God image and Five-Factor Model personality characteristics in later life: A study among inhabitants of Sassenheim in The Netherlands
TL;DR: In this paper, a small sample of older mainline church members in Sassenheim, The Netherlands (n = 53), aged 68-93, filled out a questionnaire, including 120 items of the NEO-PI-R, the Questionnaire God Image, frequency of prayer, church attendance, and depressive symptoms.
Abstract: Affective or emotional aspects of religiousness are considered to be crucial in the association between religiousness and well-being, especially in later life. Such affective aspects can be understood as pertaining to the God–object relationship, corresponding to feelings of trust towards God or to religious discontent. Personality characteristics, such as those defined by the Five-Factor Model of Personality, are expected to correspond with God image. A small sample of older mainline church members in Sassenheim, The Netherlands (n = 53), aged 68–93, filled out a questionnaire, including 120 items of the NEO-PI-R, the Questionnaire God Image, frequency of prayer, church attendance, and depressive symptoms. Neuroticism was associated with feelings of anxiety towards God as well as discontent towards God. Agreeableness was associated with perceiving God as supportive and with prayer. These findings persisted after adjustment for depressive symptoms. For the other three personality factors, no clear pattern...
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TL;DR: The main personality characteristics of religiousness (Agreeableness and Conscientiousness) are consistent across different religious dimensions, contexts, and personality measures, models, and levels, and they seem to predict religiousness rather than be influenced by it.
Abstract: Individual differences in religiousness can be partly explained as a cultural adaptation of two basic personality traits, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. This argument is supported by a meta-analysis of 71 samples (N = 21,715) from 19 countries and a review of the literature on personality and religion. Beyond variations in effect magnitude as a function of moderators, the main personality characteristics of religiousness (Agreeableness and Conscientiousness) are consistent across different religious dimensions, contexts (gender, age, cohort, and country), and personality measures, models, and levels, and they seem to predict religiousness rather than be influenced by it. The copresence of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness sheds light on other explanations of religiousness, its distinctiveness from related constructs, its implications for other domains, and its adaptive functions.
279 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of divers' personality, experience, and demographic profile on their underwater behavior was explored using convenience sampling among divers in Malaysia, and a total of 302 questionnaires were returned and analyzed.
Abstract: Scuba diving activity is known to cause detrimental impact on the marine environment and its sustainability. This study explores the influence of divers’ personality, experience, and demographic profile on their underwater behavior. Data were collected using convenience sampling
among divers in Malaysia. A total of 302 questionnaires were returned and analyzed. The results show that divers are generally responsible underwater. Scuba diving experience parameters of duration of involvement, number of dives, self-rating experience, and diving frequency influence underwater behavior. Divers with high neuroticism are more likely to be irresponsible, while high agreeableness personality factor is related to more responsible behavior underwater. Based on the results the authors provide some managerial recommendations in order to promote responsible scuba diving activities.
69 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a meta-analysis was conducted to examine the magnitude of the associations between God representations and aspects of psychological functioning, including self-concept, relationships with others and neuroticism.
Abstract: Context: Results of meta-analyses show weak associations between religiosity and well-being, but are based on divergent definitions of religiosity. Objective: The aim of this meta-analysis was to examine the magnitude of the associations between God representations and aspects of psychological functioning. Based on object-relations and attachment theory, the study discerns six dimensions of God representations: Two positive affective God representations, three negative affective God representations, and God control. Associations with well-being and distress and with self-concept, relationships with others and neuroticism were examined. Methods: The meta-analysis was based on 123 samples out of 112 primary studies with 348 effect sizes from in total 29,963 adolescent and adult participants, with a vast majority adherent of a theistic religion. Results: The analyses, based on the random-effects model, yielded mostly medium effect sizes (r = .25 to r = .30) for the associations of positive God representations with well-being, and for the associations of two out of three negative God representations with distress. Associations of God representations with self-concept, relationships with others and neuroticism were of the same magnitude. Various moderator variables could not explain the relatively high amount of heterogeneity. The authors found no indications of publication bias. Conclusion: The observed effect sizes are significantly stronger than those generally found in meta-analyses of associations between religiousness and well-being/mental health. Results demonstrate the importance of focusing on God representations instead of on behavioral or rather global aspects of religiosity. Several implications with respect to assessment, clinical practice, and future research are discussed.
39 citations
References
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TL;DR: The CES-D scale as discussed by the authors is a short self-report scale designed to measure depressive symptomatology in the general population, which has been used in household interview surveys and in psychiatric settings.
Abstract: The CES-D scale is a short self-report scale designed to measure depressive symptomatology in the general population. The items of the scale are symptoms associated with depression which have been used in previously validated longer scales. The new scale was tested in household interview surveys and in psychiatric settings. It was found to have very high internal consistency and adequate test- retest repeatability. Validity was established by pat terns of correlations with other self-report measures, by correlations with clinical ratings of depression, and by relationships with other variables which support its construct validity. Reliability, validity, and factor structure were similar across a wide variety of demographic characteristics in the general population samples tested. The scale should be a useful tool for epidemiologic studies of de pression.
48,339 citations
"God image and Five-Factor Model per..." refers methods in this paper
...Depressive symptoms were measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), a 20-item self-report scale designed to measure depressive symptoms in the community (Radloff, 1977)....
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TL;DR: In this article, an Introduction to the Psychology of Religion and Coping is presented, and the Mechanisms of Coping: The Conservation of Significance, the Transformation of significance, the Outcomes and the Problem of Integration.
Abstract: 1. An Introduction to the Psychology of Religion and Coping I. A Perspective on Religion 2. The Sacred and the Search for Significance 3. Religious Pathways and Religious Destinations II. A Perspective on Coping 4. An Introduction to the Concept of Coping 5. The Flow of Coping III. The Religion and Coping Connection 6. When People Turn to Religion: When They Turn Away 7. The Many Faces of Religion in Coping 8. Religion and the Mechanisms of Coping: The Conservation of Significance 9. Religion and the Mechanisms of Coping: The Transformation of Significance IV. Evaluative and Practical Implications 10. Does It Work? Religion and the Outcomes of Coping 11. When Religion Fails: Problems of Integration in the Process of Coping 12. Putting Religion into Practice
2,480 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest that the RCOPE may be useful to researchers and practitioners interested in a comprehensive assessment of religious coping and in a more complete integration of religious and spiritual dimensions in the process of counseling.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a new theoretically based measure that would assess the full range of religious coping methods, including potentially helpful and harmful religious expressions. The RCOPE was tested on a large sample of college students who were coping with a significant negative life event. Factor analysis of the RCOPE in the college sample yielded factors largely consistent with the conceptualization and construction of the subscales. Confirmatory factor analysis of the RCOPE in a large sample of hospitalized elderly patients was moderately supportive of the initial factor structure. Results of regression analyses showed that religious coping accounted for significant unique variance in measures of adjustment (stress-related growth, religious outcome, physical health, mental health, and emotional distress) after controlling for the effects of demographics and global religious measures (frequency of prayer, church attendance, and religious salience). Better adjustment was related to a number of coping methods, such as benevolent religious reappraisals, religious forgiveness/purification, and seeking religious support. Poorer adjustment was associated with reappraisals of God's powers, spiritual discontent, and punishing God reappraisals. The results suggest that the RCOPE may be useful to researchers and practitioners interested in a comprehensive assessment of religious coping and in a more complete integration of religious and spiritual dimensions in the process of counseling.
1,896 citations
"God image and Five-Factor Model per..." refers background in this paper
...Another way of measuring aspects of the relationship with God has been incorporated in the empirical approach to religious coping (Pargament et al., 2000)....
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Book•
19 Oct 2005TL;DR: This book discusses the search for growth or Decline in Personality, the Influences of Personality on the Life Course, and a Five-Factor Theory of Personality.
Abstract: Contents: Facts and Theories of Adult Development. A Trait Approach to Personality. Measuring Personality. The Search for Growth or Decline in Personality. Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Personality and Aging. The Course of Personality Development in the Individual. Stability Reconsidered: Qualifications and Rival Hypotheses. A Different View: Ego Psychologies and Projective Methods. Adult Development as Seen through the Personal Interview. A Five-Factor Theory of Personality. The Influences of Personality on the Life Course.
1,355 citations
"God image and Five-Factor Model per..." refers methods in this paper
...In the current study, a similar approach to personality has been pursued, following the Five-Factor Model of Personality (FFM) as elaborated on by McCrae and Costa (2003)....
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1,150 citations
"God image and Five-Factor Model per..." refers background in this paper
...There is a rapidly growing body of literature on religiousness as a resource of well-being and coping in later life (Koenig, McCullough, & Larson, 2001; Pargament, 1997)....
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