Relationships between religiosity, spirituality, and personality: A multivariate analysis

Why religion and spirituality are important in human biological research

The study of human biology includes exploration of all the genetic and environmental influences on human variation and life history, including impacts of sociocultural and physical environments. Religious practice and spirituality may be one of these influences. There are more than 5.8 billion religiously affiliated adults and children, accounting for 84% of the world's 6.9 billion people. Furthermore, 70% of Americans consider themselves spiritual in some way, including 22% who do not consider themselves religious, and the numbers for Europe are lower but proportionally similar. Such a high rate of religious affiliation and spiritual belief suggests that religion and spirituality could be sociocultural influences on human variation, but human biologists have scarcely attended to their impacts, as indicated by the limited numbers of relevant articles in the two flagship human biology journals. In this article, we discuss why human biologists may have overlooked this important force for human variability and highlight foundational work from human biology and other disciplines that can give our colleagues directions forward. We review the impacts of religion and spirituality at population and individual levels and call for human biologists to attend to the many aspects of religion and spirituality that can impact human biology and are much more than simply influences of denominational affiliation.

Barriers to ethical treatment of patients in clinical environments: A systematic narrative review

Background and Aim

It is essential that healthcare providers display ethical behavior toward their patients. Despite development of codes of ethics for clinical practice, the occurrence of unethical behaviors toward patients is alarmingly high. The present study was conducted to identify the barriers to ethical treatment of patients in clinical environments.

Methods

Through systematic narrative review, the present study investigated the barriers to ethical treatment of patients. This study was carried out in line with Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews 2 and Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.

Results

Ethical challenges in clinical environments can be classified into two categories: "organizational factors" and "personal factors." Organizational factors consist of three domains: managers and regulations, organizational environment, and human resources. Personal factors consist of two domains: factors related to patients and their families and factors related to care providers.

Conclusion

Research shows that encouraging healthcare teams to adopt ethical behaviors through education and having them persistently observe ethics in their clinical practice will not completely bridge the gap between theory and practice: it seems that the clinical environment, the personal characteristics of healthcare team members and patients, and the organizational values of the healthcare system pose the greatest barrier to bridging this gap. Accordingly, in addition to raising healthcare providers' awareness of the existing issues in clinical ethics, measures should be taken to improve organizational culture and atmosphere.

Does Existential Flexibility Associate With Individuals' Acceptance of Inequality? A Study Relating Existential Questing to Values and to Prejudice

This study investigated whether existential quest, a relatively new construct defining individual willingness to reflect on existential issues such as the meaning of life and death, was negatively associated with generalized prejudice through the mediation with personal values of universalism and conservation (conformity, security, and tradition). A structural equation model was performed on a convenience sample of 1136 Italian adults. Results confirmed a negative indirect relationship with generalized prejudice mediated by universalism. Findings support the argument that engagement with existential issues is associated with the value of universalism, which in turn is associated with lower levels of generalized prejudice. The present study contributes to the scholarly literature to explain the concept of existential quest.

The perceived effects of spirituality, work-life integration and mediating role of work passion to millennial or gen Y employees’ mental health

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the link between spirituality, work-life integration, work passion and mental health among millennial employees. It also tests the mediating effect of the dualistic model of work passion in the framework.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional quantitative design was adopted using samples of 167 millennial employees from the education and service sectors. Results were analysed using Statistical Package of Social Science, Process macro extension and AMOS modelling software.

Findings

The findings indicated that millennials’ spirituality was positively linked to harmonious passion, while work-life integration was positively linked with obsessive and high mental health symptoms. Mediating effects were also discovered in which harmonious passion fully mediated the positive relationship between spirituality and mental health symptoms. While obsessive passion partially mediated work-life integration and mental health symptoms.

Originality/value

This paper highlights the mediating influence of millennials’ work passion for explaining their mental health symptoms. It also suggests the practicality and essential roles of spirituality and work-life integration in managing the mental health of existing and future millennials in the workforce.

The Associations of Experiencing the COVID-19 Pandemic With Religiosity and Spirituality: A Cross-Sectional Study in Czech Adults

Objectives: We investigated the associations between religiosity/spirituality and respondents’ changes in their relationships, feelings, thinking, and behaviour during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic.

Methods: A sample of Czech adults (n = 1,434; 48.3 ± 16.4 years; 49.65% women) participated in the online survey. We measured spirituality, religiosity, self-reported changes in relationships, disrupted feelings, and changes in behaviour during the pandemic.

Results: Spiritual respondents were more likely to report increased physical activity, sex, reading and self-education, with odds ratios (ORs) ranging from 1.26 (95% confidence interval 1.09–1.46) to 1.56 (1.31–1.86). The combination of spirituality and religiosity led to an increase in the range of ORs to 1.57–2.69. Spiritual and religious participants were less likely to feel the decrease of hope by 70%, while mere spirituality significantly reduced the decrease of hope by only 30%. Religiosity itself led to a lower risk of reporting a disrupted day structure with an OR = 0.74 (0.58–0.95).

Conclusion: Religiosity and spirituality separately help people during a pandemic in some areas. Especially their combination has a more positive impact on relationships, feelings, and behaviour.

Relationship between Neuroticism, Spiritual Well-Being, and Subjective Well-Being in Korean University Students

Previous studies on mental health and quality of life have revealed that religiosity/spirituality was positively associated with indicators of well-being and personality factors. However, limited research has examined the relationship between spiritual well-being, the subfactors of the personality factor Neuroticism (i.e., anxiety, hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness, and vulnerability), and subjective well-being in a non-Western sample. The present findings revealed that the five subfactors of neuroticism did not have an equally negative or positive effect on spiritual and subjective well-being among Korean undergraduate University students. Regarding its subdimensions, vulnerability was strongly associated with spiritual well-being, while depression was closely linked to subjective well-being. Moreover, we found that spiritual well-being exerted significant effects on subjective well-being above personality factors. The significance of the findings and directions for further research have been discussed.

Spirituality, Personality, and Emotional Distress During COVID-19 Pandemic in Croatia

This study examined the association between spiritual quality of life (QoL), spiritual coping, emotional distress, and personality during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in a convenience sample of Croatian adults (n = 2,860, 80.6% women). Participants completed an online questionnaire that collected information on sociodemographic characteristics, distress (the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale 21), spiritual coping and spiritual QoL (the WHO Quality of Life-Spirituality, Religiousness, and Personal Beliefs), and personality (the International Personality Item Pool). The hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that personality traits, especially emotional stability, were the most significant predictors of mental health outcomes. Spiritual coping styles were a predictor of worse, while spiritual QoL of better psychological outcomes. Results demonstrate the complex relations between different aspects of spirituality/religiosity with personality and emotional outcomes and suggest that distress motivates the engagement of spiritual coping in times of disaster.

Exploring variables related to medical surrogate decision-making accuracy during the COVID-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVE

Surrogate medical decision making is common in the United States healthcare system. Variables that may influence surrogate decision making have been proposed. Little work has examined relations between these variables and outcomes of surrogate decision making. This study investigated whether surrogates' characteristics, including their knowledge of treatment options, and interpersonal factors predicted surrogates' accuracy and intervention selections. Specifically, predictor variables included: trust in the medical profession, trait-level anxiety, depression, anxiety about COVID-19, religiosity, perceived emotional support, understanding of treatment options, empathy, willingness to accept responsibility for medical decisions, reluctance to burden others, and perceived similarity between oneself and the patient.

METHODS

154 pairs of patients and their surrogates completed an online survey. Patients indicated preferred treatments in hypothetical decision scenarios. Surrogates indicated the treatment that they thought the patient would prefer.

RESULTS

When taken all together in a predictive model, the variables significantly predicted surrogates' accuracy, F (6) = 3.03, R² = .12, p = .008. Variables also predicted selection of intensive interventions, F (4) = 5.95, R² = .14, p = .00. Surrogates reporting greater anxiety about COVID-19 selected more intensive interventions.

CONCLUSIONS

Consistent with prior research, this study found that surrogates' characteristics influence the interventions they choose, with anxiety about COVID-19 having considerable bearing on their chosen interventions.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

These findings can inform development of decision-making interventions to improve surrogates' accuracy. Providers may attend to variables highlighted by this study to support surrogates, particularly within the stressful context of COVID-19 and possible future pandemics.

Individual differences and the relationship between education and religiosity in longitudinal versus cross-sectional studies

We show that the relationship between education and religiosity is positive in cross-sectional analyses and negative in longitudinal analyses. We explain this discrepancy by suggesting that the former relationship is due to the positive association of both education and religiosity with dispositional conformity, while the latter represents a causal effect of education on apostasy.

The Dark Triad Traits and the Prediction of Eudaimonic Wellbeing

Although numerous studies have focused on personality traits related to well-being, the relationship between the Dark Triad Traits and eudaimonic well-being is still unclear. The purpose of the present study was to explore how the Dark Triad Traits (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) affect eudaimonic well-being. Further, this study also aimed to explore the mediation effect of family support and hedonic wellbeing. The results showed that the present model had a good model fit (χ²/df = 1.91, p < 0.001, comparative-fit-index (CFI) = 0.96, tucker-lewis-index (TLI) = 0.95, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.04, standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.04). There is a significant association between the Dark Triad Traits and eudaimonic wellbeing. Specifically, narcissism directly predicts eudaimonic wellbeing, while the effects of Machiavellianism and psychopathy on eudaimonic wellbeing are serial two-mediator models, which are mediated by family support and hedonic wellbeing. The results would enrich theoretical studies on personality while providing some practical evidence on how to improve the subjective well-being of individuals.

On the Adaptive Value of Paranormal Beliefs - a Qualitative Study

Ten female and five male participants (age range 28-50 years) were recruited at esoteric fairs or via esoteric chatrooms. In a guided face-to-face interview, they reported origins and contents of their beliefs in e.g. esoteric practices, supernatural beings, rebirthing, channeling. Transcripts of the tape-recorded reports were subjected to a qualitative analysis. Exhaustive categorization of the narratives' content revealed that paranormal beliefs were functional with regard to two fundamental motives - striving for mastery and valuing me and mine (striving for a positive evaluation of the self). Moreover, paranormal beliefs paved the way for goal-setting and leading a meaningful life but, on the negative side, could also result in social exclusion. Results are discussed with reference to the adaptive value of paranormal beliefs.

Neuroanatomical and functional substrates of the greed personality trait

Greedy individuals often exhibit more impulsive decision-making and short-sighted behaviors. It has been assumed that altered reward circuitry and prospection network is associated with greed personality trait (GPT). In this study, we first explored the morphological characteristics (i.e., gray matter volume; GMV) of GPT combined with univariate and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) approaches. Second, we adopted a revised version of inter-temporal choice task and independently manipulated the amount and delay time of future rewards. Using brain-imaging design, reward- and prospection-related brain activations were assessed and their associations with GPT were further examined. The MVPA results showed that GPT was associated with the GMVs in the right lateral frontal pole cortex, left ventromedial prefrontal cortex, right lateral occipital cortex, and right occipital pole. Additionally, we observed that the amount-relevant brain activations (responding to reward circuitry) in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex were negatively associated with individual's variability in GPT scores, whereas the delay time-relevant brain activations (responding to prospection network system) in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, superior parietal lobule, and anterior cingulate cortex were positively associated with individual's variability in GPT scores. These findings not only provide novel insights into the neuroanatomical substrates underlying the human dispositional greed, but also suggest the critical roles of reward and prospection processing on the greed.

Paranormal beliefs and individual differences: story seeking without reasoned review

In a sample of 599 participants (60% female, 18-81 years), we tested the hypotheses that cognitive ability and the big-six personality traits suffice to explain the individual-difference component of paranormal beliefs (belief in magic, astrology, esoterism, supernatural beings, and spirituality). Additionally, we measured 14 other potential predictors that were found to correlate with paranormal beliefs in prior research (e.g., ontological confusion). Although cognitive ability and the big-six explained 10% of the variance in individual belief, ontological confusion and causality understanding also were significant predictors in regression analyses. The resulting model, explaining 19 % of variance, consists of ontological confusion, cognitive ability (negative correlation), openness to new experiences, emotionality, conscientiousness (neg. corr.) and causality understanding (neg. corr.). We discuss the findings with reference to two hypothetical factors that drive individuals' acceptance of paranormal beliefs, inclination for story-telling, and tendency to evaluate belief content in terms of reason and conscientious evaluation.

Five-Factor Model Personality Traits and Self-Classified Religiousness and Spirituality

A review of the literature investigating the relationship between religion and spirituality and broad personality traits reveals methodological limitations. The present study sought to contribute to the present literature by investigating differences on personality traits among men and women who identified as either religious only (R), spiritual only (S), both spiritual and religious (B), or neither spiritual nor religious (N). One thousand thirty-seven (1037) adults (M age = 36.34, SD = 12.62) participated online via Amazon's Mechanical Turk as part of a larger study and completed the IPIP-NEO-120, Spiritual Transcendence Scale, Duke University Religion Index, and demographic information. Results revealed that men were more likely to identify as R and N than women, and women were more likely to identify as B than men. Women showed more significant differences among Big Five traits than men. Compared to other women, R-women reported the lowest levels of Openness, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism, and highest levels of Extraversion. N-women reported the highest levels of Neuroticism, while S-women reported highest Openness. Among men, R-men reported the lowest Openness, and S-men reported the highest Openness. B-men reported higher Extraversion than N-men. Additionally, Big Five traits appeared to account for significantly more variance in self-reported religiousness for women than men. Implications of these findings and recommendations for future research are provided and discussed.

Relationship Between Spiritual Health and Pain Self-Efficacy in patients with Chronic Pain: A Cross-Sectional Study in West of Iran

In recent years, the prevalence of chronic diseases has had a growing trend, which has resulted in many health problems. Level of belief in God is effective on people's attitudes to life concepts, social deviations and psychological disorders, and improves them. Therefore, the present research was conducted with the aim of determining the relationship between spiritual health (SH) and pain self-efficacy (PSE) in Ilam City in 2018. This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study in the group of patients with chronic pain (CP). In this study, the study population was patients with CP in Ilam City and the study sample was 150 patients with CP referring to public and private health centers in Ilam, which had all the criteria for participation in the study. The findings showed mean (SD) of the total score of SH variables was 65.16 (9.88), and PSE was 34.48 (4.08). According to Pearson statistical analysis, there is a significant relationship between SH and PSE (r = 0.442, P = 0.000). Also, the standard beta and non-standard beta coefficients for SH variables in PSE show that the non-standard beta coefficient in SH is equal to 0.183. The results of this study showed that SH is a predictor of pain acceptance, so that patients who were more religious were more likely to tolerate CP. For this reason, it is suggested that religious interventions be performed to reduce pain in patients with CP, in order to provide the necessary context for pain reduction in this group of patients.

Individual differences in personality predict the use and perceived effectiveness of essential oils

Essential oil (EO) use is growing in popularity and ostensibly used for treating or preventing various ailments or conditions. Despite the increase in use, there is a paucity of research on psychosocial predictors of EO use and their perceived effectiveness. However, several psychosocial characteristics are associated with health-promoting behavior and a tendency to believe in homeopathic cures. In the current study, we examined a variety of individual differences in the use and perceived effectiveness of essential oils in a sample of 1,202 participants (Mage = 31.33, SD = 13.77; 61.7% women, 75.6% Caucasian). We found that receptivity to pseudo-profound fabricated statements and religiosity were the most consistent predictors of greater use of, perceived effectiveness of, and a willingness to spend more money on EOs.

Big Five Personality Traits and Life Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of Religiosity

Extensive empirical research conducted up till now has confirmed that personality represents one of the most significant predictors of life satisfaction. Still, no studies to date have empirically tested the path of influence from personality traits to religiosity and the effects of both on life satisfaction/positivity within the same model. In the current study, we aimed to verify whether the relationship between personality and satisfaction/positivity was mediated by religiousness, as it is considered motivational in nature. The sample consisted of 213 participants (72% women) aged between 18 and 75. The average age was approx. 32. We used the following tools: the NEO Five Factor Inventory, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Positivity Scale, the Personal Religiousness Scale, and the Intensity of Religious Attitude Scale. Our hypotheses (H1 and H2) found their confirmation to a large degree. In fact, life satisfaction positively correlated with extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Moreover, life satisfaction negatively correlated with neuroticism. A similar pattern of results, even slightly stronger, was found in the case of positivity and personality traits. Contrary to our assumptions, neither life satisfaction nor positivity correlated with openness to experience. Extraversion and agreeableness correlated positively with religious attitude, personal religiousness and its four dimensions. Conscientiousness correlated positively only with faith, personal religiousness, and religious attitude. We also found negative and significant correlations between openness and all of the dimensions of personal religiousness. A lack of correlation was found between: (1) neuroticism and all of the dimensions of religiosity; (2) conscientiousness and religious practices, and religious self. Our research offers a contribution to the field by providing evidence that some personality traits predict life satisfaction/positivity because respondents display a personal religiousness/religious attitude.

Fear and Anxiety Disorders Related to Childbirth: Epidemiological and Therapeutic Issues

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This paper seeks to identify the risk factors of fear of childbirth (FOC) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to birth and reviews the efficacy of their respective screening tools and therapeutic interventions.

RECENT FINDINGS

Biofeedback, hypnosis, internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy, and antenatal education are promising treatments for FOC. Training midwives to address traumatic birth experiences could help in preventing PTSD. A shorter more pragmatic screening tool for FOC than the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire (WDEQ) is needed. Women with PTSD attributed a mismatch between the expected mode of delivery (MOD) and the actual MOD as the cause of their trauma. A history of mental health disorders, lack of social support, previous negative birth experiences, and MOD are correlated to FOC and postpartum PTSD. Psycho-education and CBT-based treatments have been found to reduce levels of FOC and PTSD.

Spirituality but not Religiosity Is Associated with Better Health and Higher Life Satisfaction among Adolescents

Careful conceptualization and differentiation of both spirituality and religiosity is a necessary precondition for understanding the potential role they play in health, whether physical or mental. The aim of this study was to explore the associations of spirituality with self-rated health, health complaints, and life satisfaction of adolescents with the moderating role of religiosity. Data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study conducted in 2014 in Slovakia were used. The final sample consisted of 658 adolescents (mean age = 15.37; 50.6% boys). Data regarding spirituality, religiosity, self-rated health, health complaints, and life satisfaction were obtained. Binary logistic models revealed spirituality to be associated with self-rated health, health complaints, and life satisfaction. A moderating role of religiosity was not confirmed. The presented findings indicate the need to distinguish between the concepts of religiosity and spirituality in connection with subjective health and life satisfaction.

Psychological Resources, Personality Traits and Buddhism: A Study of Italian Young Adults

We aimed to examine whether young adults practicing Buddhism have elevated levels of psychological resources and specific personality traits compared to Catholics and Atheists. We recruited 184 participants: Soka Gakkai Buddhists (n = 60); non-practicing Roman Catholic Church believers (n = 62); Atheists (n = 62). We found that the Buddhists have higher optimism than both Catholics and Atheists. They also have higher self-efficacy and self-esteem than Catholics and higher perceived social support than Atheists. Concerning global personality factors, they are more extraverted than the other groups, and they are less tough-minded than Catholics. Differences also emerged relating some primary personality factors. Since we did not find differences between Catholics and Atheists about psychological resources, we speculate that religion alone does not provide an efficacious source of psychological resources; it could be that religious practice is determinant.

The mediating effect of ethical climate on religious orientation and ethical behavior

Background:

Nurses’ behavior in Educational-Medical centers is very important for improving the condition of patients. Ethical climate represents the ethical values and behavioral expectations. Attitude of people toward religion is both intrinsic and extrinsic. Different ethical climates and attitude toward religion could be associated with nurses’ behavior.

Aim:

To study the mediating effect of ethical climate on religious orientation and ethical behaviors of nurses.

Research design:

In an exploratory analysis study, the path analysis method was used to identify the effective variables on ethical behavior.

Participants/context:

The participants consisted of 259 Iranian nurses from Hamadan University of Medical Sciences.

Ethical considerations:

This project with an ethical code and a unique ID IR.UMSHA.REC.1395.67 was approved in the Research Council of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences.

Findings:

The beta coefficients obtained by regression analysis of perception of ethical climate of individual egoism (B = −0.202, p < 0.001), individual ethical principles (B = −0.184, p = 0.001), local egoism (B = −0.136, p = 0.003), and extrinsic religious orientation (B = −0.266, p = 0.007) were significant that they could act as predictors of ethical behavior. The summary of regression model indicated that 0.27% of ethical behaviors of nurses are justified by two variables: ethical climate and religious orientation.

Discussion and conclusion:

Intrinsic religious orientation has the most direct impact and then, respectively, the variables of ethical climate of perceptions in the dimensions of individual egoism, individual ethical principles, local egoism, global ethical principle, and ethical behavior and extrinsic religious orientation follow. All the above, except global ethical principles and intrinsic orientation of religion have a negative effect on ethical behavior and can be predictors of ethical behavior. Therefore, applying strategies to promote theories of intrinsic religious orientation and global ethical principles in different situations of nursing is recommended.

Spirit or Fleeting Apparition? Why Spirituality's Link with Social Support Might Be Incrementally Invalid

Previously published path models apparently confirm the belief-as-benefit perspective that spirituality boosts well-being via social support. The broad acceptance of such findings has motivated recommendations that clinical psychologists and psychiatrists routinely assess their patients' spiritual status. Skeptics retort that past findings are statistically confounded and that numinous beliefs and well-being are unrelated. A multivariate regression analysis testing whether spirituality explains variance in social support after personality traits are simultaneously included is reported. Although spirituality displays a significant positive correlation and partial correlation (after controlling for socio-demographics) with social support, regression analysis specifying agreeableness and conscientiousness-individual differences related to both spirituality and social support-as predictors renders spirituality nonsignificant. In summary, spirituality's correlation with social support appears spurious; demonstrating the hazards of relying on simple associations and highlighting the urgent need for researchers to utilize statistical methods capable of establishing cause and parsing effects across rival theoretical explanations.

Profiling Religious Fundamentalism’s Associations With Vocational Interests

Religion is a shaping force in the world today, increasingly expressed and integral to the flow and function of the workplace. The relationship between religious identity and work function is clearly present. However, no lines of research have explored how religion explains the variations in vocational interest, despite speculation that it does so. Fundamentalist beliefs provide an opportunity to examine how career interests are related to personal values. This study examined the relationship between fundamentalism and the Artistic and Investigative Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional types, types speculated to be most dissimilar to fundamentalism, by testing the incremental importance of religious fundamentalism beyond personality traits in the shaping of vocational interests. Results suggest that, even after controlling for variation attributed to personality, religious fundamentalism is negatively related to Artistic interests yet has no relationship to Investigative interests. Issues of diversity and implications for career counselors are discussed.

Religious fundamentalism and religious orientation among the Greek Orthodox

The experimenters explored how religious fundamentalism related with religious orientation, irrational thinking, and immature defense mechanisms. They also explored the possible moderational role of the Big 5 personality factors. The participants were predominantly Greek Orthodox College students from a Cypriot University. The experimenters employed a cross-sectional design and required participants to complete a series of self-report measures. Religious fundamentalism significantly predicted irrational thinking. Intrinsic and personal extrinsic religious orientations significantly predicted religious fundamentalism. The results provide support for the idea that the more dogmatically one holds their religious beliefs, the more likely they are to think irrationally.

"Moved by the spirit": does spirituality moderate the interrelationships between subjective well-being subscales?

Despite the recent escalation of research into the spirituality and well-being link, past efforts have been plagued by methodological problems. However, the potential for measurement error within psychometric instruments remains largely unexplored. After reviewing theory and evidence suggesting spirituality might represent an affective misattribution, moderation modeling-with each subjective well-being (SWB) subscale as a dependent variable as predicted by the remaining SWB subscales-is utilized to test the assumption of scale invariance. These interrelationships were shown to vary in conjunction with spirituality; that is the analysis revealed significant spirituality x subscale interactions. Importantly, in all models the spirituality main effect was either nonsignificant or accounted for by other predictors. In combination, the findings suggest the interrelationship between the subscales rather than the level of SWB varies systematically with spirituality and casts considerable doubt on the previously reported "belief-as-benefit" effect.

Religiosity, Spirituality, and Substance Abuse

With data from the 2004 General Social Survey, the study examined effects of religiosity and spirituality on substance abuse. Also explored was whether and how social bonding mediates religiosity's effects on substance abuse. The results show that religiosity was negatively associated with substance abuse and, further, that social bonding variables did somewhat mediate this negative relationship between the two. Additionally, and as expected, with religiosity controlled, the likelihood of substance abuse increased along with increasing spirituality, in the models. Policy implications and further research needs are discussed.

Religiousness as a Cultural Adaptation of Basic Traits: A Five-Factor Model Perspective

Individual differences in religiousness can be partly explained as a cultural adaptation of two basic personality traits,Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. This argument is supported by a meta-analysis of 71 samples ( N = 21,715) from 19 countries and a review of the literature on personality and religion. Beyond variations in effect magnitude as a function of moderators, the main personality characteristics of religiousness (Agreeableness and Conscientiousness) are consistent across different religious dimensions, contexts (gender, age, cohort, and country), and personality measures, models, and levels, and they seem to predict religiousness rather than be influenced by it. The copresence of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness sheds light on other explanations of religiousness, its distinctiveness from related constructs, its implications for other domains, and its adaptive functions.