Attitudes of Muslim Physicians and Nurses Toward Religious Issues

There is a growing body of evidence that suggests a positive role for religious involvement in physical and mental health. Studies have shown that attitudes of physicians toward religion affect their relationship with patients and their medical decisions, and in this way may ultimately affect treatment outcomes. Attitudes of nurses toward religion could also influence whether or not they address patients’ unmet spiritual needs. To assess attitudes of physicians and nurses toward religion and how these attitudes vary by education level and demographic characteristics, a total of 800 physicians, medical students, and nurses from some of the largest hospitals in Tehran, Iran, were approached, of whom 720 completed questionnaires (148 nurses, 572 medical students and physicians). The survey questionnaire included the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL), Hoge Intrinsic Religiosity Scale, a brief measure of Negative Religious Coping (NRCOPE), and the brief Trust/Mistrust in God Scale. Religious attitudes and practices were compared between physicians (medical students and physicians) and nurses. Regression analysis revealed that except for intrinsic religiosity, physicians were not less religious than nurses on any other dimension of religiosity. Training level (year of training) was a predictor of religiosity, with those having less training being the most religious. The findings suggest that there are few religious differences between nurses and physicians in Iran. However, religiosity may become less as the training level increases. Lack of emphasis in training on the important role that religion plays in health care may result in a decrease in religious involvement and the development of negative attitudes toward religion over time (displaced by a focus on the technological aspects of health care).     

The validation of a religiosity measure for individuals with schizophrenia

Measures of religiosity validated for psychotic patients do not exist. This study sought to examine the psychometric properties of a modified version of the Religious Life Inventory (RLI) in this population. It was anticipated that religiosity would be affected by psychotic symptoms. The religiosity of patients with schizophrenia was assessed while symptoms were more evident and again after treatment, to evaluate changes in religiosity. Four factors were found which characterized the religiosity of people with schizophrenia. These factors were found to have good construct validity. Patient's responses indicated a reduced need for religion when re-assessed once symptom scores were reduced.     

Multidimensional Inventory for Religious Spiritual Well-Being (MI RSWB 48): Validation with Iranian psychiatric outpatients

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to investigate the validation of the Multidimensional Inventory for Religious Spiritual Well-Being (MI RSWB 48) in a convenience sample of 250 Iranian psychiatric outpatients. In addition to the MI RSWB 48, the patients completed the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWS), the WHO-5, the PHQ-9, and the PHQ-15. Cronbach’s α for the MI RSWB 48 was .84, and for its subscales ranged from .33 (Hope Transcendent [HT] Subscale) to .89 (General Religiosity [GR] Subscale). The SWS score had the highest positive correlation with the MI RSWB 48 score. Two factors identified for the scale. The religiosity spirituality score of female patients was significantly higher than the score of the male patients. The MI RSWB 48 can be considered as a suitable tool for evaluating different aspects of religiosity and spirituality in Iranian society. The HT Subscale may need modification to improve its internal consistency.     

Religious orientation and its association with personality,schizotypal traits and manic-depressive experiences

A total of 180 respondents completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Claridge's STQ, Thalbourne's Manic-Depression scales and the Batson and Ventis Religious Life Inventory (RLI). The RLI was used to yield scores for external, internal and quest dimensions of religiosity. Principal Component Analysis showed the quest dimension to be separate from external and internal religion, which loaded together on one factor. It was found that when the personality and schizotypal trait measures were entered together to predict scores on religiosity, psychoticism emerged as the only predictor of external and internal religiosity, where as schizotypal traits emerged as the only predictor of religious quest.     

Perceived group variability and dispositional need for closure

Based on the closure motivation theory proposed by Kruglanski and Webster (1996), it was hypothesized that the extent of perceived variability of target group members would be related to dispositional need for closure. Israeli teachers (n = 160) judged their professors by means of two methods and answered the need for cognitive closure questionnaire (NFCS, Webster & Kruglanski, 1994). The findings show that need for closure is related to social judgment. The perception of participants high in need for closure was less differentiated and more extreme, in comparison to participants low in need for closure. Findings also yielded that measures of variability are method dependent.     

Religion,trauma and non-pathological dissociation in Northern Ireland

This study assessed the relationships between non-pathological dissociation, trauma and religion in members of the Northern Irish diaspora in England. One hundred and seventy-nine opportunity sampled participants completed the non-pathological absorption and imaginative involvement items from the Dissociative Experiences Scale, the Age Universal Intrinsic-Extrinsic Religious Orientation Scale, and a measure of exposure to traumatic events in the form of political violence derived from the Irish Social Mobility Survey (1973), the Social Attitudes Survey (1978), the Social Identity Survey (1995) and the Northern Ireland Referendum and Election Survey (1998). Analysis indicated that non-pathological dissociative experiences were not significantly predicted by intrinsic religiosity, extrinsic religiosity, direct exposure to political violence or indirect exposure to political violence, but were significantly predicted by some specific religious practices. Findings are discussed with specific reference to research on dissociation, trauma, and religion.     

Religiosity and life satisfaction across nations

This paper investigates the relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction in 79 nations using World Values Survey data. Extant literature analyzes religiosity and life satisfaction at person level. But religiosity is an attribute of both, persons and societies. To solve methodological problems evident in previous work a random coefficient multilevel model is employed to account for the fact that individuals are nested within countries. This study shows that the relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction is bimodal. Religious people tend to be either very satisfied or dissatisfied with life. The relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction is also two-dimensional. Forms of religiosity that promote social capital predict high life satisfaction. People have so called “need to belong” and religion helps to satisfy it. On the other hand, forms of religiosity that do not promote social capital do not predict high life satisfaction. Religiosity is also context-dependent. Religious people are happier in religious nations. In other words, it is not only religiosity per se that makes people happy, but rather a social setting it offers.     

Perceived group variability and dispositional need for closure

Based on the closure motivation theory proposed by Kruglanski and Webster (1996), it was hypothesized that the extent of perceived variability of target group members would be related to dispositional need for closure. Israeli teachers (n = 160) judged their professors by means of two methods and answered the need for cognitive closure questionnaire (NFCS, Webster & Kruglanski, 1994). The findings show that need for closure is related to social judgment. The perception of participants high in need for closure was less differentiated and more extreme, in comparison to participants low in need for closure. Findings also yielded that measures of variability are method dependent.     

Is the relationship between religiosity and personality ‘contaminated’ by social desirability as assessed by the Lie Scale? A methodological reply to Michael W. Eysenck (1998)

Abstract

Eysenck (Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 1, 11–19, 1998) raised a number of important theoretical and methodological issues in his review of the literature related to religion and the Eysenckian model of personality. The present aim is to methodologically address one such issue: Is the relationship between religiosity and personality ‘contaminated’ by social desirability as assessed by the Lie Scale? Data from two studies employing the Francis Scale of Attitude towards Christianity, alongside measures of Eysenckian Personality and Obsessionality among Northern Irish students are presented. In study one, using a survey design, significant associations were found between high scores on the religiosity scale and high scores on the Obsessional Trait Scale and low scores on the Psychoticism Scale. These findings remained significant even after the Lie Scale scores were statistically partialled out. In study two, using a repeated measures experimental design, respondents completed the questionnaires two weeks apart. However, on the second occasion they were connected to a ‘bogus pipeline’. No significant differences were found between scores on the two administrations. In addition, significant associations were found between high scores on the religiosity scale and high scores on the Obsessional Symptom Scale and low scores on the Psychoticism Scale. It is argued that the present studies provide further support that the association between religiosity and the personality traits of obsessionality and psychoticism are not simply a function of social desirability.     

Approaches to religiosity related to anxiety among college students

To date, the literature on religiosity and anxiety has yielded mixed results. Available results suggest that constellations of religious attitudes, commitment and denominational subcultures have diverse relationships with types of anxiety. A sample of college students from a predominantly conservative Christian area responded to the Prayer Functions Scale, the Religious Commitment Inventory, the Scriptural Literalism Scale, the Fowler Religious Attitudes Scale, the Anxiety Control Questionnaire and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. A principal components analysis suggests that a constellation of religious variables—which involves religious commitment; aspects of one's prayer life, and relating to others in the religious reference group—has a significant negative relationship with trait anxiety. Although further confirmatory studies are necessary, at this point available data suggest that a committed, related approach to religiosity may be associated with lower levels of general anxiety.     

The Imagination of Images and Images of Imagination: How the Imagination Relates to Aging,Health, and Spirituality

ABSTRACT

Psychological literature suggests that religion and spirituality increase in late adulthood. Yet, operational definitions of spirituality and religiosity remain widely debated and inadequate for the concepts they are designed to measure. The empirical studies of religion and spirituality as one ages are of poor design and often measure only limited aspects of religion or spirituality. Few empirical studies exist which have been conceived to only study religiosity and spirituality in late adulthood. The purpose of this study was to determine the defining aspects of religiosity and spirituality using the Allport, Ross Intrinsic, Extrinsic Religiosity Scale, Ellison's Spiritual Well-Being Scale, and Neugarten's Life Satisfaction Instrument. Using a principal component factor analysis, the study examined the factor structure using an older adult sample of 320 individuals 65 years of age and older. Having a purpose in life combines with intrinsic religious questions for the first factor. Life satisfaction questions group together on two factors and extrinsic religiosity is clearly one factor. The scales used hold together well when combined. A new, shortened scale to measure aspects of religiosity and spirituality is proposed.     

A survey of the views of trainees in psychiatry regarding religious issues

Abstract

Although 94% of Americans believe in God, little is known about the religiosity of psychiatric residents and the role of religion in residents’ practice. We aimed to determine residents’ perceptions about (1) the importance of knowledge of religious beliefs, practices and priority of psychotherapy, psychopharmacology and general medical patients and (2) the relative difficulty religious issues presented compared with race, age, gender and sexuality.

All psychiatric trainees in one training program during two academic years were surveyed (n = 96). The 38 respondents (40%) reported a substantial degree of religiosity [high belief (74%), high practise (50%), high priority (71%)]. Significantly more residents reported that it was more important to know about the religiosity of psychotherapy patients than of psychopharmacology or general medical patients. Race was the only issue that the majority of residents reported as presenting more difficulty than religion.

In conclusion, the subgroup of residents who responded to the survey were more religious than expected, based on previous surveys of psychiatrists. They clearly differentiated psychotherapy patients from others when considering the importance of religion. That residents viewed religion to be a challenging issue underlines the need for further training and clinical focus on religion.     

Religiosity and Church-Based Assistance Among Chronically Ill African-American and White Elderly

ABSTRACT

This study examines religion and church-based assistance among 127 chronically ill African-American and white elderly persons hospitalized for congestive heart failure and discharged to home. Elders reported high levels of religiosity and prayer behavior; they reported low levels of church help received. Controlling for living arrangement, gender, social class and health in probit regression analyses, race was not a significant predictor of subjective religiosity, frequency of prayer, or level of church help received. Findings indicated a significant race-by-health interaction. Subjective religiosity was positively associated with health for whites but no relationship was found between religiosity and health for African-Americans. Further research is called for that replicates study findings on other elders with chronic illness.     

The Existential Function of Intrinsic Religiousness: Moderation of Effects of Priming Religion on Intercultural Tolerance and Afterlife Anxiety

Managing existential concerns is theorized to be a key function of religion. We posit that priming religion should be related to greater existential security for those high in intrinsic religiosity. In Experiment 1, priming religion increased intercultural tolerance among individuals who were highly intrinsically religious but decreased it for those low in intrinsic religiousness. In Experiment 2, intrinsic religiousness again moderated the effects of the prime, suggesting that priming religion resulted in attenuated afterlife anxiety for intrinsically religious individuals but greater anxiety for individuals low in intrinsic religiousness. Religious reminders appeared to provide existential security—evidenced by tolerance and reduced death anxiety—only to those high in intrinsic religiousness and can be threatening to those low in intrinsic religiousness. Existential outcomes are a specific case in which intrinsic religiousness can moderate the effects of religious primes, suggesting that religion plays a different existential role for different people.     

Investigation of the factor structure of spirituality and religiosity in Iranian Shiite university students

One of the important challenges facing psychologists of religion pertains to the definition of religiosity and spirituality. One way of understanding the connection between these two concepts is to suppose that one of them is a subset of the other. Another useful and sensitive way, however, is to view spirituality and religiosity as overlapping constructs, sharing some characteristics but also retaining nonshared features. Empirical studies examining the factor structure of spirituality and religiosity are scant and almost all of them come from Western culture. These factor analytic studies generally confirm that religiosity and spirituality can best be described in terms of two distinct yet correlated factors. To date, no study has investigated the relationship between these two constructs in Islamic cultures. To redress this imbalance, confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the factor structure of religiosity and spirituality in two Iranian Shiite samples using an extensive set of scales (including Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith, Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale - Revised, Spiritual Meaning Scale, and Spiritual Transcendence Scale). Two hypothetical models were tested: a model that viewed spirituality and religiosity as correlated but separate constructs and a model that combined the indicators of religiosity and spirituality into a single construct. In keeping with the results obtained in Western cultures, results of confirmatory factor analyses, conducted in Study 1 (N=225) and Study 2 (N=288), revealed that a two-factor model fitted the data better than a single-factor model. Implications of the results are discussed, as are study limitations and directions for further research.     

The relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity and competitive anxiety

ABSTRACT

The present study examined the relationship between religiosity and competitive anxiety in college athletes and whether there were differences in competitive anxiety for intrinsically religious and extrinsically religious individuals. College athletes (N?=?95) from three separate sports from the NCAA completed a questionnaire that included the Age-Universal I/E Scale, the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 Revised, open-ended questions on habits related to religion, and demographic items. Results revealed no significant relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity and competitive anxiety. Extrinsically religious athletes had higher somatic anxiety than intrinsically religious athletes. The majority of participants (77%) reported praying before games primarily for comfort. Athletes turn to religion to calm their nerves but it is important to understand that their approach to religion may relate to increased anxiety. This information is useful for sport practitioners and coaches as they seek to help their athletes seek an intrinsic approach to religion in sport.     

Religiosity and consumer belonging: Influences on product evaluations

Consumers have a fundamental need to belong. Prior research has examined the compensatory mechanisms that consumers use to restore belongingness when they have a low sense of belonging. However, research has yet to adequately understand the influence that having a high sense of belonging has on consumption behavior. Thus, three studies are conducted to address this gap in the literature, specifically examining religiosity as a source of consumers' high sense of belonging. Study 1A identifies that religiosity positively influences consumers' sense of belonging and corresponding product evaluations because belongingness creates a positive affect state. This affect then incidentally transfers a positive halo effect to product evaluations. Study 1B replicates the sequential mediation from Study 1A but only for those products that are value expressive. Studies 2 and 3 then better isolate these effects by priming religion (Study 2) as well as general social acceptance and rejection (Study 3). Findings reveal that only religion and acceptance primes influence consumers' sense of belonging and product evaluations. Discussion builds on need‐to‐belong theory and implications for marketing practice are discussed.     

An Exploratory Study of Religiosity, Meaning in Life and Subjective Wellbeing in Muslim Students from Algeria

This study explores the relationships between religiosity, Meaning in Life and Subjective Wellbeing (SWB) in a sample of 495 Muslim students (330 Females, and 165 males) from Algeria. Their Mean age is 21.26 (SD2.30). Relying on experts’ judgments and pilot-testing, a Comprehensive Measure of Islamic Religiosity (CMIR) has been developed. It consists of 60 items covering four broad areas with high inter-correlations: Religious Belief, Religious Practice, Religious Altruism, and Enrichment of religious experience. A short version of the ‘Presence of Meaning in Life’ (PML) scale, Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), and Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) are also administered in one set of questionnaires, together with religiosity items. The results indicate that Religious Belief and Religious Altruism significantly contribute in providing subjects with meaning in life. Nevertheless, Hierarchical Regression Analyses show that only Religious Belief makes a significant contribution in both SWLS and PWI. But, this effect has almost totally been accounted for by Meaning in life in the second step. Comparisons on the basis of the demographic characteristics show that males marginally differ from females (p < .05) in Religious Altruism, but these latter are higher in SWLS (p < .05). Moreover, it has been shown that students of science score marginally higher in Belief and Practice and also in PML, and SWLS compared to their counterparts of Arts studies. Though no differences are found in the strength of religious belief in subjects from rural and urban location, the former have generally higher scores on other religiosity subscales. This trend is slightly reversed in PWI (p < .05). Furthermore, subjects from high income families are favoured in PML, SWLS, and PWI. These results are discussed on the light of current international research.     

Impact of religious affiliation and religiosity on forgiveness

The aim of the present study was to investigate the link between religiosity and forgiveness among Christian, Muslim, Jewish and secular affiliations. Measures of forgiveness included attitudes towards forgiveness (attitudinal) and tendencies to forgive transgressions in the past (behavioural) and future (projective). Religious faith, interpretation, prayer and religious service attendance were used to measure religiosity. Four hundred and seventy‐five Christian, Muslim, Jewish and secular individuals participated and completed an internet‐based questionnaire. This study found religiosity positively correlated with forgiveness. Religious groups reported significantly higher attitudinal and projective forgiveness than the secular group. Among religious groups, religiosity was a stronger determinant of forgiveness than the specific religion an individual was affiliated with. These findings suggested that faith is the strongest religiosity predictor of forgiveness.     

Domain and facet personality correlates of religiosity among Iranian college students

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relation of religion, defined in terms of Islamic Shiite creeds/rituals, Islamic Shiite morals, inclusion of transcendence, and symbolic processing, to the five-factor model of personality at the domain and facet levels as measured by the Revised NEO Personality Inventory using a religiously homogeneous sample of 359 Iranian college students. Results indicated that all five Revised NEO Personality Inventory domains are significantly related to religion as measured across all four operationalizations of the construct used, though some sex differences were observed. Our findings support but also elaborate previous findings regarding the relation of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness to religion by demonstrating that facets of these domains are selectively associated with some indices of religion but not others. Angry Hostility was a negative predictor of Islamic morals. Warmth predicted Islamic creeds/rituals and Inclusion of Transcendence. Ideas was a positive predictor of symbolic processing and Islamic morals. Fantasy was a positive predictor of symbolic processing but a negative predictor of Islamic creeds/rituals and Inclusion of Transcendence. The present findings are in agreement with the necessity of considering multidimensional measures of religiosity and providing evidence in support of the construct validity of the Post Criticical Belief Scale and the Islamic Religious Orientation Scale. Implications of the present findings are discussed in relation to the differential and in some cases substantial association of religion indices with personality. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are also overviewed.