Intelligence and religiosity: Within families and over time

We study the effect of intelligence (General Mental Ability) on religiosity using research designs that allow for stronger causal inferences compared to previous research in this area. First, we examine how between-siblings differences in intelligence are related to differences in their religiosity. Second, we examine how intelligence is related to changes in religiosity over time. The results of both designs suggest that intelligence has a strong negative effect on religiosity. In addition, our results also suggest that intelligence interacts with age in determining religiosity: the more intelligent the person, the stronger the negative effect of age on religiosity.     

Religiosity of young adults: does childhood maltreatment make a difference?

Previous research on the association between maltreatment in childhood and later religious beliefs and behaviours suggests that maltreatment may have either negative or positive influences on religiosity. However, methodological limitations of previous studies may limit their generalisability. The present study attempted to address these limitations. We examined associations between childhood physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and several dimensions of adult religiosity in a large sample of college students (N = 763). Associations between child maltreatment and religiosity were weak (rs ≤ 0.09). After controlling for possible demographic confounds, the only significant association was between childhood emotional abuse and religious questing.     

Intrinsic Religious Orientation and Religious Teaching: Differential Judgments Toward Same-Gender Sexual Behavior and Gay Men and Lesbians

There is a developing discussion within the literature regarding religiosity and negative attitudes toward same-gender sexuality. A fair amount of empirical evidence now exists linking increased conservative religiosity with negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. However, past research has failed to account for the participants' religious group's position on same-sex issues. Results from the project presented here indicated that those who had high scores of intrinsic religiosity and reported attending a religious group that taught “love the sinner, hate the sin” responded with relatively more positive attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. These findings are discussed in relation to the emerging evidence that some intrinsic religious individuals apparently are able to make the distinction between “sin and sinner.”     

Religiosity and Fear of Death: A Theory-Oriented Review of the Empirical Literature

Do religious people fear death more or less than those who are nonreligious? According to two theories, religiosity and fear of death should be inversely correlated. A third theory suggests that moderately religious persons should be more fearful than those who are extremely religious or nonreligious. Yet a fourth theory predicts that religiosity and fear of death should be positively correlated. Eighty-four studies were located in which pertinent findings have been presented, several of which reached more than one conclusion based on different definitions of religiosity. Overall, 40 studies provided findings supporting the conclusion that religiosity and fear of death are inversely correlated, nine supported a curvilinear relationship, 27 supported a positive correlation, and 32 indicated that no significant relationship exists between religiosity and fear of death. Chi square analyses of several features of these conflicting studies suggest that there is probably a modest negative correlation between religiosity and fear of death among persons who are at least modestly religious. However, when nonreligious individuals are sampled alongside those who are both moderately and extremely religious, the overall relationship shifts to being curvilinear, and possibly even positive, depending on the aspect of religiosity being assessed. The implications of these conclusions for the four theories are discussed.     

Reflective minds and open hearts: Cognitive style and personality predict religiosity and spiritual thinking in a community sample

We examined associations between two psychological constructs, analytic cognitive style and the personality facet ‘Openness to Experience’, and several dimensions of religiosity: religious affiliation, strength of faith and spiritual epistemology. In a relatively large (N = 1093), older community sample (M = 55.4 years), analytic cognitive style was associated with a lower probability of affiliating with a religious denomination and a higher probability of possessing strong religious faith. Overall, openness was also associated with a lack of religious affiliation but was positively related to possessing a spiritual epistemology. A path‐analytic model revealed that openness had a positive relationship to both faith and religious denomination that was mediated by spiritual epistemology, but negative direct relationships with religiosity after the meditational effects were taken into account. Taken together, these results extend previous findings on the effect of cognitive style on religiosity and provide a new perspective on the complex relationship between cognitive and personality factors and different dimensions of religiosity. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Explaining Cross‐National Variation in the Effect of Higher Education on Religiosity

While sociologists have long argued that higher education has a secularizing influence, recent research emphasizes the moderating role of social contexts in the relationship between social class and religion. I extend this line of research by examining sources of cross‐national variation in the association between higher education and religiosity using survey data from more than 46,000 respondents in 39 nations. Multilevel models of a religiosity scale show (1) in the aggregate, higher education has a moderate, negative effect on the religiosity scale, (2) this effect varies considerably across nations, and (3) the negative effect of higher education on religiosity is most robust in relatively religious nations. These results demonstrate the importance of national contexts in moderating the effect of education on religiosity. The results also support a cultural diffusion argument that suggests that the highly educated are innovators and early adopters of secular behaviors but that low levels of religiosity then diffuse to less‐educated segments of a population as secularity becomes more common.     

The relationship between intelligence and multiple domains of religious belief: Evidence from a large adult US sample

High levels of religiosity have been linked to lower levels of intelligence in a number of recent studies. These results have generated both controversy and theoretical interest. Here in a large sample of US adults we address several issues that restricted the generalizability of these previous results. We measured six dimensions of religiosity (rather than just one or two), along with a multi-scale instrument to assess general intelligence. We also controlled for the influence of the personality trait openness on facets of religious belief and practice. The results indicated that lower intelligence is most strongly associated with higher levels of fundamentalism, but also modestly predicts central components of religiosity such as a sense of religious identification and private religious practice. Secondly, we found that a higher level of openness - often assumed to lead to lower religiosity - is weakly associated with reduced fundamentalism but with increased religious mindfulness, private religious practice, religious support, and spirituality. These new results provide a framework for understanding the links between reasoning and faith.     

Religiosity and Life Satisfaction: A Multi-dimensional Approach

In this paper we employ a unique data set of 413 adults and scrutinize over the linear and non-linear relationship of religious adherence to life satisfaction. The findings confirm the previous studies regarding the positive linear and curvilinear relationship between the uni-dimensional religiosity and subjective well-being. To deepen the understanding of the relationship between religiosity and subjective well-being, the authors make use of a multi-dimensional religiosity scale. Via dissecting religiosity into different dimensions, we show when life satisfaction is in negative, positive, linear and/or curvilinear relationship with religiosity. The empirical evidence shows that the relationships between the dimensions of religiosity on life satisfaction are non-linear. Specifically, we demonstrate that there exist non-linear relations of ideological and consequential dimensions of religiosity to life satisfaction.     

Religiosity Reduces the Negative Influence of Injustice on Subjective Well-being: A Study in 121 Nations

National injustice has been linked to lower national happiness. We predict that national religiosity will mitigate this negative influence of injustice on happiness. We test this hypothesis analyzing national-level data from 121 nations, using a single-level moderated regression analysis. To capture various aspects of national injustice, we combine four national measures associated with injustice, namely: indexes of group grievances, political terror, rule of law, and corruption perceptions. The results show that national religiosity has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between injustice and happiness, such that higher levels of religiosity mitigate more of the negative effects of injustice on happiness than lower levels do. The results hold when religious affiliation and indexes of economic prosperity, education, and social support are controlled for. These results indicate that people in religious cultures may successfully utilize religious faith to deal with adverse conditions.     

'To Whom Much Has Been Given...': Religious Capital and Community Voluntarism Among Churchgoing Protestants

Research on volunteering behavior has consistently found a positive relationship between religion and volunteering. Using a sample of churchgoing Protestants (N=1,738)from the Religious Identity and Influence Survey we examine the specific influences of religiosity, religious identity, religious socialization, and religious social networks on local volunteer activity in church programs and non-church organizations, as well as general volunteering tendencies. These influences are presented within the theoretical framework of religious capital. Logistic regression techniques were applied to determine the strength of the contribution of these influences while accounting for basic background factors. Findings suggest that churchgoing Protestants are influenced by all measures to some degree, but religiosity (specifically participation in church activities) remains the strongest influence. Significant religious influences overall are most pronounced within the context of church-related volunteering which suggests that churchgoing Protestants exhibit a strong sense of community identity through their local churches. A discussion of these results and their implications for volunteering follows.     

Intrinsic Religiosity and Volunteering During Emerging Adulthood: A Comparison of Mormons with Catholics and Non‐Catholic Christians

Emerging adulthood is a period when religious beliefs are likely to be shaped. Studying the influence of religious culture on prosocial behavior among emerging adults aids our understanding of the process and effects of religious socialization. Mormon religious culture places a particularly strong emphasis on caring for family and fellow Mormons. Because intrinsically religious individuals internalize their religious community's values, we hypothesized that the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and volunteering would be stronger among Mormons than among Catholics or non‐Catholic Christians. We tested this hypothesis using a sample of Mormon (N = 118), Catholic (N = 304), and non‐Catholic Christian (N = 542) emerging adults (18–29 year olds) across three volunteering contexts (religious, family, and secular). Controlling for extrinsic religiosity and worship attendance, the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and frequency of volunteering was greater among Mormons than Catholics and non‐Catholic Christians in the context of religious and family volunteering. However, intrinsic religiosity was not a significant predictor of secular volunteering. Our findings suggest that Mormon culture influences the frequency and type of volunteering engaged in by young Mormon adults.     

Religion and Democratic Commitment: A Unifying Motivational Framework

There is no easy answer to the question of whether religiosity promotes or hinders commitment to democracy. Earlier research largely pointed to religiosity as a source of antidemocratic orientations. More recent empirical evidence is less conclusive, however, suggesting that the effect of religiosity on democratic commitment could be positive, negative, or null. We review the existing approaches to the study of religiosity and democratic commitment, focusing on support for the democratic system, political engagement, and political tolerance, by distinguishing accounts that examine a single dimension of religiosity from accounts that adopt a multidimensional approach. We show that multidimensional approaches, while effective in accounting for the effect of religiosity on discrete democratic norms, fall short of accounting for some of the inconsistencies in the literature and in identifying the mechanisms that may be responsible for shaping how religiosity affects endorsement of democratic norms as a whole. To fill this gap, we propose the Religious Motivations and Expressions (REME) model. Applying theories of goal constructs to religion, this model maps associations between three religious expressions (belief, social behavior, and private behavior) and the religious motivations that underly these expressions. We discuss how inconsistent associations between religiosity and elements of democratic commitment can be rendered interpretable once the motivations underlying religious expressions, as well as contextual information, are accounted for. We contend that applying goal constructs to religion is critical for understanding the nature of the religion-democracy nexus.     

Creativity and Religiosity: A Reanalysis with Regional Predictors

Building on previous research showing a negative relationship between conservatism and creativity, the present investigation focused specifically on religiosity in the context of the United States. Because of the association between conservatism and religiosity, creativity might have a negative association with religiosity, too. To this end, individuallevel and regional data were matched by linking responses to psychometric measures such as Attitudes and Values toward Creativity to regional data such as church attendance. These analyses controlled other regional variables including education, diversity, and socio-economic status. Two-level analyses with individual data at Level 1 and county data at Level 2 indicated that people from more religious locations held less positive attitudes and values toward creativity and rated their environment as less creative. On the other hand, creative personality, ideational behavior and creative achievement were not significantly related to religiosity. Those analyses provided evidence that creativity and religiosity have a negative relationship in terms of people's attitudes and values toward creativity as well as their perceptions of environment for creativity. Findings were discussed in terms of types of religiosity and other socio-cultural variables.     

Is Urban Fathers’ Religion Important for Their Children’s Behavior?

Previous research suggests that many men increase their religious involvement after the birth of a new child. Using data on low-income urban fathers from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCW), this study extends this research by examining whether fathers maintain a higher rate of religious participation as children get older and how fathers’ religiosity may influence children’s behavior. Results suggest that although many urban fathers slightly increase their religious involvement after the birth of a child, most fathers attend religious services at a fairly consistent rate during the early years of their child’s life. Although there is only limited evidence suggesting that fathers’ religious involvement directly influences children’s behavior, there is evidence that fathers’ religiosity moderates the influence of other family characteristics on children; parental relationship quality and mothers’ religiosity are associated with fewer problem behaviors among children when fathers believe that religion is important to family life. Results also suggest that having a Black Protestant father is associated with fewer externalizing problem behaviors among young children. Overall, this study suggests that religion may be a source of support that encourages urban fathers to be engaged in their family life and promote positive development among children.     

Schizotypal personality traits and attitudes towards Hinduism among Balinese Hindus

The study explored the relationship between schizotypal personality traits and attitude of Hindus towards their faith. A total of 309 Balinese Hindus responded to the Santosh–Francis Scale of Attitude towards Hinduism, the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire Brief, and a number of external indicators and religious practices. Attitude towards Hinduism, frequency of prayer, and temple attendance had a rather weak positive relationship with each other, while prayer behaviour exhibited negative low-to-moderate relationships with schizotypal traits. A hierarchical multiple linear regression model identified the disorganised elements of schizotypy as the primary predictor of the attitude towards Hinduism. Finally, age showed negative associations with schizotypy and positive ones with Hinduism, while women were less schizotypal and had more positive attitude towards their faith than men. These findings suggest the presence of both underlying cross-faith elements and the strong influence of faith- and culture-specific forces on the relationship between religiosity and schizotypy.     

Perfectionism and Life Aspirations in Intrinsically and Extrinsically Religious Individuals

Religiosity is related to positive health and life satisfaction but the pathways through which this occurs have not been clearly delineated. The purpose of this study was to examine potential mediators of the relationships between intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity and negative affect and life satisfaction. Perfectionism and life aspirations are two possible pathways through which religious orientation is related to outcome. It was hypothesized that adaptive perfectionism and intrinsic life aspirations would act as mediators between intrinsic religiosity and negative affect and life satisfaction, and that maladaptive perfectionism and extrinsic life aspirations would act as mediators between the extrinsic religiosity and negative affect and life satisfaction. Two consecutive samples of religious college students (N = 540 and N = 485) completed measures of the Age Universal Religious Orientation Index, the Frost Multi-Dimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Aspiration Index, the Beck Depression Inventory-II, the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Intrinsic religiosity had a direct negative relationship with negative affect and positive relationship with life satisfaction. Contrary to the hypotheses, intrinsic religiosity had its strongest indirect effect via maladaptive perfectionism such that increased intrinsic religiosity was related to decreased maladaptive perfectionism which in turn lead to better negative affect and life satisfaction. Extrinsic religiosity was related to increased maladaptive perfectionism and thereby indirectly contributed to worse negative affect and life satisfaction. Interestingly, when the effects of maladaptive perfectionism were controlled, the direct effects of extrinsic religiosity were related to reduced negative affect and increased life satisfaction. Overall, the strongest mediator in this study of both intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity was maladaptive perfectionism, with intrinsic religiosity related to decreased maladaptive perfectionism and extrinsic religiosity related to increased maladaptive perfectionism.     

The relation between religion and racism: The role of post-critical beliefs

The relation between religion and racism has often been studied, but summarising these studies provides a fragmented picture. Generally, American research concludes there is a positive relation, whereas research in the Low Countries concludes this relation is negative. However, the conclusions of the latter research tradition might be premature, because inaccurate religiosity measures were used. The results of this study suggest that both frequency of church attendance and belief salience are no longer significantly related to racism. Four religious attitudes are described, based on individuals inclusion or exclusion of transcendence, and preference for symbolic or literal interpretation. Orthodoxy (literal, transcendent) and External Critique (literal, non-transcendent) were significantly positively related to racism, whereas Relativism (symbolic, non-transcendent) was significantly negatively related to it. Second Naïveté (symbolic, transcendent) at first sight turned out not to be significantly related to racism. However; a path analysis—in which some important background variables such as age and education were included—suggested the existence of an indirect negative relation. Overall it looks as if the privatisation of religion has reached new heights. Thus nowadays, studies of the relation between religion and racism need to focus on the cognitive (rather than behavioural) aspects of how people deal with the religious realm.     

Religion and Political Economy in an International Panel

Two important theories of religiosity are the secularization hypothesis and the religion-market model. According to the former, sometimes called a demand-side theory, economic development reduces religious participation and beliefs. According to the latter, described as a supply-side theory, religiosity depends on the presence of a state religion, regulation of the religion market, suppression of organized religion under Communism, and the degree of religious pluralism. We assess the theories by using survey information for 68 countries over the last 20 years, measuring attendance at formal religious services, religious beliefs, and self-identification as religious. In accordance with the secularization view, overall economic development—represented by per capita GDP—tends to reduce religiosity. Moreover, instrumental estimates suggest that this link reflects causation from economic development to religiosity, rather than the reverse. The presence of an official state religion tends to increase religiosity, probably because of the subsidies that flow to organized religion. However, in accordance with the religion-market model, religiosity falls with government regulation of the religion market and Communist suppression. Greater religious pluralism raises attendance at formal services but has no significant effects on religious beliefs or self-identification as religious. Although religiosity declines overall with economic development, the nature of the interaction varies with the dimension of development. For example, religiosity is positively related to education and the presence of children and negatively related to urbanization.     

Religiosity and Subjective Wellbeing in Canada

Using the Canadian Ethnic Diversity Survey, I explore how religiosity associates with self-reported levels of wellbeing. The overall association of religious intensity with subjective wellbeing is found to be statistically significant, positive and small. When the impact is allowed to vary by religious group, it appears that Catholics and Protestants are very similar in how religiosity impacts their subjective wellbeing; the association is statistically significantly stronger for Canadian Muslims; and Canadian Jews are the closest group to religious nones. Surprisingly, among different dimensions of religious commitment, the intensity of religious belief is found to be the driver of the overall positive association, across religious groups. Finally, when Canadian population is divided into linguistic groups, religious involvement emerges as a negative predictor of French Canadians’ subjective wellbeing.     

Individual differences in religiosity as a function of cognitive ability and cognitive style

The current study examines the degree to which individual differences in cognitive ability and cognitive style (rational thinking vs. experiential thinking) uniquely and jointly account for differences in religiosity. Using an array of measures of religiosity, results show that cognitive ability has a medium to large negative effect on various aspects of religiosity. Though also negatively related to religiosity, rational thinking style did not add significant unique effects, nor did it convey a significant indirect effect from cognitive ability. Experiential thinking was generally unrelated to ability but was positively related to some aspects of religiosity. Overall the results confirm that those with higher cognitive ability are less likely to accept religious doctrine or engage in religious behaviors and those with lower ability are more likely to accept religious doctrine and exhibit higher levels of fundamentalism. Cognitive style appears to play a lesser role in explaining individual differences in religiosity than cognitive ability.