Attitude towards Hinduism, religious orientations, and psychological adjustment in India

Abstract

In a sample of Indian university students, the Attitude towards Hinduism Scale correlated positively with the Intrinsic and Extrinsic Personal Religious Orientations, exhibited an inverse relationship with depression, and predicted greater self-esteem and religious collective self-esteem. Extrinsic Social and Quest Orientations displayed no linkages with Hindu religious commitments and predicted psychological maladjustment. Attitude towards Hinduism displayed incremental validity over religious orientations in explaining variance in self-esteem and religious collective self-esteem and fully mediated Intrinsic and Extrinsic Personal linkages with religious collective self-esteem. Moderation analyses demonstrated that the Attitude towards Hinduism Scale had more robust mental health implications in those who were stronger in their Intrinsic Orientation. These data once again illustrated how the examination of tradition-specific forms of commitment can clarify more general measures of religiousness, and vice versa. They also confirmed the potential of the Attitude towards Hinduism Scale in efforts to develop a Hindu psychology of religion.