Centrality Of Religiosity Research Articles

The impact of religiosity and financial literacy on financial management behavior and well-being among Indonesian Muslims

This study examines the effects of religiosity and Islamic financial literacy on Muslims’ financial behavior and well-being. Additionally, it investigates the impact of sociodemographic variables on the centrality of religiosity, financial literacy, financial management behavior, and the well-being of Muslim consumers. This research integrates perspectives from Rational Choice Theory, the Rational Choice Theory of Religion, and Behavioral Finance to illuminate the mechanisms behind these relationships. Data were collected through a non-probability sampling method from 1141 Muslim individuals aged between 18 and 65 living in Indonesia. The results indicate that the centrality of religion in the lives of Muslim consumers and Islamic financial literacy significantly affects their financial management behavior and financial well-being. However, the empirical evidence suggests a more substantial effect of Islamic financial literacy than religiosity on both dependent variables.

Religiosity and death anxiety among cancer patients: the mediating role of religious comfort and struggle.

Religiosity may serve as a personal source of support when people face a life-threatening illness, but it can also elicit stress. The main aim of this study is to show how various religious dimensions interplay in predicting death anxiety in patients diagnosed as having cancer. In the cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical research, 141 Polish patients who were hospitalized due to cancer were selected using sequential convenience sampling. Data were collected using the Centrality of Religiosity Scale, Religious Comfort and Strain Scale, and the Death Anxiety and Dying Distress Scale. The authors' results show that the effect of the centrality of religiosity on death anxiety is non-linear. We can also confirm the mediating role of religious comfort and struggles in the relationship between the centrality of religiosity and death anxiety. Thus, religious struggles appear to weaken the effect of religion on death anxiety, whereas religious comfort (contrary to expectation) does not enhance it. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2023;36(4):450-64.

CENTRALITY OF RELIGIOSITY: ITS INFLUENCE ON MENTAL HEALTH AND ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE AMONG THE DIOCESAN SCHOOLS DURING THE PANDEMIC

The researcher explored the influence of religiosity on mental health and organizational climate among diocesan schools during pandemic. This study made used of the descriptive-correlational method of research which utilized standardized questionnaires as primary data gathering technique. The study involved 269 respondents from 22 institutions from Malolos Diocesan Catholic Schools Association (MADISCA). The multiple correlation and regression analysis was used to determine the influence of religiosity on the mental health and organizational climate. Data revealed that the centrality of religiosity often occurs among the respondents as evidenced by an overall mean score of 4.33 while the mental health was applied to some degree or some of the time with a mean score of 0.87 and the organizational climate often occur among the respondents with a mean score of 1.88. Data also revealed that there is a significant relationship between centrality of religiosity and mental health (p-value of 0.001), and organizational climate (p-value of 0.0037), Moreover, the obtained Beta coefficient of 0.120 with p-value of 0.003 for organizational climate while 0.103 with a p-value of 0.101 on mental health suggested that the centrality of religiosity contribute significant influence on organizational climate. The implementation of a holistic and comprehensive mental health awareness program through Wellness Promotion and Prevention Office (WPPO) which was crafted based on the findings of the study.

"Faith Is Not Enough?" Ego-Resiliency and Religiosity as Coping Resources with Pandemic Stress-Mediation Study.

Based on the concepts of Pargament's adaptational functions of religiosity, Huber's centrality of religiosity, and Block's conceptualisation of ego-resiliency as psychosocial resources, a nonexperimental, moderated mediation project was designed for a group of 175 women and 57 men who voluntarily participated in an online study to determine whether and to what extent religiosity mediated or moderated the relationship between ego-resiliency and the severity of PTSD and depression during the COVID-19 epidemic. The analyses carried out showed that the studied variables, ego-resiliency and centrality of religiosity, were predictors of the intensity of some psychopathological reactions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic but were not connected via a mediation relationship. Therefore, one question remains open: what is the role of ego-resiliency and the nature of the stated immunogenic effect of the centrality of religiosity in dealing with the critical threat to mental health that is the COVID-19 pandemic?

Investigating the Relationship between Centrality of Religiosity, Instrumental Harm, and Impartial Beneficence through the Lens of Moral Foundations

A growing body of work suggests that religiosity is typically associated with deontological or non-utilitarian moral judgments. However, recent conceptualizations of utilitarian psychology show that instrumental harm is just one (negative) dimension of utilitarianism. In the new two-dimensional model of utilitarian psychology, impartial beneficence is the second (positive) dimension of utilitarianism. In the current study, we investigated the relationship between the centrality of religiosity and utilitarianism (its two dimensions) among adults (N = 401). We also examined whether five moral foundations serve as mediators of this relationship. We found that religiosity was directly and indirectly (through the care foundation) related to impartial beneficence. Although the direct effect of religiosity on instrumental harm was insignificant, we found two indirect effects through purity and authority foundations. The results suggest that the relationship between religiosity and utilitarianism is more complex than previously assumed.

Spirituality of Professional Pastoral Caregivers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Distress, Resources, and Consequences

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on mental health in general and on care professionals in particular. Studies have shown that professional pastoral caregivers are challenged concerning stabilizing their mental health and coping with stress experiences. Spirituality, on the other hand, has been considered as a helpful coping resource. This study examines professional pastoral caregivers in various contexts of hospitals, congregations, old people’s homes or schools during the second lockdown in Germany. Results show the importance of spirituality as a resource, with an overall high centrality of religiosity, high daily spiritual experience and low spiritual dryness, but also reveal various stress factors with which pastoral caregivers have to deal. However, associations between work-related distress, spiritual dryness, centrality of religiosity and spiritual experience are displayed and discussed. Spiritual dryness correlates positively with work-related distress, whereas daily spiritual experience and centrality of religiosity correlates negatively. Possibilities of further support for those offering pastoral care during the pandemic and beyond are presented.

Links Between Conspiracy Thinking and Attitudes Toward Democracy and Religion: Survey Data From Poland

Religion and democracy are not only social institutions but also objects of attitudes. This article focuses on conspiracy thinking and its links with attitudes toward religion and democracy. Due to its contextual character, the study is limited to Poland and the article intends to report the data on the subject from surveys conducted in this country. In terms of conspiracy thinking and attitudes toward religion, the literature review of existing Polish survey data (Study 1) led to the conclusion that not all types of religious life are correlated with conspiracy thinking. Individual spirituality (the centrality of religiosity and the quest orientation of religiosity) matters less in terms of conspiracy thinking than religion understood as a specific element of ideology (Polish Catholic nationalism, religious fundamentalism, or collective narcissism). In terms of attitudes toward democracy (Study 2), the original dataset is coded in a new way (as categorial variables) and then presented. It suggests that, contrary to earlier research, conspiracy thinking does not necessarily lead to the support of anti-democratic attitudes. Alienation as much as radicalization might be a consequence of conspiracy thinking. There is no significant difference in terms of conspiracy thinking between adherents of authoritarian rules and conditional democrats, indifferent democrats, or people with ambivalent opinions on democracy, described in comparative research on political culture as dissatisfied democrats or critical citizens. The lower level of conspiracy thinking has been identified only among consistent democrats.

Pentecostalism, ontological (in)security and the everyday lives of international university students in South Africa

ABSTRACT The experience and lives of international university students studying and living in Cape Town, South Africa demonstrate the centrality of religiosity, in their case Pentecostalism in adapting to and grappling with existential perturbations wrought in a xenophobic and hostile environment. This article explores the everyday appropriation of Pentecostal religiosity and rituals by international students in navigating uncertainties and everyday anxieties and struggles of studying and living in a foreign and alienating space. Studying the mundane forms of the everyday has gained traction since Michel de Certeau’s pioneering works on the practice of everyday life. This article is based on an ethnographic study conducted with international university students to understand how Pentecostalism mediates their daily life and experiences and what it means to live and study at a foreign university. I show how Pentecostal Charismatic Churhces (PCCs) not only cater for the existential material needs of migrant students on campus, but also provide space for integration and forging convivial relationships and belonging. I argue that a Pentecostal identity and being connects and creates a sense of ontological security that pervades Pentecostal students’ everyday life.

Spiritual Resources of Family Members of Patients in Palliative Care in Brazil

Although religiosity is a strong feature of Brazilian people, the integration of spirituality in palliative care (PC) has been a challenge for health care professionals. In order to evaluate the spiritual resources used by family members of patients in PC, this work presents the results of the research carried out with 50 family members. The Satisfaction with Life Scale, Centrality of Religiosity Scale, Spiritual/Religious Coping Scale, Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale, and Attachment to God Inventory were applied. The prevalence of positive spiritual/religious coping was very high (76%) or high (6%). There was a strong correlation between positive spiritual/religious coping and centrality of religiosity (r = 0.805; SD = 0.87). There was a moderate negative correlation between the avoidant attachment to God and centrality of religiosity (r = −0.611; SD = 1.24) and positive spiritual/religious coping (r = −0.575; SD = 1.37). There was a moderate positive correlation between the anxious attachment to God and spiritual struggles (r = 0.515; SD = 0.76) and negative spiritual/religious coping (r = 0.555; SD = 0.616). These results suggest that spiritual/religious resources are present in family members of patients in PC. These resources have been mostly ignored by the multidisciplinary team. Findings provide an evidence base for training health care professionals to better integrate spirituality in PC settings.

Relationship between Perception of Father Parenting Style and Religiosity of the Adolescent Pastor’s Children

Ideally, a pastor’s child is a role model in religious life. However, a pastor’s child has some religious problems rooted in parental influence. This research aimed to determine whether each parenting style correlated with the religiosity of a pastor’s child. This research hypothesizes that there was a significant correlation between the perceptions of authoritarian parenting, authoritative parenting, permissive parenting, and uninvolved parenting with the religiosity of adolescent pastors’ children. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling. As many as 172 Indonesian pastors’ children aged 13 to 17 years old participated in this study. The measuring instrument used were the Parenting Style measure and the Centrality of Religiosity (CRS). The research method is quantitative correlational research. The research results indicate no correlation between each type of parenting style and religiosity. As much as 76.7% of the pastors’ children were at the religious level, followed by 14% who were not religious and 9.3% were very religious. The research implied that the influence of religiosity in the life of the pastors’ children is not due to their fathers’ parenting styles. Research Highlights This research aims to observe a substantial correlation between adolescent pastors’ children’s religiosity and their perceptions of their fathers’ parenting styles. According to the research findings, the religiosity of pastors’ children is not attributable to their fathers’ parenting styles. This study provides several practical implications. The pastor’s family (especially the father) can still apply authoritative parenting because it has positively impacted a child’s development and personality. The church needs to build an authentic faith community to support the development of healthy spirituality and religiosity for adolescent pastors' children.

Cultural Management of Terror and Worry During the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Religiosity and a Dream of Human Solidarity Help the Polish People Cope.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which involves the threat of contracting a potentially fatal disease, can be understood as a source of terror. According to terror management theory, people shield themselves from terror by adopting culturally specific worldviews and protecting self-esteem. The study investigates the protective role of worldviews that are culturally specific to Poles: religiosity and social solidarity. The hypothesis was that Poles who tend to worry, entertain these worldviews and are more likely to maintain high self-esteem and concentrate on the current moment (carpe diem), which theoretically allows them to reduce future-related anxiety. Path analysis confirmed that self-esteem, the centrality of religiosity, and expectation of solidarity due to the COVID-19 pandemic mediate the relationship between the worry trait and carpe diem.

Does religion predict coronavirus conspiracy beliefs? Centrality of religiosity, religious fundamentalism, and COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs

There has been an increasing interest in the relationship between religion and psychosocial functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interestingly, emerging recent findings suggest that religiousness may have a Janus-face impact on how people cope with the pandemic, leading to both positive and negative social outcomes. In this project, we examine whether two types of religiousness (i.e., centrality of religiosity and religious fundamentalism) are associated with COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and socially undesirable behavior during the pandemic. We suggest that only the most dogmatic and fundamentalistic type of religiousness could lead to conspiracy beliefs, while centrality of religiosity could be unrelated or even negatively related to this type of thinking. In a series of two studies (N = 361 and N = 394) conducted among Polish Roman Catholics, we demonstrate that religious fundamentalism, unlike centrality of religiosity, is positively related to coronavirus conspiracy beliefs, which, in turn, promote socially maladaptive behavior such as freeriding or non-adherence to safety guidelines.

Centrality of Religiosity and Dyadic Coping in Close Romantic Relationships: Actor Partner Interdependence Model

Some studies suggest that religious people cope better with stress. For married couples, if partners perceive their relationship as sacred, supportive dyadic coping mediates the association of sanctification with marital satisfaction and well-being. In the current study, applying the actor–partner interdependence model to 116 Polish couples (n = 232), aged between 21 and 64 (males: M = 37.8, SD = 11.8; females M = 37.1, SD = 12.0), we examined the link between centrality of religiosity and dyadic coping. Although general dyadic analyses indicate that centrality of religiosity and dyadic coping are unrelated concepts, at the subscales level, we could observe few significant relationships. The results show that Polish religious men rate their common dyadic coping low. Actor effects in women are moderated by the type of relationship (cohabitation and civil marriage vs. catholic marriage).

Religious and Spiritual Struggles in a German-Speaking Sample: a Validation Study

Abstract This paper presents the German adaptation and validation of the Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale (RSSS) (Exline et al. 2014). Religious and spiritual (r/s) struggles consist of inner conflicts regarding supernatural, interpersonal and intrapersonal concerns, which in the RSSS are categorized into six struggles: Divine, Demonic, Doubt, Interpersonal, Moral and Ultimate Meaning. The prevalence of these as well as mental health correlates and associations with centrality of religiosity were explored in a sample of 1359 German-speaking participants, primarily university students from Switzerland. Inner r/s struggles have primarily been studied in samples from the United States, and data are lacking for more secular societies such as Switzerland, where these struggles are experienced as well. For the first time, the RSSS was translated into and administered in the German language and its six-factor structure confirmed with confirmatory factor analysis.

Religious and Secular Coping Strategies of Reappraisal

Abstract In times of disaster, religion is said to be a powerful resource of meaning-focused coping. If offers motifs, symbols, and stories to reappraise situations and thereby ascribe meaning to them. Aside from religion, in modern times secular resources are feasible for meaning making during disaster as well. Empirical instruments that assess both religious and secular types of meaning-focused coping, however, are not available. Relevant instruments focus exclusively on either religious or secular coping. This paper addresses this desideratum by supplementing the RCOPE-scales of reappraisal with relevant scales of secular reappraisal. Three scales – Trust in Science, Consequences of Lifestyle, and Reappraisal of Science’s Power – have been constructed and tested on a sample of university students and staff members coping with the Corona pandemic. CFA shows a satisfactory fit for the supplementing instrument when Trust in Science is removed from the analysis. Correlation analysis with scales of religiosity (Centrality of Religiosity and Post-Critical Belief) indicates a good external validity of the new instrument. In consequence, the two supplements of Consequences of Lifestyle and Reappraisal of Science’s Power facilitate assessment of secular meaning-focused coping aside with relevant religious coping, while the Trust in Science Reappraisal scale needs further development.

Preliminary evidence for an aversion to atheists in long-term mating domains in the Southern United States

The centrality of religiosity in selecting long-term mates suggests atheism could be undesirable for that context. Given recent findings suggesting several positive stereotypes about atheists, a largely distrusted group, individuals could prefer atheists in mating domains not emphasizing long-term commitment (i.e., short-term mating). Two studies tasked U.S. participants with evaluating long-term and short-term mating desirability of theists and atheists while assessing perceptions of their personalities. Study 1 indicated atheists were more desirable in short-term mating than long-term mating, though this preference did not translate to being preferred over theists. The pre-registered Study 2 demonstrated this effect is specific to physically attractive targets. Atheists were further perceived as more prone to infidelity, especially when attractive. Results are framed from an evolutionary perspective while discussing anti-atheist prejudice.

“Yes, in Crisis We Pray”. The Role of Prayer in Coping with Pandemic Fears

Based on the concepts of Huber’s centrality of religiosity as psychosocial resource, a non-experimental, moderated mediation project was designed in a group of 176 women and 84 men, who voluntarily participated in an online study, analysing the relationship between the prayer and the fears (for health, economy/finances, social life and family relations) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the general tendency in dependencies between variables. Among the assessed components of religiousness crucial for alleviating the fears of the COVID-19 pandemic, two forms of prayer—Private Practice and Public Practice—turned out to be the most important. Private Practice seemed to appease the fears of threats to family and social relationships of persons assessed, while Public Practice was revealed as the predictor of intensifying of the general, summed up level of fears. The areas of health (illness threat) and financial security fears were not associated neither with prayer nor any other components of religiousness. It means a selective predictive associating of prayer with the appeasing of only specific types of fears, namely those of a social nature. The results obtained point to the importance of the addressed topic in the context of searching for psycho resources in coping with difficult situations and determining their impact.

The structure and correlates of anthropocentrism as a psychological construct

In the debate concerning environmental protection issues there is a clash between the positions held by the advocates of anthropocentric and eco-bio-centric environmental ethics. Although wildlife conservators criticize anthropocentrism as the main cause behind the ecological crisis, (1) its structure as a psychological construct underlying the anthropocentric orientation is unclear and (2) there is no psychometrically adequate measure of anthropocentrism that would allow for determining its relations to other constructs. To fill this gap, we conducted two studies. The concept of anthropocentrism, understood as including the finalistic, metaphysical, epistemological, and axiological aspects distinguished in the philosophical debate, was operationalized as the Anthropocentric Beliefs Scale (ABS). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) of the results of Studies 1 and 2 showed that anthropocentrism was a one-dimensional construct. Study 2 also revealed that it was negatively related to environmental attitudes and positively related to negative attitudes toward robots, centrality of religiosity, and right-wing authoritarianism. The construct validity and measurement reliability of the ABS were supported.

On the Relationship of Value Priorities with the Centrality of Religiosity and a Variety of Religious Orientations and Emotions

In this study, the relationship between religiosity and value priorities is differentiated, based on a multidimensional model of religiosity (Structure-of-Religiosity-Test). The structure of values is conceptualized using Shalom H. Schwartz’s two orthogonal dimensions of self-transcendence vs. self-enhancement and openness to change vs. conservation. The relationship between these two dimensions and the centrality of religiosity, seven religious orientations, seven emotions toward God, and three political orientations were tested with a correlational analysis in a sample of members of Abrahamic religions, the non-denominational, and organized secularists in Switzerland (n = 1093). The results show, that different values are preferred (self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, security, and power values) depending on the content of the religious orientations and emotions toward God. The results indicate the importance of the content of religious orientations and emotions for predicting value-loaded behaviors.

Centrality of Religiosity among Select LGBTQs in the Philippines

This paper investigates the salience of religion and the centrality of religiosity among select LGBTQs. Much consideration has been given to the identity categories of sex, gender, sexual orientation, and religion. Means (M) and standard deviations (SD) were calculated for the overall CRSi-20 score and its five subscales. The results show that the overall CRSi-20 score is 3.68 (SD = 0.89), which indicates that the select LGBTQs are “religious”. As for the core dimensions of religiosity, the ideology subscale received the highest mean score (M = 4.16, SD = 0.88) while the public practice subscale received the lowest mean score (M = 3.21, SD = 1.15). The overall reliability of the survey is computed at 0.96, while the rest of the subscales have alpha values ranging from 0.81 to 0.95. Study outcomes confirm the general religiosity of participants, particularly among older respondents. Of the five subscales, ideology and private practice emerge as dominant categories. In terms of sex distribution, men tend to self-describe as “highly religious” in relation to women, who identify largely as “religious”.