Attachment, Working Models of Self and Others, and God Concept in Kindergarten

Abstract

An attachment theoretical model of individual differences in God concepts

The association between personality, attachment, psychological distress, church denomination and the god concept among a non-clinical sample

“…Both our former study (Schaap-Jonker et al, 2002) and the present study show that this particular concept of God, namely God as a punishing judge, is rather independent of personality and attachment variables. It is interesting that the study by Roos, Miedema, Iedema (2001) among kindergarteners also revealed that this type of God concept was independent of attachment and working models of self and other. This particular type of God concept seems to be determined rather by cultural than by personality-bound variables and is possibly already installed early during development.…”

“…This is concordant with the results of our study among personality-disordered patients (Schaap-Jonker et al, 2002), where the image of God reflected the self representation rather than the object representation. Although, among kindergarteners, the model of others predicted a loving God concept (De Roos et al, 2001), among adults the relationship with God seems to be especially a relationship of the self with the self, rather than of the self with an ''external'' object, which may be one of the possible reasons that mental health and well-being are associated with a positive relation to God. Thus, the results of both studies are more confirmative of the so-called correspondence hypothesis of attachment to God than of the compensation hypothesis.…”

Attributes of God: Conceptual Foundations of a Foundational Belief

“…While such properties surely constrain the scope of our inferences about God's actions, it is unclear whether they constitute the core of our God concepts or are merely an appendage onto an otherwise anthropomorphic concept. Other studies have, in fact, explored the types of human properties we attribute to God, but those studies have focused on whether God is conceptualized as an attachment figure and have therefore focused on attachment‐related properties, like whether God is comforting, controlling, distant, or wrathful (Cassiba, Granqvist, Costantini, & Gatto, ; De Roos, Miedema, & Iedema, ; Dickie et al., ; Kirkpatrick, ). Although such studies shed light on the psychodynamic aspects of belief in God, they shed less light on the conceptual underpinnings of that belief.…”

Effects of Mothers' and Schools' Religious Denomination on Preschool Children's God Concepts

“…It may be that a punishing and potent God concept is more emphasized in reformed schools than in catholic or interdenominational schools in the north-west part than in the south-west and east part of The Netherlands. The shift to modern/postmodern theologies described in De Roos et al (2001a) and De Roos, Miedema, and Iedema (2001b) doesn't seem to have been generalized to all parts of The Netherlands. Institutional views on God within reformed schools seem to prevail here over a personal construction of God.…”