UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Multi-dimensional Nature of Religiosity/Spirituality and its Association with Psychological Adjustment Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/585225ww Author Schettino, Jonathan R. Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles The Multi-dimensional Nature of Religiosity/Spirituality and its Association with Psychological Adjustment A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology by Jonathan Rocco Schettino 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Multi-dimensional Nature of Religiosity/Spirituality and its Association with Psychological Adjustment by Jonathan Rocco Schettino Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology University of California, Los Angeles, 2012 Professor Hector F. Myers, Co-chair Professor Christine Dunkel Schetter, Co-chair The present study examined the dimensional structure of religiosity/spirituality (R/S) and its relationship with positive psychological adjustment (defined here as a latent variable indicated by lower levels of depression and perceived stress and higher levels of positive affect) within a Christian context. Two separate samples (total N = 806) were recruited online via Amazon MechTurk and consisted of Christian American adults (age > 18). R/S was measured using the MCRSI, a 29- item inventory designed to measure multiple conceptual dimensions of R/S (e.g., intrinsic religiosity, forgiveness, health related beliefs, etc.) in a Christian population. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that Christian R/S, as measured using the MCRSI, is a construct with 2 empirically distinct, yet ii correlated, dimensions which were conceptually defined as spiritual attitudes/beliefs and religious behaviors. SEM analyses revealed that Christian R/S was significantly associated with positive psychological adjustment after controlling for age and SES, explaining 7% of the variance in psychological adjustment. This relationship was fully mediated by positive relationships with others and purpose in life. Religious social support and religious coping did not significantly mediate the relationship. The relationship was not moderated by gender, ethnicity (Caucasian vs. African-American), peer group salience of Christian R/S, or chronic stress. The entire model (including proposed mediators) explained 59% of the variance in psychological adjustment. Of the two dimensions of R/S, spiritual attitudes/beliefs emerged as a stronger predictor of psychological adjustment than religious behaviors, but religious behaviors had a modest positive association with psychological adjustment through religious social support and a modest association with positive affect through religious coping, even after controlling for spiritual attitudes/beliefs. Implications of these results are discussed. iii The dissertation of Jonathan Rocco Schettino is approved. Hector P. Rodriguez Yuen J. Huo Jodie Ullman Christine Dunkel Schetter, Committee Co-chair Hector F. Myers, Committee Co-chair University of California, Los Angeles 2012 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction 1 Purpose of Literature Review 3 Defining Religiosity/Spirituality (R/S) 3 R/S and Depression 6 R/S and Perceived Stress 10 R/S and Positive Affect 12 Mediators of the Association between R/S and Psychological Adjustment 14 Conceptual and Methodological Problems with R/S Research 20 Conclusions Based on Extant Research 31 II. Statement of the Problem & Hypotheses 34 III. Method 37 IV. Data Analysis Plan 49 V. Results 55 VI. Discussion 73 VII. Tables & Figures 89 VIII. Appendices [contains copies of inventories used in the present study] 109 IX. References 134 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to express sincere appreciation to the Department of Psychology at UCLA for their long-term support and high quality scientific training, and especially to Hector Myers for his mentorship and guidance throughout graduate school. In addition, this author would like to thank Christine Dunkel-Schetter for her belief in and support of this dissertation project from its inception. Also, this author extends sincere gratitude to Jodie Ullman, Liana Epstein, Jeff Stuewig and Wenjing Huang for informal consultation on structural equation modeling. Appreciation is extended to all members of my doctoral committee for approval of this project. Finally, this dissertation would never have been completed without the enduring encouragement and support of family and friends. vi CURRICULUM VITAE EDUCATION: A.B.: Psychology, Princeton University, June, 2004 M.A.: Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, December, 2007 CLINICAL POSITIONS AND TRAINEESHIPS: 2003 – 2004: ABA Teaching Assistant Eden Institute; Princeton, New Jersey 2005: Residential Treatment Counselor Carrier Clinic Psychiatric Hospital; Belle Mead, New Jersey 2007 – 2011: Student Clinician and Student Assessment Supervisor UCLA Psychology Clinic, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, California 2008 – 2009: Psychology Pre-intern West Los Angeles Veteran’s Administration Hospital; Los Angeles, California 2009 – 2011: Psychology Pre-intern Nancy Kaser-Boyd Associates; Los Angeles, California 2011-Present: Psychology Intern Saint Elizabeths Hospital (DC Department of Mental Health); Washington, District of Columbia TEACHING EXPERIENCE: 2010: Guest lecturer on Rorschach Administration and Scoring in graduate-level Psychological Assessment Class at UCLA (PSY 277) PUBLICATIONS: Peer Reviewed Articles: Lesser, I. M., Myers, H. F., Lin, K. M., Bingham, M. C., Joseph, N. T., Olmos, N. T., Schettino, J. & Poland, R. E. (2010). Ethnic differences in antidepressant response: a prospective multi-site clinical trial. Depression and Anxiety, 27, 56-62. vii Schettino, J. R., Olmos, N. T., Myers, H. F., Joseph, N. T., Poland, R. E. & Lesser, I. M. (2011). Religiosity and treatment response to antidepressant medication: A prospective multi-site clinical trial. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 14, 805-818. Joseph, N. T., Myers, H. F., Schettino, J. R., Olmos, N. T., Bingham-Mira, C., Lesser, I. M. & Poland, R. E. (2011). Support and undermining in interpersonal relationships are associated with treatment response to a trial of antidepressant medication. Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes, 74, 240-254. Articles in Preparation: Olmos, N. T., Joseph, N. T., Schettino, J. R., Myers, H. F., Lesser, I. M. & Poland, R. E. Characteristics of the Beck Depression Inventory in an 8-week trial of Citalopram: An examination of factor structure and symptom profiles in African Americans and Caucasians, University of California, Los Angeles. Manuscript in preparation. Sharma, R., Schettino, J. R., Sobkow, K. S. Seasonal Variation in Episodes of Agitation at an Inpatient Psychiatric Institution. Manuscript in preparation. CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS: Schettino, J. R. (2010, March). Special considerations when assessing individuals of mixed race. In N. Kaser-Boyd (Chair), Cultural Competence and Sensitivity. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Society of Personality Assessment Conference, San Jose, CA. AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS: Eugene Cota-Robles Fellow (2006 – 2007) Diversity Initiative for Graduate Study in the Social Sciences Fellow (2007) Ford Foundation Pre-doctoral Fellow (2007 – 2010) Graduate Research Mentorship (2010 – 2011) viii The Multi-dimensional Nature of Religiosity/Spirituality and its Association with Psychological Adjustment Religion has figured prominently in human affairs throughout recorded history. For millennia, our species has looked to religion to help us understand the natural world and our place within it. Although science has largely taken over this function in the modern era, religion continues to play an important role in the lives of billions of people, and as such, continues to have an influence on human behavior, culture and psychology. For example, according to a national survey conducted by the Pew Forum in 2007, 83% of Americans report having a religious affiliation, 71% believe in God and are “absolutely certain” of this belief, and 39% attend religious services weekly (Pew Forum, 2007). Additionally, in a Gallup poll conducted in May, 2007, 56% of Americans indicated that religion is a “very important” aspect of their lives (Gallup, 2007). In spite of the apparent socio-cultural and psychological significance of religion, the functional impact of religion on human health and well-being received very little empirical research attention until the 1980s. Since this time, however, there has been a marked proliferation of research in this area. Much of this work has examined the relationship between religion and spirituality and a broad array of social, psychological and physical health outcomes. The findings generated through this empirical research suggest that, for the most part, religiosity/spirituality1 (R/S) is associated with positive outcomes in the lives of most individuals. Traditional and meta-analytic reviews of the literature have shown that R/S, measured in various ways, is positively associated with several important psychosocial and health outcomes, including lower rates of crime and delinquency (Baier & Wright, 2001), less substance and 1 Throughout this paper R/S is defined in accordance with the Smith, McCullough and Poll (2003) definition as any beliefs, behaviors or processes associated with the sacred or transcendent. 1