Article
Perceived Religious Pressures as an Antecedent to Self-Reported Religious/Spiritual Development and Well-Being for Christians.docx
Journal of Psychology and Theology
(2023)
Abstract
Past research has confirmed the utility of environmental variables, and perceptions of religious pressure in particular, in predicting faith maturity and religious schema scores for participants from Christian environments. Whether environmental variables predict religious development, and whether religious development, in turn, leads to greater well-being for individuals from broader environments remains unknown. Utilizing participants from both Christian and non-Christian environments, the current study measures religious development variables that were constructed based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT). We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to evaluate our hypothesis that perceptions religious pressures (RP) and autonomy supportive environment (ASE) are antecedents to religious/spiritual relatedness (R/S-R) and self-mastery (R/S-S), which in turn lead to greater well-being, as determined by the presence of meaning in life (MIL). Results indicate that both environmental variables of RP and ASE predicted higher scores on religious/spiritual relatedness and self-mastery, and this led to self-reports of greater well-being for both samples. Therefore, members of the broader religious environment of Christianity responded to religious pressures similarly, implying that certain commonalities may shape Christians’ cognitions around obedience to God and authority across settings, though this result should be interpreted with caution. Further implications of these findings are explored and recommendations for future research provided.
Keywords
- Religious,
- Spiritual,
- Religious/Spiritual Development,
- religious pressures,
- internalization,
- autonomy supportive environment,
- meaning in life
Disciplines
Publication Date
2023
Citation Information
Andrea C Walker and Andrew S.I.D. Lang. "Perceived Religious Pressures as an Antecedent to Self-Reported Religious/Spiritual Development and Well-Being for Christians.docx" Journal of Psychology and Theology (2023) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/andrea-walker/37/