Though gratitude is a social emotion often expressed to people, it is also a moral emotion that can be experienced in the context of a higher power. Prior research has often measured different forms of gratitude as individual differences, but gratitude may vary over time. The goal of the present research was to examine how general gratitude and gratitude to God relate to well-being within individuals over time. Participants (N = 1,105) completed four questionnaires over a 2-year period. Both forms of gratitude were positively associated with concurrent meaning in life and negatively associated with concurrent anxiety and depression. Interactions supported a compensation model in which one form of gratitude was a stronger predictor of well-being at lower levels of the other. Lagged analyses indicated that both forms of gratitude predicted subsequent greater meaning in life and lower subsequent depression. Additionally, general gratitude predicted subsequent lower anxiety, whereas gratitude to God did not. This study highlights the importance of considering both forms of gratitude, which operate independently while compensating for one another.
In the present study, we test whether three forms of patience-interpersonal patience, life hardship patience, and daily hassles patience-are associated with anxiety symptoms among university students confronting various degrees of religious and spiritual (R/S) struggle. Using latent change score modeling with interactions, we examined both baseline associations and change-over-time associations across two waves of data from college students attending a large Christian university in the South. Undergraduate university students (N = 274) completed measures of R/S struggles, patience, and anxiety symptoms in the first semester of college and then again during their final semester of college as seniors. R/S struggles were strongly associated with higher anxiety at baseline and positively predicted increases in anxiety over time. Patience, however, demonstrated domain-specific associations, with increases in daily hassles patience predicting reductions in anxiety change, and initial levels of interpersonal and life hardships patience associated with lower initial levels of anxiety. The association between patience and R/S struggles also differed by domain, with negative correlations for interpersonal and life hardship patience but not for daily hassles patience. Importantly, moderation tests revealed no strong evidence that patience buffers the effect of R/S struggles on anxiety at baseline or over time. Taken as a whole, our findings contribute to the literature on R/S struggles, coping, and virtue development by clarifying that patience may exert primarily direct effects on anxiety rather than buffering effects within R/S struggle contexts.
To examine how beliefs in heaven and hell relate to partner preferences, casual-sex orientations, infidelity, relationship quality, and fertility, two preregistered studies were conducted. Study 1 used cross-national aggregates from the World Values Survey and cross-cultural relationship data sets. Study 2 used individual-level data from the U.S. General Social Survey. Analyses controlled for key socioeconomic factors. At the societal level, higher national prevalence of belief in hell-but not heaven-predicted lower casual-sex behavior, lower acceptance of casual sex, and lower infidelity after accounting for socioeconomic covariates. At the individual level, both heaven and hell beliefs were associated with more conservative sexual attitudes, fewer sexual partners, and higher fertility. Neither belief reliably predicted marital satisfaction. Divergences across levels highlighted the ecological inference fallacy. Afterlife beliefs, particularly belief in hell, are linked to sexual restraint, but these associations operate differently at societal and individual levels. Their influence depends on the broader socioeconomic context and should be interpreted within a multilevel framework.
Prior research has investigated the conditions that lead to beliefs that God intervenes in various events. Primarily, God-related attributions tend to coincide with important, positive, and unexplainable events, with the goal of providing meaning and a sense of control in people's lives. However, such work is often cross-sectional in nature. Here, we expanded this research to an examination of everyday life by leveraging data from two daily diary studies (total N = 360; total observations > 1,392). Participants completed an initial survey, followed by daily surveys for 14 days, which included an item that probes whether they believed God intervened in their day. Results reveal that people with a higher belief in God, or various indicators of religiosity, are more likely to believe that God intervenes in their daily lives, as are those who score higher on meaning in life. Furthermore, people are more likely to make God-related attributions on days with positive, rather than negative, events and on days in which they feel greater meaning in life. These results support prior theorizing on the conditions and reasons for God-related attributions but importantly build upon this research by revealing the significance of such beliefs for daily life.
Divine forgiveness is central to Christian faith yet remains understudied psychologically. This study examined incident-specific experiences of reconciling with God among Christians from culturally and religiously diverse contexts, guided by the Relational Spirituality Model of Personal Sin, which conceptualizes reconciliation as emerging from cognitive-emotional appraisals involving the self, personal sin, God, and other people. Participants were 64 adult Christians (eight each from Brazil, China, Colombia, Ghana, Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey, and the United States). Half completed a single retrospective interview about a past violation; half completed two prospective interviews following a recent violation and again approximately 2 weeks later. Interview transcripts were analyzed using directed qualitative content analysis, with cognitive-emotional appraisal as the unit of analysis. Across contexts, reconciliation with God emerged as a relational, dynamic process beginning with disruption following personal sin and culminating in renewed communion with God. Self-appraisals clustered into three themes: struggling (e.g., distress, inadequacy), repentant (e.g., acknowledgment of wrongdoing, desire for restoration), and transformed (e.g., growth, renewed identity). Retrospective interviews more frequently emphasized transformation, whereas prospective interviews captured movement from repentance toward transformation over time; struggling appraisals remained prevalent. Appraisals of God emphasized mercy, holiness, and forgivingness, often referencing Scripture. Other people, particularly family members, were implicated in both offense and recovery. Findings provide qualitative support for the Relational Spirituality Model of Personal Sin and identify psychologically meaningful, culturally portable pathways through which Christians experience reconciliation with God, with implications for research, pastoral care, and spiritually integrated interventions.
Spiritual and mystical experiences are often characterized by reductions in self-boundaries and expanded feelings of connectedness. Building on the dual-pathway framework of self-transcendence, this study examines how mindfulness practice and psychedelic experiences relate to nondual awareness through distinct but complementary psychological processes. A total of 1,164 participants were recruited internationally via online platforms. Participants completed validated measures of trait mindfulness, contemplative practice engagement and advancement, lifetime psychedelic use and intensity of the most profound experience, ego dissolution, relational connectedness, nondual awareness, and ecological awareness. Analyses included correlational, regression, and mediation models. Mindfulness practice and psychedelic intensity were positively associated with nondual awareness, though through partially distinct pathways. Psychedelic intensity was strongly associated with ego dissolution, which statistically accounted for a substantial portion of its association with identity-related aspects of nondual awareness. Mindfulness practice was more closely linked to relational connectedness and ecological awareness. Ego dissolution emerged as a significant statistical mediator linking both pathways to nondual awareness. Findings suggest that mindfulness and psychedelics represent partially distinct but complementary routes to self-transcendent experiences. Rather than constituting a single continuum, annihilational (self-boundary reduction) and relational (connectedness expansion) processes appear to contribute differentially to nondual awareness. These results underscore the value of theoretically grounded and multimethod approaches to studying self-transcendence.
Widespread commitment to open science in our psychology of religion/spirituality subfield is essential for advancing the rigor of our scientific work and influence in our broader professional community. To this end, the Open Science of Religion initiative was a powerful catalyst for promoting introspection, knowledge, and implementation of open science principles and practices among researchers in our subfield. Personally speaking, we have been preregistering our studies; sharing our materials, data, and analytic code; and publishing open access articles as funding resources allow over recent years. Building on these practices, we were also excited about the opportunity afforded by this initiative to pursue a registered report for a practice-based evidence study that we were planning at the time. With support from the Open Science of Religion leaders, we gained firsthand experience of attempting to progress through the two stages of the registered report process for this study. However, we also encountered a number of unforeseen challenges that ultimately led us to withdraw our article from being published. The purpose of this article is to share our experiences, reflections, and lessons learned from this process in ways that might support other researchers in our subfield who want to use the registered report format for practice-based evidence research or other types of applied or community-based studies. We hope these reflections will encourage journal editors to consider reporting on other stopped studies, such that we may advance our science through collectively learning from our missteps and disappointments.
Belief in the Devil, while common across cultures, has received limited research attention. This study introduces a new measure to assess perceptions of the Devil's attributes and examines its incremental validity while mapping it within broader nomological networks. Four correlational studies were conducted. Based on items from Study 1 (N = 551), confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in Study 2 (N = 550). Study 3 (N = 445) tested the measure's nomological network and incremental validity using measures of control and morality beliefs, including just world belief, pure evil, self-control, and blame of God for suffering. Study 4 (N = 428) reexamined the nomological network and incremental validity, in addition to exploring the explanatory power of the scale in attributional judgments of negative experiences. Factor analyses supported a three-factor model: malevolent, ineffable, and scheming (Mal-IS scale). The measure showed incremental validity in predicting control and morality beliefs and significantly predicted attributional judgments. Based on the patterns of associations, two models of the Devil's perceived agency emerge. The first model suggests the Devil is an overpowering entity that causes harm and overrides human will, thereby diminishing personal responsibility. The second model suggests that the Devil operates through individual choices, implying a shared responsibility. These models align with the malevolent and scheming dimensions, respectively. The ineffable dimension is a nonthreatening, abstract conception of the Devil.
Why do some people believe in God while others do not? Some authors suggest that this variation partly stems from differences in individuals' tendencies to engage in reflective thinking. Previous experimental research has proposed that activating analytic thinking may undermine religious belief by inhibiting intuitive processes. However, evidence supporting this claim remains elusive, as replication attempts have yielded mixed findings. This study aimed to examine the effect of analytic priming on religious beliefs, using a tested effective technique to activate cognitive reflection in our target population. We also explored several variables that might moderate the effect of priming on religious belief. We conducted two studies. In Study 1, we assessed two analytic priming techniques-the Scrambled Sentence Task and the Debiasing Training Task-and found that only the latter effectively increased cognitive reflection as measured by the Cognitive Reflection Test. In a preregistered, well-powered Study 2 (N = 938), we employed the Debiasing Training Task to assess its effect on religious beliefs. We found no evidence that the activation of cognitive reflection influenced participants' self-reported religiosity relative to controls. Equivalence tests suggest that any potential effect was negligible. Moderation analyses also revealed no significant influence of individual differences in need for cognition, perceptions of reflection-religion compatibility, or metacognitive ambiguity of religious beliefs. These findings provide evidence against the hypothesis that analytic priming reduces religiosity. We discuss these findings in the context of the relationship between cognitive style (analytic vs. intuitive) and religious belief.
Scholars have advanced two central hypotheses regarding connections between child attachment and attachment to God: the correspondence hypothesis and the compensation hypothesis. The present research examined how attachment to mother, father, and God among emerging adults during a critical window of attachment transitions forms distinct profiles reflecting these hypotheses and their relation to mental illness symptoms. Latent profile analysis was utilized across two studies (Study 1 N = 824, Study 2 N = 875) to create latent profiles based on measures of attachment to mother, father, and God. After creating and replicating the profile structure, we explored the effects of profile membership on Timepoint 2 mental health after controlling for Timepoint 1 levels (approximately 2 years apart), indicating whether profile membership predicts change in mental illness symptoms. Both studies supported a three-profile solution: Complete Secure Correspondence (secure attachment across all figures), Complete Insecure Correspondence (insecure attachment across all figures), and Insecure Father Correspondence (insecure attachment for father and God but not mother). No evidence emerged for a compensation profile. Participants in the Complete Secure Correspondence profile reported the lowest symptoms of anxiety, depression, and loneliness, followed by the Insecure Father Correspondence and Complete Insecure Correspondence profiles. After controlling for baseline mental health, loneliness remained significantly associated with profile membership between the Complete Secure Correspondence and Complete Insecure Correspondence profiles. These results provide primary support for the correspondence hypothesis of attachment, the importance of father attachment when considering attachment to God, and the benefits of attachment security in buffering against mental illness symptomatology, most notably loneliness symptoms, across time.
In romantic relationships, there is a documented association between partner-focused prayer and relationship satisfaction. However, the heterogeneity in effect sizes across studies suggests the association is more nuanced than has been assumed and points to the presence of potential moderating variables. As people differ in their involvement in religious beliefs and behaviors, the present study examines whether individual differences in religiosity might moderate the association between partner-focused prayer and relationship satisfaction. Online data were collected from two different samples of young adults (N = 179 and N = 237) attending a public U.S. university. An interaction between partner-focused prayer and religiosity emerged in predicting relationship satisfaction. This moderating effect showed that there was a stronger association between partner-focused prayer and relationship satisfaction in participants higher in religiosity than among their less religious counterparts. The reason for this moderating effect is discussed before outlining the limitations of the study.
Studies examining the effects of religious/spiritual practices have not sufficiently investigated the role of their underlying meaning-making frameworks in driving their effects. Across three experiments, we examined whether increasing the psychological salience of Shabbat among Jews had a greater impact-on feelings of security, positive and negative emotions (Study 1), prosocial emotions (Study 2), and transcendence (Study 3)-than primes of a nonreligious vacation day or a routine workday. We examined whether this effect was moderated by level of religiosity and attachment to God. Participants (n = 240 for each of the three studies) were administered surveys on religiosity/spirituality and randomized to reflect on experiences of Shabbat or the two secular analogs. Then, outcome measures were administered. Consistently, the Shabbat prime led to more favorable outcomes than the two control groups (d range = .43-.53), except for negative emotion and distress while witnessing others' suffering. Outcomes did not differ between control conditions. Group differences were not moderated by interaction effects with experimental condition and general religiosity or religious attachment. Across three experiments, priming participants to reflect on Shabbat yielded consistently more favorable psychological outcomes than secular analogs. Effects of ritual behavior may be enhanced by processes of religious meaning-making beyond ritual behavior alone. Heightening the symbolic and emotional salience of meaning may reinforce the potential benefits of religious practices or spiritual exercises.
While religion has been found to be a comprehensive resource for meaning-making in suffering, the particular role that religious beliefs about suffering play in meaning-making and well-being is understudied. Consequently, we developed the Christian Views of Suffering Scale (CVSS) to represent 10 Christian functional views of suffering. After item development and cognitive interviewing, participants for the exploratory (N = 383) and confirmatory (N = 251) phases of the CVSS development were recruited through MTurk and Prolific. Participants in all studies were at least 18 years old, identified as Christian, and were from the United States. They completed a survey with the CVSS items and measures concerning their religion, beliefs about suffering, and current levels of well-being. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses established the factor structure of the CVSS to be 10 subscales with a total of 40 items. The measure demonstrated good internal consistency (alpha = .74-.87) and test-retest reliability (r = .60-.75) as well as convergent and discriminant validity. The CVSS is a valid and reliable psychometric instrument based upon theological and psychological research that contributes to the understudied area of research on religious beliefs.
In this preregistered study, we sought to understand which religious lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual/gender minoritized identities (LGBTQ+) people experience the most belonging in religious and/or LGBTQ+ communities, how that belonging influences mental health, and whether each kind of belonging operates orthogonally from the other. We recruited a sample of 424 LGBTQ+ people across religious affiliations via Prolific to complete a survey regarding demographic information, belonging in religious and LGBTQ+ communities, and well-being. We found that both religious and LGBTQ+ belonging positively relate to well-being, with White individuals experiencing more well-being related to religious belonging than people of color. We further found that belonging in both religious and LGBTQ+ communities was more well-being promoting than experiencing belonging in only one or neither community. Findings underscore the critical role of social connectedness and community support in enhancing well-being, with religious LGBTQ+ people particularly benefitting when able to foster a sense of belonging in both religious and LGBTQ+ communities.
Work-family conflict has been associated with a wide range of detrimental parenting outcomes, especially for mothers. Much less attention has been paid to the sociocultural factors that might attenuate the adverse effects of work-family conflict on parents' well-being and behavior. Guided by self-determination theory, which views parental stressors as antecedents of controlling parenting behaviors, we sought to examine the moderating role of religious affiliation in the link between work-family conflict, maternal guilt, and parenting behaviors among Jewish ultra-Orthodox and non-ultra-Orthodox mothers. The study included 367 working mothers. Of them, 207 were ultra-Orthodox and 160 were non-ultra-Orthodox. Participants completed questionnaires addressing work-family conflict, parenting behaviors (autonomy-supporting parenting and controlling parenting), and maternal guilt. Work-family conflict was associated with lower levels of autonomy-supporting parenting, increased levels of controlling parenting, and elevated guilt. However, religious affiliation moderated these relationships such that, compared to non-ultra-Orthodox mothers, ultra-Orthodox mothers' guilt and their ability to support their children's autonomy were less affected by increased levels of work-family conflict. Although ultra-Orthodox mothers must negotiate between greater household demands and their role as breadwinners, they may be more protected from the competing responsibilities of work and family, given the spiritual, social, and community resources at their disposal.
