Development and Validation of Religious Belief System Scale

Shivani Dangi Shivani Dangi,Y K Nagle Y K Nagle

doi:10.25215/0303.049

Shivani Dangi Shivani Dangi, Y K Nagle Y K Nagle

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.25215/0303.049

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Abstract

The literature cites multiple definitions for religiosity, with little consensus among researchers. Religiosity has been associated with a myriad of positive outcomes in both adolescents and adults. Religiosity refers to the degree to which a person adheres to his or her religious values, beliefs and practices and uses them in daily life. Religiosity is still an emerging concept in the developing countries such as India, though rich culture has enriched in the past. Confining to various definitions of Religiosity the study attempts to evolve a Religious belief System scale in an Indian context. With exploration of literature and expert reviews, various attributes of belief System scale was initiated with a pool of 164 items. These items were subjected to experts’ opinion and reduced to 136. The scale was administered on a sample of 456 participants and the item analysis was carried out the having more than 0.35and above value were retained for factor analysis. After initial factor analyses the scale was again administered on a sample of 550 participants. The principal component analyses were employed and 48 items were retained covering three factor i.e. Belief, Attitude and values. The measure demonstrated high internal consistency and good test-retest reliability as well as validity.

Highlights

The literature cites multiple definitions for religiosity, with little consensus among researchers
Cultural-religious factors such as religious affiliation and nationality might directly impact youth functioning, or they might alter the relationship between religiosity and youth functioning
The views, opinions and criticism on this work will be welcomed with goodwill interest to refine the Scale

Summary

Introduction

The literature cites multiple definitions for religiosity, with little consensus among researchers. Lippman and Keith (2006) reported that 82% of 20,000 teens and young adults from 41 countries indicated a belief in God. there is much support for the protective role of religion in relation to various aspects of youth wellbeing including both social and psychological outcomes. Concept of Religion Religion has been delineated in many and various ways according to a number of scholars It seems that there is no generally accepted definition of religion taken into account the nature of the discipline, diversity of religions, diversity of religious experiences, and diversity of religious origins, among others. Many theologians, philosophers, psychologists, sociologists and scholars in general have defined religion from varying viewpoints and conceptualizations This implies that religion has been defined in many ways and in a number of cases in line with a particular school of thought or discipline. This suggests that religion relates to symbols with ultimate spiritual relevance and influence in worshippers way of life. Pecorino (2000) notes that a robust definition of religion needs to meet a number of requirements such as: involvement of the totality of life; is open to all kinds of people; deals with issues naturally in widely different activities; deals with issues in widely different notions and beliefs; exists and is practiced in both private and social milieus; is open to various opinions as to the veracity or otherwise its beliefs; and has repercussions perceived to be either harmful or beneficial to persons and groups

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