Religious Affiliation and its

Relationship to Personality and Values

McKenzie Smith

Abstract

The present study examined the relationship of religious affiliation and values as well as conscientiousness, stability, and experimentation.  Forty students in a small Midwestern liberal arts college were surveyed to evaluate their expediency, stability, and traditionalism.  A survey based on an adaptation of the Cattell 16 PF was administered.  Values were determined from the McKenzie survey which addressed issues of homosexuality, abortion, ordination of women, and stem cell research.  Data analysis was conducted by use of a test.  Results indicated that religious affiliation and the amount of church attendance do influence views and some personality characteristics.  Implications are that the views are significantly correlated to religious affiliation and church attendance.  Also, some personality characteristics are correlated to church attendance.  These findings may be useful in determining beliefs of individuals with given demographics.

        People participate in the institution of religion, and that participation varies in the amount of involvement.  This participation may lead them to have a variety of views about current values and issues.  Religious affiliation and involvement may also be related to aspects of one�s personality.  An individual�s views on many topics may be dictated or decided by their religion, and more directly the religious community in which they participate.  For some, religious affiliation may play a major role in their life choices while for others religion plays a lesser role.

         Religious affiliation and its relationship to personality and values is important to research in order to understand individuals.  An individual�s personality and values can be shaped by their religious affiliation so by studying the relationship of the two one can better understand their inner dynamics and how they work.  The extent to which religion guides one�s personal choices should be examined because this is especially relevant in the current politically and religiously charged environment.

         Christianity is the dominant religion in Western Europe and the United States.  It has many sects and denominations that have a variety of different ideas about current issues.  The current research examined the denomination with which an individual is affiliated as well as the frequency of that affiliation and its relationship to their values and personality.

         Smith (2002) researched the religious affiliation of adolescents.  According to this

study 24% were Catholic, 23% were Baptist, 13% had no religious affiliation, 1% were

Adventist, Congregational, Eastern Orthodox, Muslim, Christian Science, United Church of Christ, Hindu, Unitarian, Quaker, national Baptist, and Baha�I.  Other Protestant groups such as Church of Christ and Methodist made up the other part.

         According to Burris (2002) intrinsic religious orientation is directly related to social desirability.  Burris�s studied whether religious people acted intrinsically or because they believed it was the desirable action for them to take.  �Seventy-four undergraduates completed measures of religious orientation and socially desirable responding, then made either a negative or a positive self-disclosure.  Socially desirable responding was again measured.  Intrinsic religious orientation was positively correlated with self-deception change in the Negative Disclosure condition (reporting socially undesirability).�  Burris� findings suggest that �fluctuations in self-deception observed among high intrinsic scorers following a negative self-disclosure are not the result of random factors affecting the memories of individuals whose self-reported moral fastidiousness is plainly veridical.�  In other words Burris speculates that religious identification is important to social identity and overrules other group identities as a support function.

     An individual�s likeliness to doubt God or their religion has also been researched.  In Husberger�s study (2002) 939 high school students were tested to evaluate their reasons for doubting and the strength of their doubts.  It showed that people doubted mostly because of religion�s inability to make people better; physically and psychologically.  Doubting was related to decreased personal religiousness as well as the person�s likelihood to examine secular sources of information verses religious sources of information. 

     Religion may have correlations to personality characteristics.  For example, a study examining a sample of 860 male clergy in the Evangelical Alliance in the UK, showed the participants as demonstrating certain personality traits such as: tender-mindedness, stability, and extraversion (based on the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire) (Francis 2002).

     According to McCullough (1999) forgiveness is related to religion.  He studied the major monotheistic world religions.  Forgiveness may be seen as �both spiritual and social-psychological in nature, and possibly linked to some measures of human health and well-being.�  The study found that empathy found through religion was significantly correlated to the willingness to apologize and to forgive.  The researcher speculated that one reason for the correlation may be due to the monotheistic religions� approach to viewing God as a forgiving being and as one that should be emulated in human life and experience.

     Bourke (2000) reported that 422 college students in eleven different music departments completed a short form of the Revised Eysenck Personality questionnaire along with the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity which �measures prayer and church attendance.�  Males and females who prayed and attended church often were shown to exhibit significantly higher scores in extraversion and lower scores in psychoticism, hence they were negatively correlated.  The data showed that psychoticism was a fundamental element in individual religious differences.  Therefore, those more active in religiosity were more likely to exhibit extraversion, but less likely to show psychoticism. 

     Francis and Johnson�s 1999 study examined a sample of 311 primary school teachers.  They took the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire along with �indices of church attendance and personal prayer.�  �The data confirmed that psychoticism is fundamental to individual differences in religiosity, while both public and private expressions of religion are independent of extraversion and neuroticism.�  Hence, private expressions of religion are not significantly correlated to extraversion and neuroticism.  However, differences in religiousness was shown to be significantly correlated to psychoticism.  These findings do not mean that that people who are religiously affiliated are psychotic, but that psychoticism leads to differences in religiousness, but the study did not examine the specifics as to what the differences are.

     Religion may be related to several areas of an individual�s life.  A 2003 study showed that body weight in men was significantly higher in groups of Conservative Protestants.  They showed a 1.1 + 0.45 higher body mass index than �those reporting no religion affiliation.�  However, no significant relationship was reported between religion and body weight in women (Kim 2003).  Because there was an approximate 5 lb difference weight difference between male church members and male non church members, the researcher states that there is a necessity for a longitudinal study to find the real cause.  However, the author did speculate that one reason for weight being higher in church goers may be related to church members being less likely to smoke, while non church members smoke more.  Previous studies have shown that non smokers, or an individual�s attempt to stop smoking may lead to weight gain.

According to Sevensky (1982) often times in psychology religion is overlooked and not considered as a major part of a patient�s life that could contribute to their ideas of traditional values.  The study showed that psychotherapists often times consider religion to be part of the problem because, as part of the psychic life it may distort psychological problems.  Often times during psychological duress Religion may manifest itself, leading some professionals to believe that religion may be the cause or at least part of the problem.  The study discusses that religion, as an important part of an individuals life, may simply be what they �cling� to in their sickness to try to grasp what they know about their life. 

     Also Orchard (1998) showed that in a sample of 244 churchgoers in the United Kingdom who completed the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire along with the Francis Sclae of Attitude toward Christianity that in �religiously committed samples, there is an inverse relationship between neuroticism scores and the strength of positive attitude toward Christianity.�  In other words, the more positive and individual�s view of Christianity is shown to be the less neurotic that individual is.

     According to Francis and Jackson (2003) there was �a significant positive correlation between religiosity and guilt, a significant negative correlation between religiosity and unhappiness (the more religious the less unhappy), and no significant correlation between religiosity and low self-esteem, anxiety, dependency, hypochondriasis, or obsessive ness.  The study examined 400 undergraduate students who completed the Eysenck Personality Profiler with the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity.  The study also showed that there was no significant relationship between religiosity and neuroticism.

     Maltby�s 1999 study expanded previous research on personality and religiosity by examining the relationship of the two variables on participants outside of the United States.  There were 1040 adult participants from the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom.  Of these 436 were men and 604 were women.  Research showed that psychoticism had a significant negative correlation with �orientation toward religion.�  In other words the more oriented one is toward religion the less psychotic they are found to be.  The study concluded that, �It is argued that although psychoticism is negatively related to personal aspects of religion and has relevance to the psychology of religion, the relationship between obsessionality and religion is fragmented, moderate, and limited.�  Although the more oriented toward religion one is the less psychotic, the relationship between obsessionality and religion is actually very limited.

     Youtika�s 1999 study examined personality and religiosity in a sample of 163 affiliates of the Greek Christian Orthodox Church.  High scores on psychoticism were associated with low scores on religiosity in both males and females.  The study�s results expanded previous research to look cross-culturally as well as to examine social desirability and its effects on personality and religiosity.  Thus the findings showed that there was a negative significant correlation; as scores of religiosity increase scores of psychoticism continue to decrease. 

     Rowatt (2002) �sought to address several limitations of previous research on attachment theory and religion by developing a dimensional �attachment to God� scale.�  He demonstrated that dimensions of attachment to God are predictive of measures of emotion and personality, after controlling for social desirability and other related

dimensions of religiosity.  374 university students were surveyed and the research indicated that avoidant attachment to God was a significantly inverse predictor of �religious symbolic immortality and agreeableness.�  Hence, there was shown to be a high positive correlation between attachment to God and social desirability in relationship to personality and religiosity.  In other words one who shows a higher attachment to God also reports having higher social desirability.

     Francis and Bourke�s 2003 study tested 1070 secondary school students using the High School Personality Questionnaire and the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity.  Their findings on the relationship of religiosity and personality were that �religiosity is significantly correlated with five of the fourteen personality factors and with two of the four second-order factors� using Cattell�s model.  A positive attitude toward Christianity is associated with high scores on conformity, tender mindedness, self discipline, and low scores on submissiveness, and sobriety; along with second order factors of extraversion (indicating a relationship with introversion), and tough poise (indicating a relationship with emotionality). 

     According to Cattell�s primary factors religious young people are more submissive while irreligious young people are more dominant; religious young people are more sober, while irreligious young people are more cheerful; religious people are more conforming, while irreligious young people are more expedient; religious young people are more tender minded, while irreligious young people are more tough minded; religious young people are more self-disciplined, while irreligious young people display more

�undisciplined self-conflict�  Second-order factors show that religious young people emerge as more introverted, compared with irreligious young people who emerge as more extraverted, and religious young people emerge as more inclined to emotionality, compared with irreligious young people who emerge as more inclined to tough poise.

     The current research examined whether religious affiliation and activeness in religion is related to specific psychological variables (stability, conscientiousness, and experimentation).  Religious affiliation was determined by survey responses and psychological variables were determined from selected items from the Cattell 16 PF Test (measures of conscientiousness, stability, and experimentation).  Values were operational zed as responses to items on the �McKenzie Survey� related to issues of homosexuality, abortion, ordination of women, and stem cell research.  The researcher expected that religious affiliation, more concisely, the type of Christian denomination and their involvement in it would be significantly correlated to one�s views, values and personality characteristics.

Method

Participants

     The sample in the present study was composed of 40 college students at McKendree College.  Because the study was directed primarily toward Christians, the sample was comprised of 15 attendants to the chapel services at McKendree College while the other 25 participants were from an �Introduction to Christianity� class.  The sample was not indicative of the population at McKendree College, but rather the students that attend chapel and enroll in religion classes.  Participants were allowed to not complete or to return the survey unanswered at any point, but none took that option.  The participants also varied in demographics.  While all were students, there were various demographics such as ages, majors, and genders to provide for results more similar to that of the entire population.  Participants had a wide variety of majors and 22 were male, while 18 were female.

Testing Materials

     The research was conducted by using a survey.  It included a personality inventory taken from selected items from the Cattell PF 16 Test.  Also included was the McKenzie survey designed to evaluate views and values concerning homosexuality, abortion, and stem cell research.  Participants were told that the survey would remain anonymous and that any participation was strictly voluntary.  They were free to not complete the survey if they so desired, or to skip any questions they felt uncomfortable with answering.

Procedure

     Participants were first asked demographic questions of gender, year in school, major, and minor.  They were not told what the survey was evaluating beforehand to control for biases and demand characteristics.  Next they were asked the selected items from the Cattel PF 16 which evaluated stability, conscientiousness, and experimentation.  Next, participants were surveyed about their religious participation and views on ordination of women, homosexuality, abortion, and stem cell research (see McKenzie Survey, Appendix A).  All participation was voluntary and confidential.

Results

            The research found that participants were involved in several different

denominations that may lead to different opinions on social issues and variances in personality characteristics. 

Demographics of Religious Affiliation

Table 1

It was found that the strength of conservative views concerning ordination of women, homosexual church membership, homosexual ordination, abortion, stem cell research, and political party affiliation was significant to .016 to the conservativeness of the religious denomination the participant was affiliated with and significant to .046 to the amount of church attendance.  In other words the more fundamentalist the religious affiliation, the more conservative the participant will be.  Also the more conservative one is the more they attend church.  Correlations of conservative party affiliation and the more church attendance showed a significance of .007 being that Republicans tend to attend church more often.  Also the more fundamentalist the denomination is the more conservative the participant seems to be to a significance of .003.

Significance of Personality Characteristics to Church Attendance and Denomination

Table 2

                                                            Church Attendance       Religious Denomination

            Significance was found concerning personality characteristics.  Regression showed that Expedience had a negative significance to Church Attendance to -.001.  In other words the more expedient one is, the less likely they are to attend church regularly.  Also Stability was significant to church attendance to .004.  In other words the more one attends church the more stable they were found to be.

Discussion

            The study shows that Religious Attendance and Religious Denomination does play a significant roll in an individuals views and some personality characteristics.  Judging from the results one can conclude that predicting certain aspects of an individual�s personality and views is possible based on their religious participation and involvement.  Francis and Bourke�s 2003 study showed that religious involvement is related to personality characteristics as the current research shows.  Few were found significant perhaps due to biases in the sample, sample size, and demographics.  In future research it would be helpful to study a larger population as well as a more diverse group.  It would also be helpful to run more tests concerning the demographics.  This shows that religious affiliation and activeness in church does affect an individual.  Further research would help to determine to what extent, especially in a longitudinal study.

References

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Burris, Christopher T. & Geoffrey S. Navara. (2002). Morality Play-or-Playing Morality?: Intrinsic Religious Orientation and Socially Desirable Rsponding. Self and Identity 1, 67-76.

Francis, Leslie J. (2002). The Personality Characteristics of Male Evangelical Clergy:     Denominational Differences in the UK. Mental Health, Religion & Culture 5(2),     175-181.

Francis Leslie J. & Bourke, Rosamund. (2003). Personality and Religion: Applying        Cattell�s Model among Secondary School Pupils. Current Psychology 22(2).

Francis, Leslie J. & Chris J. Jackson. Eysenck�s dimensional model of personality and   religion: are religious people more neurotic?. Mental Health, Religion & Culture     6(1), 88-100.

Francis, Leslie J. & Peter Johnson. (1999). Mental health, prayer and church attendance among primary school teachers. Mental Health, Religion & Culture 2(2), 153-158.

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Kim, KH, J. Sobal, & E. Wethington. (2003). Religion and Body Weight. International Journal of Obesity 27.

Orchard, Adrian & Leslie Francis. (1998). Neuroticism and Strength of Religious          Attitudes among Churchgoers in England. Journal of Beliefs & Values 19(2),231-           263.

Maltby, John. (1999). Personality Dimensions of Religious Orientation. Journal of          Psychology 133(6).

McCullough, Michael E., Everett L. Worthington Jr. (1999). Religion and the Forgiving Personality. Journal of Personality 67(6), 1141-1164.

Rowatt, W., L.A. Kirkpatrick. (2002). Two Dimensions of Attachment to God and Their Relation to Affect Religiosity, and the Personality Constructs. Journal for the          Scientific Study of Religion 41(4).

Smith, C., M.L. Denton, R. Faris, & M. Regnerus. (2002). Mapping American

Adolescent Religious Participation. Mapping American Adolescent Religious Participation 41(4).

Sevensky, Robert L. (1984). Religion, Psychology, and Mental Health. American Journal of Psychotherapy 38(1), 73-86.

Youtika, Athena, Stephen Joseph, & Deborah Diduca. (1999). Personality and religiosity in a Greek Christian Orthodox Sample. Mental Health, Religion & Culture 2(1), 71-74.

Appendix