal Punishment,National Security,and Military Service

We explore how images of God interact with political party to predict attitudes concerning the appropriate role of government in both criminal punishment and national security. Using the second wave of the Baylor Religion Survey (2007), we analyze the extent to which beliefs regarding God's moral judgment moderate the influence of party affiliation on opinions about the death penalty, fighting terrorism, punishing criminals, serving in the military, and U.S. involvement in the Iraq War. Specifically, we find that Democrats who believe in a judgmental God tend to support more conservative policies. In fact, attitudes converge such that the effects of party membership are erased if rival partisans both believe in a judgmental moral authority.     

Mentalizing in Parents after Traumatic Loss. Analysis of Couple Counseling

Abstract

The aim of the study is to explore whether bereaved parents’ capacity to mentalize is related to their progression through grieving and how it changes during couple therapy. The clients’ RF levels were assessed using the Reflective Functioning Scale and Psychotherapy Reflective Functioning Scale Manual. The content of the sessions was analyzed using Thematic Analysis. At the beginning of the therapy, concrete images of the child’s death were more frequent and the parents’ RF was lower than their general RF level. As the therapy progressed these images were gradually supplanted by more mental references to the deceased child.     

The role of attachment to God in secular and religious/spiritual ways of coping with a serious disease

This study investigated the role of security in one's attachment to God in relation to both secular and religious/spiritual ways of coping with a serious illness. The main objective was to test whether attachment to God and type of disease were related to secular coping strategies, when controlling for the effects of religious/spiritual coping. Study participants (N = 105) had been diagnosed either with cancer (i.e., an acute disease) and were under chemotherapy/awaiting surgery or with renal impairment (i.e., a chronic disease) and were attending dialysis. Results showed that secure attachment to God was uniquely related to fighting spirit, whereas insecure attachment to God was uniquely linked to hopelessness, suggesting that security, unlike insecurity, in one's attachment to God may impact favourably on adjustment to the disease. The only coping strategy related to type of disease was cognitive avoidance, which was linked to chronic disease.     

I have cried to Him a thousand times,but it makes no difference: sexual abuse,faith, and images of God

Experiences of sexual abuse may lead to religious struggles and affect a person's faith. This study focused on how victims of sexual abuse describe their relationships with God and with other parishioners. Our interest was in sexual abuse that had occurred outside the religious congregation, not abuse perpetrated by a minister or any other representative of the church. Interviews conducted with seven women and one man were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. The informants described a wavering relationship with God and with the congregation. They felt that God had betrayed and abandoned them, and they struggled with different aspects of anger. These emotions made the informants feel different from, and sometimes excluded from, the Christian community. Along with these feelings, however, the informants expressed a strong longing for God and a need to feel protected by the congregation. All informants described the effect the abuse had on their faith as essential to their trauma, and as an issue they needed to work through to learn how to live with their experiences.     

Fathers and Perceptions of God Play an Important Role in Psychological Adjustment Among Emerging Adults in Guatemala and the United States

Interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory posits that people require parental acceptance in childhood to develop healthy psychological adjustment. People’s beliefs about and their relationship with deity also influences their psychological adjustment. The purpose of the present study was to investigate how both perceived parental acceptance and a relationship with deity are related to psychological adjustment for emerging adults in Guatemala and the United States. Participants (N?=?189) from Guatemala and the United States completed measures of perceived parental acceptance-rejection, images of God, attachment to God, and psychological adjustment. Results indicate that perceived paternal acceptance-rejection was only a significant predictor of psychological adjustment in U.S. participants, and not in Guatemalan participants. In both samples, images of God did not predict psychological adjustment. However, an anxious attachment with God predicted psychological maladjustment for both groups. The findings suggest that two important factors to be considered by researchers, educators, and mental health professionals are adults’ perceptions of their father’s level of acceptance-rejection and the amount of anxiety they experience in their relationship with God.     

Faith and Agency: The Relationships Between Sense of Control,Socioeconomic Status,and Beliefs About God

An individual's sense of control varies with religiosity, but the direction of this relationship can change based on one's social status and one's image of God. Using data from the Baylor Religion Survey Wave V, our current study investigates how secure attachment to God, belief in a judgmental God, and belief in divine control are associated with sense of control. Our findings indicate that the type of religious belief explains when religion is positively or negatively related to the believers’ sense of control. And secure attachment to God and belief in divine control will compensate for social and economic deprivation. Still, belief in a judgmental God is negatively related to agency for believers across the stratification hierarchy. This indicates that a traditional fire-and-brimstone God is related to a lower sense of control, while more contemporary and individualized beliefs about God are connected to greater agency, especially for believers in need.     

Protecting God from Science and Technology: How Religious Criticisms of Biotechnologies Backfire

Many religious critics argue that biotechnology (such as cloning and genetic engineering) intrudes on God's domain, or plays God, or revolts against God. While some of these criticisms are standard complaints about human hubris, I argue that some of the recent criticism represents a "Promethean" concern, in which believers unreflectively seem to fear that science and technology are actually replicating or stealing God's special deity–defining powers. These criticisms backfire theologically, because they diminish God, portraying God as an anthropomorphic superbeing whose relevance and special nature are increasingly rivaled by human power.