Neuroticism and Strength of Religious Attitudes among Churchgoers in England

A sample of 244 churchgoers completed the abbreviated form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, together with the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity. The findings support the view that, among religiously committed samples, there is an inverse relationship between neuroticism scores and the strength of positive attitude toward Christianity.     

Testing the Francis Burnout Inventory among Anglican clergy in England

ABSTRACT

Drawing on the classic model of balanced affect, the Francis Burnout Inventory (FBI) conceptualised good work-related psychological health among religious leaders in terms of negative affect being balanced by positive affect. In the FBI negative affect is assessed by the Scale of Emotional Exhaustion in Ministry (SEEM) and positive affect is assessed by the Satisfaction in Ministry Scale (SIMS). A sample of 99 Anglican clergy serving in a rural diocese in the Church of England (75 men and 24 women) completed SEEM and SIMS together with the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) as an independent measure of wellbeing. The results confirm the hypothesis that high SIMS scores reduced the negative effects of high SEEM scores on the independent measure of wellbeing.     

Assessment of clergy knowledge and attitudes

Letter to the Editor

Assessment of clergy knowledge and attitudes     

Mental health issues among clergy and other religious professionals: a review of research

The authors reviewed the literature on mental health issues among clergy and other religious professionals, using electronic searches of databases of medical (Medline), nursing (CINAHL), psychology (PsycINFO), religious (ATLA), and sociological research (Sociofile). The existing research indicates the Protestant clergy report higher levels of occupational stress than Catholic priests, brothers, or sisters. Catholic sisters repeatedly reported the lowest work-related stress, whereas women rabbis reported the highest stress levels in various studies. Occupational stress appears to be a source of family stress among Protestant clergy--a factor which clergy and their spouses believe the denominational leadership should address. High levels of stress also have been found to be associated with sexual misconduct among clergy. The authors make several recommendations based on these and other findings they report in their review.     

A typology of religious attitudes among young people in Germany

Issues like faith and Church, religion and religiousness are not valued particularly highly among the young. At the same time a search for the meaning of life and an orientation in one’s own behaviour still seem to be significant and transcendent focal points are being sought to deal with these issues. This article questions the value that religion, faith and the Church have for young people on the basis of empirical data. Five types of religious orientation of young people are identified: a churchly Christian type, an autonomously Christian type, a conventionally religious type, an autonomously religious type and, finally, a non‐religious type. The empirical data are taken from a study of about 800 pupils in the Grade 11 (age 16–17 years) from grammar schools (Gymnasien) in Germany.     

Intrinsic religious motivation and attitudes toward death among the elderly

Forty-five males and females ages 65 and older completed the Intrinsic Religious Motivation Scale, a measure of faith development (based on Fowler, 1981), and two multidimensional measures of death anxiety (the Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale-Revised and the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale). Individuals with intrin-sic religious motivation reported significantly lower levels of various types of death anxiety than did individuals with extrinsic religious motivation. No significant rela-tionships were found between stage of faith and attitudes toward death and dying.     

Muslim attitudes toward religion,religious orientation and empathy among Pakistanis

Pakistani university students responded to the Muslim Attitudes towards Religion Scale (MARS) along with the Intrinsic, Extrinsic, and Quest Religious Orientation Scales and with measures of adaptive and maladaptive empathy. The MARS most importantly predicted higher Intrinsic Scale scores, and MARS linkages with empathy were at least partially explained by an intrinsic religious orientation. The Extrinsic–Social motivation was lower than the Intrinsic orientation, which in turn was lower that the Extrinsic–Personal form of commitment. Quest reflected a more Extrinsic religious orientation. Numerous gender differences appeared. Comparison with previous British, Iranian, Pakistani and American data illustrated how a well-established research perspective can promote insights into an under-examined religious tradition and how the analysis of an under-examined religious tradition can clarify and qualify a well-established research perspective.     

Promoting religious acceptance: the relationship between intercultural competence and religious attitudes among Third Culture Kids

The study explored whether intercultural competence was a significant predictor of religious attitudes among Third Culture Kids (TCKs), individuals who had spent their developmental years abroad. It also examined whether growing up as a missionary kid (MK) would predict religious attitudes. Two hundred and seventy-six TCKs from 37 countries and 19 religious affiliations completed the web-based survey that included measures of intercultural competence, religious attitudes and beliefs, and demographic information. Intercultural competence was a significant predictor of participants’ desire for all religions to be treated fairly whereas growing up as an MK was a significant predictor of participants’ desire for their religion to be unchallenged and of less desire for interreligious dialogue. The findings suggest that increasing intercultural competence may be a way to promote religious acceptance.     

The psychological assessment of Catholic clergy and religious referred for residential treatment

This study describes the psychological problems of a group of Catholic clergy and religious who were referred for residential treatment. Psychological test data were obtained from 29 men and 13 women ranging in age from 29 to 64. The main tests used were the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, and Exner's Comprehensive System approach to the Rorschach Inkblot Test. A consistent constellation of problems was found; an intellectualized orientation along with naive defensiveness and difficulty in the handling of emotions. The men did not respond in a stereotypically masculine way and 30% were found to be confused or distressed about their sexual orientation. The longstanding nature of the problems suggests that the need for help could have been identified with thorough evaluations at the seminary or novitiate level and so prevented some of the disruption that led to the referrals.     

Exploring the factor structure of the Francis Psychological Type Scales among a sample of Anglican clergy in England

ABSTRACT

The Francis Psychological Type Scales (FPTS) were designed to provide a fresh conceptualisation and operationalisation of psychological type theory suitable for application within self-report quantitative studies in the individual differences tradition. The present study tests the factor structure of this instrument among a sample of 722 Anglican clergy. The Varimax Rotated Solution with Kaiser Normalisation recovered the hypothesised location of 74 of the 80 items across four factors with factor weightings of or above .38. The FPTS are commended for use.     

Mystical orientation and personality among anglican clergy

A sample of 222 male clergy completed the short form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, together with an index of mystical orientation. The data demonstrate a positive correlation between mystical orientation and extroversion, but no relationship between mystical orientation and either neuroticism or psychoticism.     

Neuroticism, coping strategies, and negative well-being among caregivers.

Neuroticism was incorporated into a model for predicting the well-being of family caregivers. Using data from 596 women with an adult child with a chronic disability, the model hypothesizes direct effects of neuroticism on a caregiver's perceptions of the stressor, on her wishful-escapism and problem-focused coping, and on psychological well-being. Results indicate that neuroticism exerts direct and indirect effects on negative well-being. Results also indicate that stressors have direct effects on both wishful-escapism coping and problem-focused coping. Burden had direct effects on negative psychological well-being. Diagnosis influences the model by having direct effects on stressors and wishful-escapism coping but not on problem-focused coping or burden. Inclusion of individual level variables, such as neuroticism, results in a substantial amount of explained variance in negative well-being.     

Neuroticism as the intensity,reactivity, and variability in day-to-day affect

Neuroticism has been linked to typical levels of affect, affect reactivity to negative events, and variability in affect over time. However, the intercorrelations among these characteristics make it unclear whether neuroticism reflects unique variance in each of these aspects of emotional life. Data from two daily-diary samples revealed that neuroticism was associated with average levels and variability of positive and negative affect and reactivity of negative affect to stressors, but was only uniquely related to mean levels of positive and negative affect. Findings highlight the substantial overlap in affect indices, suggesting that mean levels of affect, at the very least, are at the core of neuroticism, and reveal the need for further research using more nuanced approaches.     

An evaluation of infidelity among male protestant clergy

There is an increasing awareness, in the Church, of the impact of a pastor's sex life on his ministry. The purpose of this article is to examine risk factors that may presage infidelity for pastors. Three factors are examined in detail: 1) personal adjustment factors, including feelings of mistrust for others, feelings of rejection, feelings of shame, consumption of pomography, and family of origin issues; 2) marital adjustment, including level of spousal intimacy, and satisfaction with marital sex; and 3) factors embedded in the ministerial role, including attraction and arousal with regard to church members, church staff, and counselees.     

Recognition of psychopathology with religious content by clergy members: a case vignette study

Clergy members (CMs) frequently offer support and counselling for people with mental health problems. The current study aims to obtain insight into the ability among CMs to recognise psychopathology and need for psychiatric treatment. A random sample of CMs (N?=?143) and a control sample of mental health professionals (MHPs, N?=?73), were compared as to their evaluations of four vignettes. CMs considered the psychiatric states to be related to religious or spiritual problems to a similar degree as they did for the non-psychiatric states. Sensitivity of CMs with regard to the need of psychiatric care for the psychiatric states was modest (66%) and differed significantly from MHPs (96%). Specificity of the CMs was 89%, which was significantly lower than the MHPs (97%). The CMs did recognise psychopathology with religious content but clearly to a lower extent than MHPs. Requests by CMs for education about recognising psychopathology may be considered as justified.     

英格兰、苏格兰合并过程中的宗教问题

18世纪初,英格兰、苏格兰的政治家都将合并作为处理两国关系的最佳选择。虽然安立甘宗与苏格兰长老制教会同为新教,但两者在教会组织制度、宗教礼仪、教义等方面存在巨大差异。苏格兰长老制教会因担忧在联合王国中有被安立甘宗同化的危险而强烈反对合并。为顺利实现两国合并,英格兰、苏格兰最后达成默契:以法案的形式确保安立甘宗与苏格兰长老制教会在联合王国内共存并相互独立,两者均为联合王国的国家教会。两国政治家对宗教问题的明智安排是英格兰、苏格兰顺利实现合并,以及两民族能在联合王国内长期平稳共存的重要基础。     

Personality of male Anglican clergy in England: Revisited using the 16PF5

Cattell's latest version of the 16PF (16PF5) was completed by a random sample of 580 male Anglican clergy whose names and addresses were provided by the Church Commissioners' payroll. These data demonstrate a distinctive profile for clergy that differs significantly from that of the general male population on 12 personality factors. In addition, these data indicate agreement on seven scales, and disagreement on eight scales, between the profiles of male clergy as measured on the old study using the 16PF4 and this study using the new version.