Hope, Religious Behaviors, and Attachment to God: A Trinitarian Perspective

Abstract

Drawing on existing research regarding adult attachment, attachment to God, and Trinitarian theology, the current study investigated the level of attachment security to God (comparing secure, preoccupied, dismissing, and fearful types) and the connection with hope and religious behaviors. Significant, positive relationships were hypothesized among the variables of secure attachment to God, high levels of hope, and high participation in religious behaviors in Christian college students. A cross-section of 268 undergraduate students at a Christian university completed the Attachment to God Inventory (Beck & Mc-Donald, 2004), the Herth Hope Index (Herth, 1992), Relationships Structures Questionnaire (Fraley et al., 2006) and demographic questions regarding their religious behaviors. Results were analyzed utilizing correlation, polynomial logistic regression, multiple regression, and path analyses. Results indicated that the levels of hope and religious behaviors predicted 36.6% of the variance in attachment to God-avoidance. Findings regarding personal versus corporate religious behaviors are discussed. Conclusions and implications regarding attachment to God and Trinitarian theology are discussed. The study of adult attachment has expanded in recent years with the study of romantic and friendship attachments (Hazan & Shaver, 1987; Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991) and attachment to God (Kirkpatrick, 1997; Beck & McDonald, 2004; Miner, 2007). God has been purported to be the ultimate attachment figure for corrective attachment, as direct feedback from God, unlike most attachment figures, cannot interfere with or contaminate the bond (Kirkpatrick, 1998). A strong need for empirical study incorporating theological and psychological perspectives with attachment to God exists, as this has been studied primarily from a psychological perspective. Miner's (2007) attempt to theoretically apply Gunton's (1985) Trinitarian Theology to attachment to God was a step in the right direction, but was not empirical. The current study attempted to bridge this gap through empirical study with a survey-based methodology of attachment to God, hope, and religious behaviors. Conflicting findings exist regarding the degree of similarity between attachment to God and human attachments (Kirkpatrick, 1997; Beck & McDonald, 2004). As such, this study explored factors that could clarify contributions of correspondence and compensation. Attachment Theory & Behaviors As identified in Bowlby's (1969) seminal attachment work, attachment bonds involve a desire to maintain proximity or contact, distress at involuntary separation, and security and comfort-seeking behaviors (Cassidy & Shaver, 1999). Primary attachment behaviors include using the caregiver as a secure base, maintaining proximity, and using the caregiver as a safe haven. When proximity is not achieved, individuals experience separation anxiety and emotional responses due to the impending loss of the attachment figure, varying according to the individual's attachment style (

Apego a Deus: revisão integrativa de literatura empírica

“…Foram encontradas nove publicações (BECK, 2006a;HALL et al, 2009;GRANQVIST et al, 2012;HOUSER;WELCH, 2013;DITOMMASO, 2014;SANDAGE, 2014;MONROE;JANKOWSKI, 2016;GHORBANI et al, 2016) que pesquisaram o comportamento religioso em conexão com o apego a Deus. Beck (2006) observou que a existência de comunhão e queixa do indivíduo em seu contato com Deus são elementos que podem proporcionar a esse relacionamento uma dinâmica emocional parecida com aquela observada nos relacionamentos amorosos humanos (BECK, 2006, p. 34).…”

Relational Spirituality and Grief: A Qualitative Analysis of Bereaved Parents

“…One possible explanation for this is the relationship between attachment and hope, a virtue that may offer individuals a more resilient disposition in the face of adversity. Hope is central to the development of a secure attachment to God when understood from a psychological perspective, and high levels of hope are positively correlated with secure attachments to God (Ellison et al;Houser & Welch, 2013).…”

La esperanza en pobladores de Arequipa (Perú): Propiedades psicométricas del Índice de Esperanza de Herth y comparaciones en función del sexo y la edad

“…La importancia del estudio científico de la esperanza radica en que ha sido positivamente correlacionada con la salud mental (Cleary et al, 2016;Park & Chen, 2016;Snyder et al, 2002;Spencer et al, 2018;Van Gestel Timmermans et al, 2010) y la salud física (Duncan et al, 2020), el bienestar psicológico (Ciarrochi et al, 2015;Pereyra, 2010), la empatía (Rosler et al, 2015;Sierra, 2007), la resiliencia (Lemay & Ghazal, 2001;Satici et al, 2020), la satisfacción con la vida (Marques et al, 2013;Telef, 2020), los afectos positivos y la creatividad (Sharma & Mathur, 2016), el sentido de vida (Bronk et al, 2009), la compasión (Yang et al, 2016), la religiosidad (Houser & Welch, 2013), el sentido del humor (Cassaretto & Martínez, 2009), el optimismo (Bailey et al, 2007;Genç & Arslan, 2021), la gratitud (Witvliet et al, 2018) y la felicidad (Sariçam, 2015). Por otro lado, la esperanza se ha relacionado negativamente con los afectos negativos, diversas patologías físicas y mentales, y la desesperanza (Snyder et al, 1991).…”