Age and gender effects on the Assessment of Spirituality and Religious Sentiments (ASPIRES) scale: A cross-sectional analysis.

Abstract

Research literature suggests that there are age and gender effects on numinous constructs, but little is known about how spirituality and religiousness evolve over time and differ between genders. The purpose of this study was to determine whether observed gender and age effects would be evidenced on the Assessment of Spirituality and Religious Sentiments (ASPIRES) and whether the underlying factor structure of the ASPIRES was consistent across age and gender groups. These sample data (N 1,534 women and 697 men) demonstrated that (a) there are significant age and gender effects on the ASPIRES scales, and (b) the underlying factor structure of the scales remains unchanged in all groups, suggesting that the groups appear to understand and experience spirituality and religiousness in a similar manner. The results of this study demonstrate that although the expression of spirituality and religious sentiments may vary across age and between genders, the fundamental meaning of these constructs remains the same.