Self-construal moderates age differences in social network characteristics

In this study, the authors examined age differences in social network characteristics (SNC) among Hong Kong Chinese. The sample consisted of 596 Chinese adults, ranging from 18 to 91 years old. Age was positively associated with close social partners and negatively associated with peripheral social partners. For individuals who were more likely to define the self as interconnected with others (i.e., interdependent self-construal), increasing age was associated with a greater number of close social partners. The negative association between age and the number of peripheral social partners, well-documented in the Western literature, was found only among Chinese adults with lower interdependence but not among those with higher interdependence. These findings highlight the importance of examining the underlying mechanism rather than a particular pattern of SNC across cultures.     

Political Affiliation,Spirituality, and Religiosity: Links to Emerging Adults’ Life Satisfaction and Optimism

The goal of this study was to extend the existing literature regarding the intersection between belief systems shaping psychological processes and subjective well-being among emerging adults. A nationwide sample of 3966 college students reported on their political affiliation, spirituality, and religiosity in relation to their subjective well-being. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that politically conservative participants were significantly more optimistic and satisfied with life than their liberal counterparts and Republican emerging adults reported significantly higher life satisfaction than Democrats. Republican emerging adults also reported significantly higher rates of religiosity and spirituality than Democratic and Independent politically affiliated emerging adults. Our findings corroborate and expand upon existing literature regarding belief systems and political identity as determinants of subjective well-being in emerging adults.     

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.     

Two Dimensions of Attachment to God and Their Relation to Affect, Religiosity, and Personality Constructs

In this study we sought to address several limitations of previous research on attachment theory and religion by (1) developing a dimensional attachment to God scale, and (2) demonstrating that dimensions of attachment to God are predictive of measures of affect and personality after controlling for social desirability and other related dimensions of religiosity. Questionnaire measures of these constructs were completed by a sample of university students and community adults (total n = 374). Consistent with prior research on adult romantic attachment, two dimensions of attachment to God were identified: avoidance and anxiety . After statistically controlling for social desirability, intrinsic religiousness, doctrinal orthodoxy, and loving God image, anxious attachment to God remained a significant predictor of neuroticism , negative affect , and (inversely) positive affect ; avoidant attachment to God remained a significant inverse predictor of religious symbolic immortality and agreeableness . These findings are evidence that correlations between attachment to God and measures of personality and affect are not merely byproducts of confounding effects of socially desirable responding or other dimensions of religiosity.     

The Education-Contingent Association Between Religiosity and Health: The Differential Effects of Self-Esteem and the Sense of Mastery

Using data from a representative sample of adults in Toronto, Canada, I examine the education-contingent association between religiosity (subjective religiosity and religious attendance) and four health-related outcomes: depression, anxiety, alcohol use, and self-rated health. I also test the extent that two personal resources—the sense of mastery and self-esteem—contribute to those associations. Findings indicate that subjective religiosity and attendance are generally associated with lower levels of depression, anxiety, alcohol use, and poor health. Moreover, although not entirely uniform, subjective religiosity and attendance tend to be associated more negatively with these outcomes among individuals with fewer years of education. While the sense of mastery suppresses the education-contingent influence of religiosity on distress outcomes, self-esteem generally contributes to those patterns. On balance, the suppression effects of mastery are offset by the explanatory effects of self-esteem. These findings elaborate on the well-established association between religiosity and health by illustrating education-contingent effects and potential counterbalancing roles of personal resources in these processes.     

Perceived control effects on religiosity and quality of life among young adults

The study investigated the mediating role of perceived control in the association between religiosity and quality of life among young adults in south-west Nigeria. Data were collected from a sample of 1 050 young adults (mean age = 29.8, SD = 4.61; female = 38.7%). Regression analysis was utilised to predict quality of life from religiosity, partialling out perceived control. Findings suggest internal religiosity to predict an environmental domain of quality of life through perceived control. Perceived constraints appear to explain the association between internal religiosity and the environmental domain of quality of life.     

Sowing wild oats: Valuable experience or a field full of weeds?

In this study, the association was explored between the number of sexual partners individuals had in their lifetimes and martial outcomes. The research objective was to test whether the number of sexual partners was associated with sexual quality, communication, relationship satisfaction, and relationship stability, while controlling for relationship length, education, race, income, age, and religiosity, using the two competing theories of sexual compatibility and sexual restraint. The results, with a sample of 2,654 married individuals, indicated that the number of sexual partners was associated with lower levels of sexual quality, communication, and relationship stability, providing support for the sexual restraint theory. Gender was not significantly associated with the patterns in the model but age cohorts did have different patterns.     

The impact of mental health problems and religiosity on African-American girls' HIV-risk

We investigated the relationship between religiosity, mental health problems, and two sexual risk behaviors-condom use and number of partners. Participants were 80 sexually active African American girls in psychiatric care and their caregivers. Results indicated differential relationships, depending on parent versus youth report. Mother's religiosity was positively related to girls' condom use and not to girls' number of partners. Controlling for other predictors in the models, mother's religiosity explained as much as 15% of the variance in girls' condom use. Whereas parent and adolescent reports of girls' depression/anxiety and rule-breaking were positively associated with number of partners, reports of aggression were associated with having fewer partners. Neither parent nor youth reports of girls' mental health problems were associated with condom use. Controlling for other predictors in the models, girls' mental health problems accounted for as much as 31% of the variance in number of partners. Findings underscore the importance of adopting an ecological framework to understand both the risk and promotive factors for sexual risk taking among troubled girls. The roles of specific aspects of psychopathology and religiosity in relation to sexual risk behavior among African American girls in psychiatric care are discussed.     

Religiosity and Premarital Sexual Behaviors Among Adolescents: An Analysis of Functional Form

While numerous studies show a persistent inverse association between religion variables and adolescents’ sexual behaviors, the nature of this relationship is not well understood. Specifically, many previous studies presuppose that the associations between adolescent religiosity and sexual behaviors are linear. However, a number of studies have also identified important nonlinearities of religious influence during adolescence, with highly religious individuals being distinct from their peers. Incorporating this knowledge into a theoretically motivated modeling approach, this article provides a comparative analysis of functional forms describing the relationships between religiosity and adolescent sexual behaviors. Using data from two waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion, a linear functional form is compared with nonlinear alternatives that link multiple religion measures to outcomes of sexual activity. Results show that the majority of these relationships are best defined by nonlinear functional forms, suggesting that the influence of religiosity increases as individuals become more religious.     

Religiosity Reduces Sexual Aggression and Coercion in a Longitudinal Cohort of College Men: Mediating Roles of Peer Norms,Promiscuity, and Pornography

Extensive literature suggests that religiosity is a protective factor in reducing a number of deviant behaviors, including sexual aggression (SA). Whereas previous research focused on the role of risky alcohol consumption in mediating the relationship between religiosity and SA, this study explores the hypothesized meditational paths from religiosity to SA and technology‐based coercive behavior (TBC) through peer norms, pornography consumption, and promiscuity. Findings from a four‐year longitudinal study of male college students suggest that peer norms and promiscuity mediate the relationship between religiosity and both outcome measures, while pornography consumption mediates the relationship between religiosity and TBC. These findings may inform ongoing practice and future research into possible mechanisms by which problematic sexual behaviors may be influenced.     

The Sense of Divine Control and Psychological Distress: Variations Across Race and Socioeconomic Status

This study examines race and socioeconomic status (SES) differences in levels of the sense of divine control and its association with psychological distress. Using data from adults aged 65 and older in the District of Columbia and two adjoining counties in Maryland, we document that levels of the sense of divine control are highest among African Americans and individuals of low SES. Although the association between SES and perceived divine control is more negative among whites net of statistical adjustments for other indicators of religiosity and stressors, these conditions contribute modestly to the race × SES interaction effect. In addition, the sense of divine control is associated negatively with distress among low-SES African Americans and positively with distress among low-SES white elders. These patterns remain stable net of other forms of religiosity, an array of stressors, and the personal resources of the sense of mastery and self-esteem. Our findings elaborate on social stratification differences in religiosity and their different associations with well-being.     

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.     

The Moderating Effect of the Negative Impact of Recent Life Events on the Relation between Intrinsic Religiosity and Death Ideation in Older Adults

Researchers tested the hypothesis that the negative impact of recent life events would moderate the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and death ideation in older adults. Participants (n = 272) completed assessments of death ideation, intrinsic religiosity, and negative impact of recent life events. We confirmed the presence of concurrent moderation and found that older adults with greater negative impact of recent life events and high intrinsic religiosity reported greater death ideation. These relatively surprising findings may be due to reduced fear of death in intrinsically religious older adults, an explanation consistent with previous research.     

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.     

The Association of Religiosity,Sexual Education,and Parental Factors with Risky Sexual Behaviors Among Adolescents and Young Adults

This study examined the association of religiosity, sexual education and family structure with risky sexual behaviors among adolescents and young adults. The nationally representative sample, from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, included 3,168 women and men ages 15–21 years. Those who viewed religion as very important, had frequent church attendance, and held religious sexual attitudes were 27–54% less likely to have had sex and had significantly fewer sex partners than peers. Participants whose formal and parental sexual education included abstinence and those from two-parent families were 15% less likely to have had sex and had fewer partners.     

Towards a Clarification of the Association Between Religiosity and Life Satisfaction

Following recent contradictory findings, the present aim was to further examine the association between religiosity and life satisfaction. The Francis Scale of Attitude Towards Christianity (Francis & Stubbs, 1987) and the Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen & Griffin, 1985) were completed by 55 (31 male and 24 female) Northern Irish adults and 141 (50 male and 91 female) Northern Irish students. Among the adult sample, a significant association was found between scores on the Francis Scale of Attitude Towards Christianity and the Satisfaction With Life Scale for both males and females. However, among the student sample, no significant association was found for either males or females. These data are consistent with previous findings with evidence that, among Northern Irish adults, but not among Northern Irish students, those with a more positive attitude towards Christianity are more satisfied with life.     

Affective and cognitive religiosity: Influences on consumer reactance and self‐control

Self‐control is regularly studied in the marketing literature in relation to spending and food consumption; however, little research has assessed trait characteristics that influence consumers' self‐control. Although prior research in other fields has shown a generally positive relationship between religiosity and self‐control, such research has often used poor measures of religiosity and has inadequately examined marketplace outcomes or factors underlying consumers' self‐controlled responses. Thus, the studies herein build on self‐regulation theory to address and extend from these limitations by examining the influence of religiosity, as a multidimensional construct (particularly affective and cognitive religiosity), on self‐control and resulting influences on marketplace behaviors. Findings reveal that priming affectively (cognitively) religious consumers leads to greater (lower) consumer self‐control with a religious message prime (Study 1) and religious writing task (Study 2). Additionally, findings show that psychological reactance is at the root of these responses (Study 3). Implications build on self‐regulation theory and the strength model of self‐control to show the importance of religiosity (particularly affective and cognitive religiosity), interactions with religious primes, and psychological reactance in understanding consumers' self‐control.     

Religiosity and conservatism revisited: relating a new religiosity measure to the two main conservative political ideologies

The relation between the two religiosity dimensions which Wulff (1997) described (Exclusion vs Inclusion of Transcendence and Literal vs Symbolic) and two conservative political ideologies (Cultural and Economic Conservatism) was investigated in a sample of 714 students, a heterogeneous sample of 262 adults, and a sample of 301 religiously affiliated adults gathered in Flanders (Belgium). Both Exclusion vs Inclusion of Transcendence and Literal vs Symbolic were expected to relate only to Cultural Conservatism. Analysis supported these hypotheses, providing further evidence for the close association between religiosity and Cultural Conservatism and the validity of the Post-Critical Belief scale as a measure of Wulff's dimensions of religiosity.     

Centrality of Religiosity of Relationships for Affectionate and Sexual Behaviors Among Emerging Adults

Emerging adults’ religiosity has been consistently linked with less participation in sexual behaviors as supported by cognitive dissonance theory. However, this association may be different when examining centrality of religiosity of relationships (CRR), meaning participating in and discussing religiosity and spirituality with a current or anticipated romantic partner. The goal of this study is to examine the influence of CRR for emerging adults’ affectionate and sexual behaviors. Additionally, we test if the association between CRR and affectionate and sexual behaviors varies by gender, given males’ more positive attitudes towards sexual behaviors compared to females. Data for this study comes from 284 emerging adults, ages 18 to 29 (mean age = 20.9 years; 70.1% female) from an area in the Midwestern United States. Results illustrated that CRR is negatively associated with affectionate behaviors, intimate touching behaviors, oral sex behaviors, and sexual (vaginal) intercourse. Additionally, gender significantly moderated these relationships. Male participants reporting low levels of CRR conveyed significantly higher participation with these sexual behaviors compared to males reporting high levels of CRR, whereas CRR did not appear to significantly alter female participants’ engagement with these sexual behaviors. These findings provide some evidence that CRR contributes to males’ romantic development and that CRR may increase intimacy in females’ romantic relationships, which could promote sexual activity. Other implications for religious and sexual development are discussed.     

Does Defensiveness Account for the Relationship Between Religiosity and Psychosocial Adjustment?

Religiosity has been related to positive psychosocial adjustment across a large number of studies. Some researchers question, however, whether this relationship is an accurate finding, observing that there are many potential confounds that have not been controlled for, such as defensiveness. This study examined whether defensiveness accounted for the relationship between religiosity and psychosocial adjustment. Two samples of religious individuals were assessed on religiosity (Duke University Religion Index), defensiveness (measured using the denial of distress and repressive defensiveness subscales from the Weinberger Adjustment Inventory [WAI]), and psychosocial adjustment (Depression subscale from the WAI, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Sarason Social Support Scale). In both studies it was found that religiosity was related to positive psychosocial adjustment as well as higher levels of defensiveness. Defensiveness, however, did not account for the relationships between religiosity and psychosocial adjustment. These findings add to the research literature by eliminating a potential confound of the relationship between religiosity and psychosocial adjustment.