More spiritual than religious: Concurrent and longitudinal relations with personality traits, mystical experiences, and other individual characteristics
People who self-identify as predominantly spiritual constitute a considerable and well-established part of the religious landscape in North America and Europe. Thus, further research is needed to document predictors, correlates, and outcomes associated with self-identifying primarily as a spiritual...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1025938/full |
| _version_ | 1797961475131703296 |
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| author | Zhuo Job Chen Richard G. Cowden Heinz Streib |
| author_facet | Zhuo Job Chen Richard G. Cowden Heinz Streib |
| author_sort | Zhuo Job Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | People who self-identify as predominantly spiritual constitute a considerable and well-established part of the religious landscape in North America and Europe. Thus, further research is needed to document predictors, correlates, and outcomes associated with self-identifying primarily as a spiritual person. In the following set of studies, we contribute to some of these areas using data from German and United States adults. Study 1 (n = 3,491) used cross-sectional data to compare four religious/spiritual (R/S) self-identity groups—more religious than spiritual (MRTS), more spiritual than religious (MSTR), equally religious and spiritual (ERAS), and neither religious nor spiritual (NRNS)—on sociodemographic characteristics and a range of criterion variables (i.e., Big Five personality traits, psychological well-being, generativity, mystical experiences, religious schemata). In Study 2 (n = 751), we applied the analytic template for outcome-wide longitudinal designs to examine associations of the four R/S self-identifications with a range of subsequent outcomes (assessed approximately 3 years later) that were largely comparable to the criterion variables assessed in Study 1. The cross-sectional and longitudinal findings from these complementary studies provide further evidence of differences between these four categories of R/S self-identification, including strong evidence in both studies of an association between the MSTR self-identity and mysticism. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T00:58:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-56505958057747f8b830f242fb3088da |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T00:58:50Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-56505958057747f8b830f242fb3088da2023-01-04T19:06:47ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782023-01-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.10259381025938More spiritual than religious: Concurrent and longitudinal relations with personality traits, mystical experiences, and other individual characteristicsZhuo Job Chen0Richard G. Cowden1Heinz Streib2School of Nursing, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC, United StatesHuman Flourishing Program, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United StatesResearch Center for Biographical Studies in Contemporary Religion, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, GermanyPeople who self-identify as predominantly spiritual constitute a considerable and well-established part of the religious landscape in North America and Europe. Thus, further research is needed to document predictors, correlates, and outcomes associated with self-identifying primarily as a spiritual person. In the following set of studies, we contribute to some of these areas using data from German and United States adults. Study 1 (n = 3,491) used cross-sectional data to compare four religious/spiritual (R/S) self-identity groups—more religious than spiritual (MRTS), more spiritual than religious (MSTR), equally religious and spiritual (ERAS), and neither religious nor spiritual (NRNS)—on sociodemographic characteristics and a range of criterion variables (i.e., Big Five personality traits, psychological well-being, generativity, mystical experiences, religious schemata). In Study 2 (n = 751), we applied the analytic template for outcome-wide longitudinal designs to examine associations of the four R/S self-identifications with a range of subsequent outcomes (assessed approximately 3 years later) that were largely comparable to the criterion variables assessed in Study 1. The cross-sectional and longitudinal findings from these complementary studies provide further evidence of differences between these four categories of R/S self-identification, including strong evidence in both studies of an association between the MSTR self-identity and mysticism.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1025938/fullreligionspiritualitylongitudinalmysticismmore spiritual than religious |
| spellingShingle | Zhuo Job Chen Richard G. Cowden Heinz Streib More spiritual than religious: Concurrent and longitudinal relations with personality traits, mystical experiences, and other individual characteristics Frontiers in Psychology religion spirituality longitudinal mysticism more spiritual than religious |
| title | More spiritual than religious: Concurrent and longitudinal relations with personality traits, mystical experiences, and other individual characteristics |
| title_full | More spiritual than religious: Concurrent and longitudinal relations with personality traits, mystical experiences, and other individual characteristics |
| title_fullStr | More spiritual than religious: Concurrent and longitudinal relations with personality traits, mystical experiences, and other individual characteristics |
| title_full_unstemmed | More spiritual than religious: Concurrent and longitudinal relations with personality traits, mystical experiences, and other individual characteristics |
| title_short | More spiritual than religious: Concurrent and longitudinal relations with personality traits, mystical experiences, and other individual characteristics |
| title_sort | more spiritual than religious concurrent and longitudinal relations with personality traits mystical experiences and other individual characteristics |
| topic | religion spirituality longitudinal mysticism more spiritual than religious |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1025938/full |
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