Chapter 5. Scales of Religious Commitment and Involvement Rather than simply asking respondents how important religion is or how committed they are to their religion, the five scales revi ved in this chapter attempt to measure specific aspects of re ous commitment or involvement, The leng from the 3-item Salience in Religious Commitment Scale (5.4) to the 17-item Religious ness Measure (5.3). n and detail of the scales vary Two of the scales emphasize Christian commitment or involvement: the Religious Com: itment Scale (5.1) and the Religious Emphasis Scale (5.2). However, with cautious mod ification, both scales could b The Sethi and Seligman Rel used in other religious traditions with a Western orientation, jousness Measure (5.3) may be useful with some religious aditions beyond a Judeo-Christian py jous Commitment Seale pective. The Roof and Perkins Salience in Reli- 4) is not specific to any particular religious tradition. As the names of the scales indicate, the Pfeifer and Waelty Scale (5.1) and the Roof and Perkins Scale (5.4 ous commitment, Howeve e two scales dif- fer radically in that the first scale operationalizes religious commitment primarily in terms of behavior al practices or affective experience, whereas the latter scale relies upon self-reported assessment of reli sesses primarily rel jous commitment, The Rel uusness Measure (5.3) as igious involvement and contains items concerning religious beliefs, religious practices, and the influence of religious beliefs on behavioral prac Altemeyer’s Religious Emphasis Scale (5.2) is distinctly diffe scales in that itn nt from the other ures the religious environment of the home. Thus it too assesses igious commitment and involvement, not it terms of current practice, but in terms of childhood background 51 RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT SCALE (Pt & Waelty, 1995) Reviewed by Kevin S. Seybold Variable: The Religious Commitment Scale Deseription: The RCS is a subscale of the RCS) was developed to examine religious tionnaire on Religious Orientation and commitment in a sample of psychiatric pa- General Coping with Life. A total of 51 items tients and in a control group. Scores in the are used in the questionnaire; 20 of the items RCS could then be correlated with other in- are modified from the Religious Orientatior dicators of psychopathology (diagnosis of Scale of Allport and Ross (1967). The re Jepression, anxiety disorders, and personal- maining 31 items are taken from two German ity disorders) seales developed to measure neurosis and re-206 MEASURES OF ligiosity (Hark, 1984), and depression and re- ligiosity (Doerr, 1987). The remainin, items, assigned to detect religious atin nd behaviors specifically in a Swiss Con- text, were added by Pfeifer and Waclty. Of the 51 total items, 15 serve as the Religious Commitment Scale and scattered throughout the entire questionnaite, Of these 15 items, 10 reflect broad social conventions (e.2., "Do you feel secure in your faith?” “Do you regard yourself as a religious person?") and are given one point each. The remaining five items are given two points and reflect fic aspects of religious practice ‘Do you pray before eating? larly attend a worship service? con these 15 items (total = 20 pts.) is u determine religious commitment. 11 and under signify low religious commit ‘ment and scores above 11 indicate high reli Do you The score gious commitment. Prosileal Casiideraionts This nase to those 15 items that make up the Rel Commitment Seale are then scored ei or 2 points to determine the ttl seligions eiuntivent score (0-20 pix) minister and scor “Yes” responses The re- used in determining religious commitment. Norms/Standardizatio sisted of 44. psychi and 31 preserved healthy controls females), The sample con ric patients (13 males females) and 45 nonhospitalized and 17 males and 28 The mean age of the psychiatric patients was 34.4 years (SD = 10.14), and the mean age of the control group was 36.6 years (SD = 16.30). The psychiatric patients RELIGIOSITY were all diagnosed according to DSM-II-R Patients with organic disorders, schizophrenia, or major depression with psychotic features or melancholia were not included in the sample. Th was recruited from choirs, groups, control group Bible study and university students from the same region of Switzerland. An attempt was ch subjects according to social, economic, and educational status. made to m Reliability: No specific tests of were reported, Validity: Correlations between commitment scores and religiosity suggest some validity scale, A positive correlation (.88, p < .000! with the intrinsic factor of the Religious Orientation Scale (Allport & Ross, 1967) was noted as was a negative correlation with the extrinsic factor (-.48, p < .0001). No other tests of validity were reported, Location: ty, U. (1995). Psychopatho A controled study Recent Research: None References Allport, G, Wu & Ross, J. M 196; Personal ice of Per ality Doerr, A Religious commitment and. depression Social Psychology, 5,4 Wein: weim, Germany: Deutsche Hark, H. (1984), R und heilung (Religious neuroses Krewa Studien Verlag. ‘Causes and heal Appendix Quenstionnaire or Rel Yes No Do you regard yourself a I pray chiefly because I have b jous Orientation and General Coping with LifeScales of Religious Commitment and Involvement Do you feel more satisfaction today than before? If not prevented by unavoidable circumstances, I attend my house of worship. Do you pray before eating? (yes = 2 pt.) What religion offers me most is comfort when sorrows and misfortune strike. Do you pray often? (yes = 1 pt.) Although T believe in my religion, I feel there are many more important things in life Religion is especially important to me because it answers many questions about the meaning of life. Could you live without Christmas (the cause for the celebration, not the bustle associated with it)? (inverse scoring: yes = 0, no = I pt.) Is your conscience sometimes annoying to you? My religious beliefs are what really lie behind my whole approach to life Do you regard it important to marry in a religious ceremony? (yes = 1 pt.) Although I am a religious person, I refuse to let religious considerations in: fluence my everyday affairs Do you feel secure in your faith? (yes = 1 pt.) The purpose of prayer is to secure a happy and peaceful life A primary reason for my interest in religion is that my house of worship is, ‘a congenial social activity To live a religious life means in my opinion, to hope for and trust in things which exist but cannot be seen, Do you think that your parents have given you a religious education? Do you regularly attend a worship service? (yes = 2 pt.) Could you do without God? (inverse scoring: yes = 0, no = I pt.) Does sexuality cause anxiety in you? As a child, did you believe: “God sees everything”? If 1 were (0 join a religious group, I would prefer to join a Bible study group rather than a social fellowship. (Yes = 2 pt.) My faith alone will be able to give me the feeling of security in the last hours of my life. (yes = 1 pt.) When you were a child, have you often felt discriminated (or put down)? My house of worship is most important as a place to formulate good social relations Without faith my life would be meaningless. Occasionally I find it necessary to compromise my religious beliefs in order to protect my social and economic well-being. It doesn’t matter so much what I believe so long as I lead a moral life Through faith I have often experienced the closeness of God. (yes = 1 pt.) pt) I read literature about my faith (or my church). (yes = 2208 MEASURES OF RELIGIOSITY 33, It is important to me to spend periods of time in private religious thought and meditation 34. * ‘The primary purpose of prayer is to 35. Faith in God helps me not to despair in difficult circumstances. (yes = | pt.) 36. * One reason for my bei ion member is that such membership helps to establish a person in the community. 37. * Ltry hard to carry my religion over into all my other dealings in life, Would you regard your parents as religious persons Do you regard your problems as a consequence of personal sin? 40. My psychological problems make it difficult for me to live my faith in the way I would like to, Quite often I have been keenly aware of the presence of God or the Divine Beir 42, ____ * The prayers I say when I am alone carry as much meaning and personal emotion as those said by me during services. 43. * Do you believe in the existence of the devil? (yes = 1 pt.) 44. Do you think that evil or dark spiritual forces can cause mental diseases 45, ____ * Have you ever received counseling involving prayer for deliverance from demonic oppression? (yes = 2 pts.) 46 Would you give your children a religions education? (yes = | pt.) 5 you think that psychotherapy can help you better than religion? 4% Do you think that religion can make a person sick? 49. In coping with my difficulties, my religion is more of a burden than a sup- port si Was there an open discussion about sexual issues in your family of origin? Do you think you are living a meaningful life? Items for Rel Modified it 1as Commitment subseal -om Religious Orientation Seale (Allport & Ross, 196; Reprinted with permission by authors. RELIGIOUS EMPHASIS SCALE (ALTEMEYER, 1988) Reviewed by Bruce Hunsberger Variable: ‘The Religious Emphasis Scale — temeyer's (1981, 1988) work on right-wing (RES) measures the extent to which one’s authoritarianism and its link with religion, parents emphasized the family re tone was growing up. The scale was origi- Description: Respondents are asked to indi Altemeyer cate the extent to which their parents empha- nally developed and reported by (1981) and later slightly revised (Altemeyer, 1988), The revised form is discussed here. The RES was developed in the context of Al- alternatives included 0 (none at all), 1 (only religion while they we a 6-point response format, ResponseScales of Religious Commitment and Involvement alittle bit), 2 (a mild amount), 3 (a moderate amount), 4 (quit sat deal), The total scale score is determined by a sum- mation of the 10 item scores. Practical Considerations: This. paper-and pencil measure is relatively straightforward tose, requiring no s} niner skill to administer, score, or interpret. The test has been used both with university students and their parents in Canada, Tt appears to be suitable for adolescent through adult sam- ples in similar cultures. Norms/Standardization: Two primary sam ples were used in Altemeyer’s (1988) work with this scale. Fiv introductory psycholo; the scale as part of a course research bonus Also, 549 parents of these students responded to the scale, which was part of a questionnaire pack: fumed by regular mail. Aver the scale were 17.7 for the students and 25.0 for the parents; variance was 161 and 186 espe: Reliabitity: The average interitem correla: tion for these 10 items was 5 sulting Cronbach's alpha of 92, id hundred and thirteen students completed credit system. sent and re- with a re- tical for both the university student sample and their pare Validity: Altemeyer (1988) provides docu- the Religious Emphasis Scale and other measures of rel ‘These relationships are in the expe rections, For example, Religious Emphasis and other measures de veloped by Altemeyer (1988), for the student and parent samples respectively, were Right Wing Authoritarianism (37, .30), Religious Doubis (-.30, -.23), and Religious Pressures (59, 43), Compar ‘ons for othe! Seales included Fullerton and Hunsberger’s (1982) Christian Orthodoxy Scale (.59, .49), and Allport and Ross’ (1967) Intrinsic Reli gious Orientation (.58, .50) and Extrinsic Religious Orientation (-.20, ~.15) Scales. arding correlations between on and authoritarianism, ied di- orrelations between ble correla 209 The correlations with a sin of church attendance were the two groups respectively Further, in earlier work with this scale (Altemeyer, 1981), student counts of the emphasis placed on religion in (62 and 44 for the home correlated .70 and .73 in two stué ies. That is, stu reasonably strong ents’ accounts of the reli stances of their youth were cor d by their parents. There was also a Jationship (48 to 53) between Religious Emphasis scores and the xtent to which students still rep cepting the teachings of the home religion. Location: ‘Altemeyer, B. (1988). Enemies of Freedom: Un: derstanding right-wing authoritarianism, San Fran cisco: Jossey-Bass. (Se 205-206, 214,218) ‘especially pp. Subsequent Research: Altemeyer has con- tinued to develop this scale, and a 16-item version was recently used (Hunsberger & Altemeyer, 1995) in ‘on apostates, again revealing strong psychometric proper- ties. Cronbach’s alpha for the 16-item ve sion was .95 and .96 in two samples of more than 800 university students each, References Allport, G. W., & Ross, J. M. religious orientation and preju 967). Persona l Psychology. 5, 432-44 Altemeyer, B. (1981). Right-wing authoritarian ism. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Press. Altemeyer, B, (1988). Enemies offre sonality and Soe itarianism. San Fran isco: Jossey-Bass leron, J. B. E, (1982). A unidimensional measure of Christian orthodoxy. Journal for the Scientific Study o & Hunsbe Hunsberger, B., & Altemeyer, B. (1995, June). Apostates from highly religious homes: Socialize Poster presented at the annual of the Canadia Charlotetow, Psychological Associa Prince Edward IslandMEASURES OF RELIGIOSITY Appendix The Religious Emphasis Scale Afier naming the particular religion in which they had been raised, participants are aske jems, on a (0-5 basis, to indicate “how much their parents empha. 988, p. 205). to respond to the following sized practicing the family religion while they were growing up” (Altemeyer, 0 = no emphasis was placed on the behavior = a slight emphasis was placed on the behavior 2 =a mild emphasis was placed on the behavior 3 =a moderate emphasis was placed on the behavior mphasis was placed on the behavior emphasis was placed on the behavior tending religious serv Sunday school”; getting systematic relig the te: jon at home Praying before meals. 5. Reading Scripture or other rel 6. Praying before bedtime. 7. Discussing moral “do's” and “don’t's 8, Observing religious holidays; celebratin 9. Being a good representative of the faith; act gion would be expected to act. 10. Taki ous instruction regularly gious material events like Christmas in a reli vvout member of your tel Altemeyer, B. (1988). Enemies of freedom, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Copyright © 1988 Jossey-Bass, Ine. Reprinted with permission. 53 RELIGIOUSNESS MEASURE (Sethi & Seligman, 1993) Reviewed by Kevin S. Seybold Variable 1y2) evaluated on a frequency scale. Six signed the Rel Sethi a 3 p jousness Measure in an at- questions are designed to assess religious tempt (o correlate religiosity with attribu- influence (e.g., How much influence do tional style and optimism, Thr your religious beliefs religiousness were included on the measure: decisions of your life?); these questions are in daily life, religious in a 7-point Likert aspects of ave on the important also evaluated through jous hope format. In addition, the respondent is asked whether he or she believes in God and whether he or she would marry some- volvement, and reli Description: The Rel 5 Measure consists of 17 questions. Religious hope is assessed throu you believe that there is a he believe your suffering will be rewarded?) each placed on a Likert scale ranging from I (strongly disagree) to 7 Religious involvement is measured using three questions (e.g., How often do you (strongly agree). one of another religion (to be answered yes oF no). Practical Considerations: Directions for administering the religious measure clear. Scoring for the reli jous influence items are determined by means for each subsea ous hope and re Responses on theScales of Religious Commitment and Involvement 2 religious involvement questions are scored fon a scale of 1 to 6, with the higher number indicating greate As in the other questions, a mean involvement score is then determined for each subject. The two yeslno questions are not used in quantifying religiousness. involvement, Norms/Standaré ous religious groups in the United States served as subjects (N = 623). Three broad catagories of religious affiliation were cre ated into which these subjects were placed: fundamentalists (N= 208), moderates (N = 274), and liberals (V = 141). Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and Calvinists were placed {nto the fundamentalist category becau these groups tend to interpret rel literally and because they place greater reg- lations upon the daily behavior of their fol- Towers. The moderate group was composed of four religions (C Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Methodism) based upon textual interpretation and less time (than fundamentalists) spent gious activities sisted of Reformed Jews and Unitarians be- a skeptical Kk. All subjects from 18 to 65 years and were from. urban New Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and Washingt D. C). No statistically significant effects o gender, age, found among the sub religious classifications. Reliability: No for establish the reliability of the measure nservative Judaism, sn reli The liberal category con- ause these religions encoui and individualistic outle ranged in ag Selected areas York, ducation, or income were -c of the three broad 1 attempt was made to Validity between the fund liberal cl Significant differences were found mentalist, moderate, and ssifications in religious influence in daily life, religious hope, and religious in volvement. The authors interpreted these dif- ferences as confirming their original divi sions of the groups into the three broad categories. No significan found within the thre these religious dimensions. The authors re differences were classifications on port that each of the three religious measures correlated positively with optimism as mes. sured by the Attributional Style Question- naire (Schulman, Castellon, & Seligman, 1989). The correlations were rather low (re igious involvement, r = .08; religious influ- ences r = 14; religious hope r = .21); how ever due to the large sample size, the correlations were statistically significant. No other attempt to validate the measure with established religious scales was reported Location Sethi, S., & Seligman, M. E mis and fundamentalism. Psych 4, 256-259. P, (1993), Opti Subsequent Researe Seith, S. & Selig 1, ME. P. (1994), The hope Science, 5, 58. References Schulman, P,, Castellon, © & Seligman, M Assessing explanatory style: The conte analysis of verbatim explanations and the Atibu tio tionnaire. Behavior ReseMEASURES OF RELIGIOSITY Appendix Religiousness Measure Educational Level Incom middle, low Race To what religious faith do you belong? Please circle the response which you feel is most like you. Do you believe in God? How important would you say religion is in your life? 2 3004S 6 7 not at all extremely important important How often do you read holy seriptures? a, more than once a day d. once a week b. once a day ce. more than once a month . more than once a week f. less than once a month How often do you pray? a, more than once a day d. once a week b. once a day fe, more than once @ month , more than once a week f. less than once a month How often do you attend religious services and activities a. more than once a day 4. once a week b. once a d: e. more than once a month c. more than once a week f. less than once a month How much influence do your religious beliefs have on the important decisions of life? i 2 3 4 5 67 none of my some of my all of my decisions decisions decisions Would you marry someone of another religion’ How much influence do your religious beliefs have on what you wear? 1 2 3 U4 5 6 7 not at all somewhat extremely influential influential influentialScales of Religious Commitment and Involvement How much influence do your religious beliefs have on what you eat and drink? 1 3° 4 5 6 7 not at al somewhat extremely influential influential influential How much influence do your religious beliefs have on whom you associate with? 5 6 7 not at all somewhat extremely influential influential influential How much influence do your religious beliefs have on what social activities you under- ake? 2 3 4 not at all somewh influential influential Do you believe that there is a heaven? i 8 30 4 5 strongly somewh harmony together? 3 4 5 6 7 somewhat strongly Do you believe there are miracles? 2 30 4 strongly somewhat Do you believe your suffering will be rewarded? 1 2 4 6 strongly somewhat strongly disagree agree agree Do you believe that in the future your children will be able to lead a better life than yourself? 12 3 4 5 6 7 strongly somewhat strongly agree agree Do you believe the future will be a better place to live? 1 30 4 6 7 strongly somewhat strongly © 1993 by Sheena Sethi. All righs reserved Reprinted with permission by author To wse items, contact Sheena Sethi-lyengar, Ph. D., Sloan School of Managemen fate of Technology, Bldg. E52, Room S61, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02MEASURES OF RE 54 IGIosITY LIENCE IN RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT SCALE (Roof & Perkins, 1975) Reviewed by Paul D. Young Variable: The Sal mitment Scale me nce an individual attacl igious” (p. 111). The authors designed and used the to which indi- lig ice in Religious Com- ures “the import s to being religious scale to measure the e: vidual adults consider their religious beliefs to be important, both al and when making decisions. The scale was developed as part of a study to measure the relation- ship of reli church anti-black prejudi Des jous salience with orthodoxy, activism, political conservatism, scription: This is a short scale with only ee items, The first two items are in a mul hoice forma, sures degree of agi statement on a 4-point Likert Total scores range from 3 to 11 Th commitment, similar to that implied in All- port's [1966] intrinsic re (p16). Intrinsic religiosity has effects on everyday life and decisions, and the Satience in Reli- Seale attempts to mi heteas the third mea reement with a general authors assert that the scale attempts an orientation toward 1 sity jous Commitmen ure that concept. Practical considerations administered and may be scored in less than five minutes. Note, however, th the authors suggest that salience is not lin. ear and that only scores of 10 or I1 (on the -point scale) indic This seale may be the level of reli ious salience that is likely to relate to other measured variables, Norms/Standardization: Roof and Perkins used the questionnaire with 518 adult Epis- copalians in North Carolina. The samp represents @ rather meni American adults: predominantly Southern bom, college-educated Episcopalian profes sionals and managers. No specialized norms were reported. Reliability: An alpha reliability coefficient of .7 at best and minimally ceptable for research purposes, is the only measure of reliability reported Validity: The scale relies heavily on face lidity. The authors also report a corr coefficient of .81 between this salience measure and a companion test of orthodoxy th religious focuses on doctrinal commit sts that ment. This strong relationship the salience scale is indeed measurin; characteristic of religiousness The usefulness of information gained from the scale may be limited by the # The authors did not find enabled them to predict ictivism, political conservatism, racism with much confidence, since the highest correlation coefficient was .10. Tete mains t0 be seen, whether the threshold” effect predicted by the authors (that salience has impact only on these scor- ing at the highest levels of the scale) is valid istically useful. range of scores, that the chureh however Location: Roof, W.C., & Perkins, RP. (1975). Onc far the Scientific Study Subsequent research. None found References, Allport, G, W. (1966) 45 The religious context of prejudice fic Study of RelScales of Religious Commitment and Involvement Appendix Salience in Religious Commitment Scale Shown below are the scale items. Numbers in parentheses indicate values. 1, My religious faith is: Important for my life, but no more important than certain other aspects of my life (2) __ Only of minor importance for my life, compared to certain other aspects of my life (1). Of central importance for my life, and would, if necessary come before all other as- pects of my life (3) Everyone must make many important life decisions, such as which occupation to pur- sue, what goals to strive for, whom to vote for, what to teach one’s children, ete. When fou have made, or do make decisions such as these, 10 what extent do you make the de- cisions on the basis of your religious faith? I seldom if ever base such decisions on religious faith (1). I sometimes base such decisions on my religious faith but definitely not most of the time (2 I feel that most of my important decisions are based on my religious faith, but usually ina general, unconscious way (3). ___ I feel that most of my important decisions are based on my religious faith, and I usually consciously attempt to make them so (4) Without my religious faith, the rest of my life would not have much meaning to it strongly disagree (1) disagree (2) agree (3) strongly agree (4) Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate values for scoring purposes. Roof, W. C., & Perkins, R. P. (1975). On conceptualizing salience in religious in religious commitment the Scientific Study of Religion, 14, 111-128, Copyright © 1975 Journal forthe Scientific Study mn, Reprinted with permission