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Concealment of Nonreligious Identity: Scale Construction and Validation

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Concealment of Nonreligious Identity: Scale Construction and Validation CONCEALMENT OF NONRELIGIOUS IDENTITY: SCALE CONSTRUCTION AND VALIDATION By Cameron Daniel Mackey Ralph W. Hood, Jr. Paul J. Watson Professor of Psychology Professor of Psychology (Chair) (Committee Member) Christopher F. Silver Visiting Professor of Psychology (Committee Member) CONCEALMENT OF NONRELIGIOUS IDENTITY: SCALE CONSTRUCTION AND VALIDATION By Cameron Daniel Mackey A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Master of Science: Psychology The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chattanooga, Tennessee May 2019 ii Copyright © 2019 By Cameron Daniel Mackey All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT The number of nonreligious Americans has increased over the past few decades; however negative attitudes toward the nonreligious persist in America, especially in areas with high levels of religiosity. This may compel some nonreligious individuals to conceal their identity in order to manage stigma in areas with high proportions of religious individuals. However, no existing measures systematically assess the concealment of nonreligious identity. To address this gap in the literature, I created a measure of concealment of nonreligious identity that I administered to nonreligious individuals from online sources. Participants who lived in the Southern United States were further assessed with semi-structured interviews. Results showed that Southern atheists/nonreligious individuals had higher concealment scores than participants from other regions of the United States. Additionally, Southern atheist/nonreligious individuals used the stigma management strategies of counterfeiting, avoidance, and integration. Implications for the role of social tension in psychological research are discussed. Keywords: atheism, nonreligion, concealment, identity, stigma iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people throughout this project that were influential in the thesis process. I must first acknowledge my committee members: Ralph Hood, Chris Silver, and Paul Watson. Their critiques and feedback were vital in getting my thesis to a presentable form. Kimberly Rios looked over my thesis with impunity; anything my committee members did not catch, she did. For that, I am thankful. Many graduate students played a role in getting my thesis to where it is, but a few stand out as extra influential in the formulation, creation, and analysis of my thesis. Sally Swanson, Aaron Eldridge, Kevin Alton, Morgan Andrews, Kaila Rogers, Kathryn Graeff, Tommy Vorwerk, Leslie Robertson, and Aishani Eggenberger all contributed a great deal to my thesis, whether they are aware of it or not. I am sure that I drove them crazy with my doubts and insecurities, and I hope that the success of my thesis is a testament to the method in the madness that is research thanks to them. Finally, the staff in the UTC Psychology department helped me immensely in navigating the logistics of conducting research. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..............................................................................................x LIST OF SYMBOLS ......................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................4 Key Terms and Concepts .......................................................................................4 Difficulties of Studying the Nonreligious .............................................................6 Demographics of Atheists and Nonreligious Individuals ....................................12 Why are Americans Leaving Religion? ..............................................................14 Atheist/Nonreligious Discrimination ...................................................................19 Stigma ..................................................................................................................28 Atheist/Nonreligious Disclosure and Concealment .............................................34 Religion in the South ...........................................................................................37 Overall Method ....................................................................................................47 III. STUDY 1 ...............................................................................................................49 Participants ..........................................................................................................49 Materials ..............................................................................................................51 Demographics ...............................................................................................51 Concealment of Nonreligious Identity (CNRI) Scale ..................................51 Nonreligious-Nonspiritual Scale ..................................................................52 Modified Stigma Consciousness Questionnaire ...........................................52 Modified Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Scale .................................53 Modified Internalized Homophobia for Gay Chinese Men .........................53 Moral Identity Scale – Internalization Subscale...........................................54 Self-Concealment Scale ...............................................................................54 vi Religious Schema Scale ...............................................................................55 Outness Scale ...............................................................................................55 Detroit Area Survey (DAS) Discrimination Scale .......................................56 Salience Measure ..........................................................................................56 Procedure .............................................................................................................57 Results .................................................................................................................58 IV. STUDY 2 ...............................................................................................................66 Participants ..........................................................................................................66 Materials and Procedure ......................................................................................67 Results .................................................................................................................68 V. DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................80 Limitations ...........................................................................................................82 Implications and Future Directions .....................................................................84 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................88 APPENDIX A. IRB APPROVAL LETTER ................................................................................98 B. SURVEY INFORMED CONSENT ..................................................................100 C. INTERVIEW CONSENT FORM .....................................................................103 D. INITIAL CONCEALMENT OF NONRELIGIOUS IDENTITY SCALE .......107 E. DEMOGRAPHICS ............................................................................................109 F. NONRELIGIOUS-NONSPIRITUAL SCALE .................................................112 G. MODIFIED STIGMA CONSCIOUSNESS QUESTIONNAIRE .....................115 H. MODIFIED INTERNALIZED STIGMA OF MENTAL ILLNESS SCALE ...117 I. MODIFIED INTERNALIZED HOMOPHOBIA OF GAY CHINESE MEN SCALE ....................................................................................................119 J. MORAL IDENTITY SCALE – INTERNALIZATION SUBSCALE ..............121 K. SELF-CONCEALMENT SCALE .....................................................................123 L. RELIGIOUS SCHEMA SCALE .......................................................................125 vii M. OPENNESS SCALE .........................................................................................127 N. DETRIOT AREA SURVEY (DAS) DISCRIMINATION SCALE .................129 O. SALIENCE MEASURE ....................................................................................131 P. FINAL CONCEALMENT OF NONRELIGIOUS IDENTITY SCALE ..........133 Q. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ..............................................................................135 VITA ................................................................................................................................138 viii LIST OF TABLES 4.1 Identity Difference Scores Between Public and Private Settings ................................56 4.2 Concealment of Nonreligious Identity Scale Item Means and SDs .............................57 4.3 Factor Analysis of Concealment of Nonreligious
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