Belief in God as an Attachment Figure and Mental Health

Abstract

The first section of the chapter explains Attachment Theory, what an attachment figure is, and attachment styles (avoidant, anxious, and secure attachment). The second section covers the application of Attachment Theory to religion, including the concept that God can be an attachment figure because God provides a sense of security and safety to individuals (a “safe base” in Attachment Theory terms) and a “safe haven” when facing threats of potential harm. As these are two essential characteristics of secure attachment in mother-infant relationships, believing one has a secure attachment to God is a special case of believing one has a positive relationship with God, which is supported by a large nationwide survey of American Protestants. The next sections summarize the results of studies of convenience samples of primarily U.S. college students and three large national studies of American adults, which found: (a) that believing one has a secure attachment to God has a salubrious association with mental health, including psychiatric symptoms, and (b) believing one has an anxious or avoidant attachment to God has a pernicious association with mental health, including psychiatric symptoms. The final section of the chapter demonstrates that anxiety symptoms mediate the relationship between perceived attachment to God and happiness. The main results of all the research are interpreted within ETAS Theory to mean that believing one has a secure attachment to God provides a sense of safety, which reduces the brain’s assessment that the world is dangerous, whereas believing one has an anxious or avoidant attachment to God does not provide this sense of safety.