Centrality of Buddhist Religiosity Scale: Adaptation and Validation of the Centrality of Religiosity Scale in a Buddhist Sample in Vietnam

Hang Thi Minh Nguyen,Herbert Scheiblich,Michael Ackert,Christoph Flückiger

doi:10.3390/rel12020079

Hang Thi Minh Nguyen, Herbert Scheiblich + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12020079

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Abstract

This paper describes an adaptation of the Centrality of Religiosity Scale to the Buddhist religious tradition (CBRS) and a validation in Vietnam. The sample included data from 421 Vietnamese Buddhists (300 females, 121 males), aged 17 to 71 years (M=35.03, SD=13.09). The results provided evidence for good psychometric properties of the short, intermediate, and long version: CBRS-5, CBRS-10, and CBRS-15 respectively. Specifically, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the measure’s original five-factor structure: intellect, ideology, public practice, private practice, and religious experience. Furthermore, the Centrality of Buddhist Religiosity has proven to be a stable psychological construct across the three versions of CBRS and was associated strongly with the Gordon Allport’s notion of the intrinsic religious orientation. The results also suggested that the Stefan Huber’s centrality of religiosity model can capture the Buddhist religiosity and that the CBRS can be used to measure the five theoretical defined core dimensions of religiosity in Buddhism.

Highlights

Buddhism was introduced to Vietnam a thousand years ago and its teachings and practices have been incorporated into the local culture, shaping the characteristics and personalities of the Vietnamese people, psychologists have not paid due attention to Buddhist elements when studying Vietnamese people
Whereby the original Buddhist Intrinsic Religiosity Orientation Scale (BIRO) Scale with 8 indicators had two indicators eliminated because of weak factor loadings λ BIRO−8 = 0.18 and λ BIRO−2 = −0.25 resulting in a scale with six items
A modified BIRO model with six items is reported

Summary

Introduction

Buddhism was introduced to Vietnam a thousand years ago and its teachings and practices have been incorporated into the local culture, shaping the characteristics and personalities of the Vietnamese people, psychologists have not paid due attention to Buddhist elements when studying Vietnamese people. Such a gap in the literature can partly be ascribed to the lack of valid instruments designed for Vietnamese people that measures Buddhist religiosity, religious orientation, and spirituality.

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