Measuring Religiosity/Spirituality: Theoretical Differentiations and Categorization of Instruments

Religions

Christian Zwingmann²  Constantin Klein¹ 

[1] Center for the Interdisciplinary Research on Religion and Society (CIRRuS), Faculty for History, Philosophy, and Theology, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany;E-Mail:;The Protestant University of Applied Sciences Rhineland-Westphalia-Lippe, Immanuel-Kant-Str.18-20, D-44803 Bochum, Germany

关键词: religiosity;    spirituality;    questionnaires;    categorization;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rel2030345

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

There is a multitude of instruments for measuring religiosity/spirituality. Many of these questionnaires are used or even were developed in the context of studies about the connection between religiosity/spirituality and health. Thus, it seems crucial to note that measures can focus on quite different components along a hypothetical path between stressors and health. We present an instructive model which helps to identify these different components and allows the categorization of instruments of religiosity/spirituality according to their primary measurement intention: intensity/centrality, resources, needs, coping, and quality of life/well-being. Furthermore, we point out possibilities as to how religiosity and spirituality can be differentiated. We argue that the distinction between religiosity and spirituality is important in countries with a more secular background where a growing number of people identify themselves as “spiritual, but not religious”.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.