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Attachment and Religion: an Integrative Developmental Framework

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Attachment and Religion: an Integrative Developmental Framework !" #$% &'()*+ + '*)$*++* #,*$'* ##, -..- Dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology presented at Uppsala University in 2002 ABSTRACT Granqvist, P. 2002. Attachment and Religion: An Integrative Developmental Framework. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Social Sciences 116. 94 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 91-554-5255-8. The aim of the thesis was to examine the applicability of attachment theory to adult and adolescent religiosity. Attachment theory is an empirically oriented research paradigm that takes evolutionary theory as the starting point in the study of child-parent relations and their socioemotional correlates in development. The work consisted of two interrelated tasks. First, limitations in theory and research in the psychology of religion, particularly the traditional psychodynamic perspectives, were highlighted, and attachment theory was proposed as an integrative framework to remedy some of those limitations. Second, four empirical studies (I-IV), based on attachment theoretical predictions, were conducted to investigate relations between individual differences in attachment and religiosity. The combined results from the studies suggest the existence of two religiosity profiles in relation to attachment. Both profiles resemble influential descriptions of individual religiosity differences in the psychology of religion literature. The religiosity of individuals in the first profile is similar to their parents´ religiosity and is likely to be stable over time. If religious changes have been experienced, these are likely to be gradual, to occur early in life, and in a context pointing to the importance of relationships with religious significant others. Such individuals´ God image is likely to be loving, and not distant. It was hypothesized that these religiosity characteristics stem from experiences with sensitive attachment figures in childhood, and that such experiences have promoted partial adoption of the attachment figures´ religious standards. The mental representations of attachment resulting from the favorable experiences were suggested to be responsible for a corresponding image of a loving God. The religiosity of individuals in the second profile is independent of parental religiosity, and is likely to fluctuate (increase and decrease) over time. Their religious changes are more sudden and intense, occur relatively later in life, and in a context pointing to an emotionally supportive function for religion. Such individuals´ God image is more distant, and less loving. These religiosity characteristics were hypothesized to stem from experiences with insensitive attachment figures in childhood. It was suggested that they reflect an affect regulation strategy to obtain/maintain a sense of felt security, and that God is utilized as a compensatory attachment-like figure in this regard. Findings pertaining to the profiles generally emerged regardless of whether the design was cross-sectional (I-IV) or longitudinal (III); whether participants were adults (I, II, and IV) or adolescents (Study III); and whether attachment was assessed with self-report questionnaires (I-IV) or independent ratings based on a semi-structured interview (IV). Key words: Attachment theory, the Adult Attachment Interview, romantic attachment, affect regulation, felt security, socialization, religiosity, parental religiosity, religious change, religious conversion, emotionally based religiosity, socialization-based religiosity, God image Pehr Granqvist, Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Box 1225, SE-75142 Uppsala, Sweden Pehr Granqvist 2002 ISSN 0282-7492 ISBN 91-554-5255-8 Printed in Sweden by Akademitryck AB, Edsbruk 2002 2 This thesis is based on the following articles and manuscripts, which will be referred to in the text by their Roman numerals: I Granqvist (1998). Religiousness and perceived childhood attachment: On the Question of compensation or correspondence. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 37, 350-367. II Granqvist, P., & Hagekull, B. (1999). Religiousness and perceived childhood attachment: Profiling socialized correspondence and emotional compensation. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 38, 254-273. III Granqvist, P. (2002). Attachment and religiosity in adolescence: Cross-sectional and longitudinal evaluations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 260-270. IV Granqvist, P., & Hagekull, B. (manuscript in preparation). The adult attachment interview and religiosity: Probable experiences, states of mind, and two religious profiles. Reprints were made with the kind permission of Blackwell Publishers Ltd. (Studies I and II) and Sage Inc. (Study III) 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 7 Attachment Theory and Research 7 Bowlby´s Basic Principles 7 Ainsworth and the Study of Individual Differences in Child-Caregiver Attachment 10 The Adult Attachment Interview – A Move to the Level of Representation 14 Attachment and Romantic Love–A Social Psychological Application 17 The Psychology of Religion 19 A Discipline in Need of Remedy? 19 Theoretical and Research Traditions 22 Psychodynamic perspectives 23 (1) Freud: An act of murder 24 (2) Erikson: Basic trust 25 (3) Rizzuto: God as a transitional object 26 (4) A critique of the traditional psychodynamic approaches to religion, Or why other theories are needed 27 The social learning of religion 32 Religious change and conversion: adolescence and early adulthood as religious transitional periods 33 Attachment and Religion 36 Theoretical Considerations: God as an Attachment-Like Figure 36 The believer and God in relation to five defining features of attachment relationships 36 Evolutionary and conceptual disclaimers 38 Empirical Research 39 Aims and Background 41 THE EMPIRICAL STUDIES 42 Method 42 Participants and procedures 42 Study I 43 Study II 43 Study III 43 Study IV 43 4 Measurements 44 Attachment measures 44 (1) Self-report measures of attachment history with parents 44 (2) Self-report romantic attachment orientation measures 45 (3) The Adult Attachment Interview 45 Religiosity measures 47 (1) Parental religiousness 47 (2) Level of religiousness 47 (3) Relationship with God 47 (4) Belief in God 47 (5) Religious change and conversion 48 (6) Emotionally based religiosity 49 (7) Socialization-based religiosity 50 (8) God image 50 (9) Correspondence and compensation prototypes 50 Study I - Religiousness and Perceived Childhood Attachment: On the Question of Compensation or Correspondence 51 Background and Aims 51 Results and Comments 51 Main-effects of attachment on religiousness 52 Interaction of attachment and parental religiousness on the individual´s religiousness 52 Narrative themes of religious change 53 Conclusions 54 Study II – Religiousness and Perceived Childhood Attachment: Profiling Socialized Correspondence and Emotional Compensation 54 Background and Aims 54 Results and Comments 55 Attachment, emotionally based, and socialization-based religiosity 55 Attachment and sudden religious conversions 56 Attachment and two religious change profiles 56 Conclusions 58 Study III – Attachment and Religiosity in Adolescence: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Evaluations 58 Background and Aims 58 Results and Comments 59 Cross-Sectional relations between attachment and religiousness at Time 1 59 Longitudinal predictions of religious change from Time 1 attachment 61 Conclusions 61 5 Study IV – The Adult Attachment Interview and Religiosity: Probable Experiences, States of Mind, and Two Religious Profiles 63 Background and Aims 63 Results and Comments 64 Preliminary analyses 64 Attachment and two levels of correspondence 65 Attachment and characteristics of religious change 65 Attachment and two profiles of religiosity 67 Conclusions 68 GENERAL DISCUSSION 68 Summary and Conclusion 69 Critical Questions Raised by the Empirical Studies 69 Is Attachment History with Mother or Father More Important for Understanding Religious Development? 70 Is Child-Parent or Romantic Attachment More Important for Understanding Religious Development? 70 How Are the Longitudinal Compensation and Concurrent Correspondence Effects Explainable? 71 Attachment Theory as an Integrative Developmental Framework for the Psychology of Religion 71 Limitations and Future Directions 75 APPENDIX 1 – Definitional issues 80 APPENDIX 2 – Items of the emotionally based and socialization-based religiosity scales 82 REFERENCES 83 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 95 6 INTRODUCTION The present thesis has a cross-disciplinary scope in that it applies a theory and research agenda drawn from mainstream psychology, particularly developmental psychology, to topics most often studied by theologians in the behavioral sciences of religion. The dissertation is intended not only to be comprehensible both for psychologists and theologians, but also to provide an integrative framework for research in the behavioral sciences of religion, particularly the psychology of religion. Hence, as a service to theologians, space will first be set aside in the introduction to present the relevant psychological theory, known as attachment theory, and the research program stemming from it. As a service to psychologists, theoretical traditions and research efforts in the behavioral sciences of religion will then be presented and criticized. Due to being highly influential in the literature on the relational underpinnings of religiosity, particular emphasis will be placed on traditional psychodynamic accounts of religion.
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