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Ongoing public discussion about the consequences of membership in new religious movements (NRMs) and the lack of studies concerning the relationship between the fit of the person with his or her NRM and well-being together call for a theoretically based investigation of the phenomenon. Hence, this German study on new members of three NRMs applied person-environment fit theory to investigate whether the fit between persons' needs for autonomy and relatedness, on the one hand, and the commensurate supplies of the groups, on the other, are related to well-being and mental health. The regression model following Edwards (1994) predicted satisfaction with religious affiliation, mental health, and depression, but not life satisfaction and anxiety. Results indicate that, for autonomy and relatedness, well-being measures tend to decrease as supplies exceed needs. Little support was found for a moderator effect of centrality of religiosity. Overall, findings encourage the application of person-environment fit theory to the study of membership in (new) religious groups and call for further research.a pps_ 181..201 L'actuel débat public sur les conséquences de l'adhésion à un nouveau mouvement religieux et l'absence d'études sur la relation entre l'adaptation de

Recently, Duriez, Fontaine and Hutsebaut (2000) and Fontaine, Duriez, Luyten and Hutsebaut (2003) constructed the Post-Critical Belief Scale in order to measure the two religiosity dimensions along which Wulff (1991 , 1997 ) summarized the various possible approaches to religion: Exclusion vs. Inclusion of Transcendence and Literal vs. Symbolic. In the present article, the German version of this scale is presented. Results obtained in a heterogeneous German sample (N = 216) suggest that the internal structure of the German version fits the internal structure of the original Dutch version. Moreover, the observed relation between the Literal vs. Symbolic dimension and racism, which was in line with previous studies ( Duriez, in press ), supports the external validity of the German version.

Different values of the religious variables can be explained by different characteristics of the strain: Due to the threat to life experienced by the patients, the breast cancer group is more likely to turn to religiousness for help. Specific characteristics of chronic pain (e.g. longer illness duration, a stronger impairment in everyday activities) lead to higher resignation, also concerning religious efforts.

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