AGE DIFFERENCES IN RELIGIOUSNESS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING Katie Sakel A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS August 2019 Committee: Joshua B. Grubbs, Advisor Dara Musher-Eizenman Jari Willing ii ABSTRACT Joshua B. Grubbs, Advisor In general, religion and spirituality have significant positive correlations with mental health in several domains. Moreover, those who have a stronger faith often report better coping methods, which is, in turn, associated with greater health. However, the effects of religiousness on mental health throughout the lifespan are still poorly understood from developmental perspectives. Compared to earlier research on this topic, the present study has three major contributions. First, the present study uses a developmental perspective to study age differences in religiousness and well-being. Second, previous studies have rarely included the transition from adolescent to adulthood by targeting either adolescents or adults in their population samples. The present study closes this gap by including both adolescents and adults. Third, the present study examines the possibility of a significant indirect effect of age on well-being through religiousness. For the present work, participants from the Roman Catholic faith tradition (N = 187, 33.2% males, 65.8% females, 1.1% other, Mage=39.2, SD=21.8) were recruited from the Midwest. After completing an informed consent, participants were asked to complete a demographic questionnaire, the Centrality of Religiousness scale, and Ryff’s Psychology Well- Being Scale. To summarize, (1) religiousness positively related to age, (2) psychological well- being correlated positively with religiousness, (3) high psychological well-being was not directly positively correlated with age, and (4) age had an indirect effect on psychological well-being through religiousness. However, further testing needs to be completed in other faiths and in those who chose not to have a faith. Keywords: religiousness, psychological well-being, age, developmental psychology iii “To him who in the love of Nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks a various language.” –William C. Bryant iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful for those who are patient with me during the journey of this thesis. I would like to thank my advisor, Joshua B. Grubbs, for catching anything I throw at him; the SPARTA laboratory for accepting me as I am; my husband for his patience, my daughter for her silliness, and my friends and family for being there for me at all times of the day and night. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 Religiousness and Spirituality.................................................................................... 1 Development Theories in Religiousness .................................................................... 3 Piaget’s Moral Development Theory ............................................................. 3 Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development ................................................... 4 Bowlby’s Attachment Theory ........................................................................ 5 Fowler’s Stages of Faith ................................................................................ 6 Religiousness and Psychological Well-Being over the Lifespan .............................. 8 The Current Study ...................................................................................................... 11 METHOD .............................................................................................................................. 13 Participants and Procedure .......................................................................................... 13 Measures ...................................................................................................................... 14 Socio-Demographic Characteristics............................................................... 14 The Centrality of Religiousness Scale ........................................................... 14 Ryff’s Scale of Psychological Well-Being .................................................... 14 RESULTS .............................................................................................................................. 16 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................ 18 Summary of Results ................................................................................................... 18 Integration .................................................................................................................. 19 Limitations ................................................................................................................. 19 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 23 vi REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 24 APPENDIX A. BACKGROUND QUESTIONNAIRE ........................................................ 33 APPENDIX B. CENTRALITY OF RELIGIOUSNESS SCALE ......................................... 40 APPENDIX C. RYFF’S PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING SCALE (PWB)................... 41 APPENDIX D. STUDY TABLES ........................................................................................ 43 APPENDIX E. STUDY FIGURES ....................................................................................... 47 APPENDIX F. IRB APPROVAL DOCUMENT .................................................................. 49 1 INTRODUCTION Religion is known to be associated with various positive life outcomes such as better coping (Pargament, Ano, & Wachholtz 2005), better social adjustment (Greenberg, et al., 1990), and overall well-being (Koenig, 2009). Similarly, psychological well-being is known to be associated with age. Mental health over the life span tends to have a “U” shape that starts relatively high in young adulthood, steadily declines throughout adulthood, bottoming out at approximately age 50, and steadily increasing thereafter (Stone, Schwartz, Broderick, & Deaton, 2010; Ryff & Keyes, 1995). As such, it would seem that well-being is associated both with greater religiousness and also with greater age (past 50). The main goal of this work is to examine if religiousness at least partially accounts for the relationship between age and well- being. Religiousness and Spirituality Although casual use treats the terms religiousness and spirituality as indistinguishable (Hill & Pargament, 2008), it can be important theoretically to establish strict definitions to distinguish between the two terms (Zinnbauer, et al., 1997). In the past, defining religiousness has been an endeavor for both psychologists (James, 1902/1961; Freud, 1961) and sociologists (Berger, 1967) alike. The concept of spirituality was relatively ignored in social-science research literature from the 1940’s to the 1990’s (Scott, 1997), even though both terms had been in use for quite some time (Smith, 1998). Conventionally, the terms have been used interchangeably (Turner et al., 1995; Spilka & McIntosh, 1996). However, they have often been contrasted with each other in three ways: organized religion versus personal spirituality; substantive religion versus functional spirituality; and mundane/harmful religion versus lofty/helpful spirituality 2 (Zinnbauer, Pargament, & Scott, 1999). Such contrasts imply harsh differences between the two domains, though research has not supported such distinction. Though spiritualty and religiousness are separate concepts, the two dimensions are not completely independent (Zinnbauer, et al., 1997). While more conservative religious groups see themselves as more religious and new age groups see themselves as spiritual (Zinnbauer, et al., 1997), in most other cases, in common vernacular, spirituality and religion do not differ (Pargament, 1999), and the deterministic view between the definitions means no difference for most individuals (Hill et al., 2000; Zinnbauer et al., 1997). Spirituality has a short history of use apart from the term “religion” (Sheldrake, 1992). In general, spirituality has been defined as the search for the meaning of life, for transcendence, and for the loftier side of humanity (Pargament, 1999). It is not always linked to religion. Spilka (1993) termed three categories of spirituality: God-oriented, world-oriented, and humanistic (or people) oriented. The term has also been defined as the transcendent journey for a universal truth (Zinnbauer, Pargament, & Scott, 1999). In addition, spirituality may have implications in making personal choices like marriage and job vocations; making items (tangible and intangible) sacred (Pargament,1999). More recent definitions of religion have been constricted to the institution level (Zinnbauer, et al., 1999). Hill and colleagues (2000) have described this level as all of the experiences (i.e. feelings, thoughts, behaviors) that are part of the human experience during the search for the sacred. These experiences can be capitulated into the corporate institutionalization of the traditions of religion (e.g. the temple or mosque) (Pargament, 1999). Other definitions have seen religion as being characterized by institutions,