The Religious and Spiritual Struggles of the Nonreligious

The Religious and Spiritual Struggles of the Nonreligious and Nonspiritual Nick Stauner, Julie J. Exline, Alex Uzdavines, & David F. Bradley Case Western Reserve University Kenneth I. Pargament Bowling Green State University

Outline • Religious & spiritual (R/S) struggle …without religion or spirituality? • Religion vs. spirituality Groups: “Religious but not spiritual” “Spiritual but not religious” “Both religious and spiritual” “Neither religious nor spiritual” • Distributions of R/S struggles • Correlations of R/S struggles with meaning in life

Religion and well-being • Strong empirical evidence of links in the USA • Religion may provide: • Existential meaning and life orientation • Comfort and coping mechanisms • Social identity and support • Motivates scientific study of religion, but isn’t the whole story

Religious and spiritual struggle • A relatively young niche in the psychology of religion • Distinct from religiousness and stress* • Religiousness rs = -. 19–. 42 Depression/anxiety rs =. 22–. 44 • Important correlates: • Emotional distress, disorders, suicidal ideation • Physical health, illness symptoms, rehabilitation outcomes, longevity *Exline, Pargament, Grubbs, & Yali (2014). Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 6(3), 208– 222.

The Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale* • Brand new (2014) • 26 items, 6 dimensions • “Over the past few months, I have. . . ” • • • Divine – Demonic – Interpersonal – Moral – Ultimate Meaning – Doubt – “wondered if God really cares” “felt attacked by the devil or by evil spirits” “had conflicts with other people about [R/S] matters” “felt guilty for not living up to my moral standards” “questioned whether life really matters” “felt troubled by doubts or questions about [R/S]” *Exline, Pargament, Grubbs, & Yali (2014). Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 6(3), 208– 222.

R/S struggles without religion? • Existential threats*: • • Death Divine Isolation Interpersonal Freedom Moral Meaninglessness Ultimate meaning • Demonic Search for malign agents is instinctual, adaptive • Doubt Conformity pressure; Pascal’s wager *Yalom (1980). Existential psychotherapy.

Spirituality vs. religion in theory Spirituality • Personalized, experiential • May not involve the supernatural Religion • Socially organized, emergent at community level • Belief set: origins, ethics, fate, metaphysics

Research questions • Does the RSS work for people who aren’t religious or spiritual? • Do these groups have different distributions of R/S struggles? • Do meaning in life & R/S struggles still correlate in these groups?

Sample demographics • N = 3, 106 undergraduates • Age: mean = 19. 1, SD = 2. 1 • 63% female • 73% Christian

Religious & spiritual identity Spiritual Nonspiritual Total Religious Nonreligious Total 1, 631 (52. 7%) 691 (22. 3%) 2, 322 (75%) 378 (12. 2%) 396 (12. 8%) 774 (25%) 2, 009 (64. 9%) 1, 087 (35. 1%) 3, 096

Measurement invariance •

Distributions of divine struggle a b Median. 05. 01. 07 -. 41 a

Distributions of demonic struggle a b c Median -. 38 -. 37. 36 c -. 65 a

Distributions of interpersonal struggle a b Median. 11 -. 24 a. 05 -. 26 a

Distributions of moral struggle a b c Median -. 09 -. 03. 22 c -. 62 a

Distributions of ultimate meaning struggle a b Median. 27 b. 04 -. 12 -. 02

Distributions of doubt struggle a b* Median. 13. 10. 03 -. 42 a

Summary of distribution differences • Neither religious nor spiritual: least struggles overall • Both religious and spiritual: most demonic & moral struggles • Spiritual: more interpersonal struggle than not spiritual • Spiritual but not religious: most meaning struggle • Oddly few differences between “S, not R” and “R, not S”

The Meaning in Life Questionnaire* Presence of meaning in life subscale: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. “I understand my life’s meaning. ” “My life has a clear sense of purpose. ” “I have a good sense of what makes my life meaningful. ” “My life has no clear purpose. ” (Loads negatively / reverse-coded. ) “I have discovered a satisfying life purpose. ” • Rated on 7 -point Likert scale: “absolutely true”–“absolutely untrue” *Steger, Frazier, Oishi, & Kaler (2006). Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 80– 93.

Correlations of meaning & divine struggle Correlation -. 23 -. 17 -. 22 -. 17

Correlations of meaning & demonic struggle Correlation. 01† -. 02† -. 07*. 09

Correlations of meaning & interpersonal struggle Correlation -. 15† -. 09 -. 22* -. 08

Correlations of meaning & moral struggle Correlation -. 07 -. 14* -. 18* -. 02

Correlations of meaning & meaning struggle Correlation -. 35 -. 38 -. 36 -. 34

Correlations of meaning & doubt struggle Correlation -. 23* -. 18 -. 28† -. 15

Summary of correlations • All correlations negative* • Spiritual but not religious: weakest correlations with meaning * • *Except Demonic struggles among “spiritual but not religious” (r =. 09) • Religious but not spiritual: strongest correlations on average • Strongest, most consistent relationship with meaning struggles

Theoretical conclusions • The RSS doesn’t require religiousness or spirituality. • Struggles occur in all groups, but to subtly different degrees. • Struggles are less central to “spiritual but not religious” people. • But still relevant! • Especially ultimate meaning struggles

Implications for future research • Religious & spiritual struggles may occur in all subpopulations. • RSS are particularly important for “religious but not spiritual” people. • Ultimate meaning struggle is particularly important for everyone!

Credits Grant funding from the John Templeton Foundation (#36094)

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