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

Abstract

The association between personality, attachment, psychological distress, church denomination and the God concept was studied among a sample of 208 subjects from the normal population. Subjects were Christians, members of an Orthodox reformed church or the Pentecostal church. Negative feelings towards God were associated with a high level of harm avoidance, insecure attachment and a high level of psychological distress. Psychological distress mediated the association between personality and attachment variables and negative feelings towards God. Psychological distress and church denomination were the only two independent predictors of negative feelings towards God. Moreover, results showed that the Orthodox reformed church members hold a more negative concept of God than the Pentecostal church members do. Orthodox reformed church members see God in particular as a punitive judge, independent of personality, attachment and psychological distress, suggesting a large influence of religious culture on this particular type of God concept. Results are discussed from a psychotherapeutic point of view. Finally, several ethical issues regarding psychotherapy with religious clients are addressed.

Development and validation of the DutchQuestionnaire God Image: Effects of mental health and religious culture

“…The data structure of the two dimensions of the QGI, which results in the scales positive feelings, anxiety, anger, supportive actions, ruling/punishing actions, and passivity, shows similarities to Petersen's (1993) original structure but deviates from other studies (Eurelings-Bontekoe et al, 2005;Murken, 1998). The difference in sample may account for this phenomenon.…”

“…The QGI consists of (very) short items and may be used in both non-religious and religious populations. Previous studies yielded promising results regarding the psychometric properties of the instrument (Schaap-Jonker et al, 2002;Eurelings-Bontekoe et al, 2005;Braam et al, 2007). Because it captures both the affective and cognitive aspects of the God image and thus the object-relational nature thereof (cf.…”

“…This article is a sequel to articles that have been published in earlier issues of this journal on empirical research on the image of God (Braam et al, in press;Eurelings-Bontekoe, Hekman-Van Steeg, & Verschuur, 2005;Schaap-Jonker, Eurelings-Bontekoe, Verhagen, & Zock, 2002). These studies used the Dutch Questionnaire God Image (QGI) (in Dutch: Vragenlijst Godsbeeld, VGB), a translation and adaptation of Sebastian Murken's scales of God relationships (Skalen zur religiö sen Beziehung), which he in turn borrowed from Petersen (1993) (Murken, 1998, pp.…”

The impact of parental discipline on the image of God

“…The image of God, how people conceptualise and feel about God, has been found to be related to many aspects of subjective well-being (Braam et al, 2008b;Eurelings-Bontekoe, Hekman-Van Steeg, & Verschuur, 2005;Schaap-Jonker, Eurelings-Bontekoe, Verhagen, & Zock, 2002;Schaap-Jonker, Eurelings-Bontekoe, Zock, & Jonker, 2008;Tisdale et al, 1997). Although Rizzuto (1979) differentiated the God concept (i.e., how a person cognitively understands God) from the God image (how a person emotionally experiences God), research has found that these two are interrelated (Schaap-Jonker et al, 2008).…”

Effectiveness of Group Training of Assertiveness on Social Anxiety among Deaf and Hard of Hearing Adolescents

“…Generally, children and adolescents with SAD suffer from severe emotional, academic, and social damage 25 . Studies have demonstrated that assertiveness training can affect the problems with cognitive and behavioral dimensions such as anxiety, depression, social phobia, and increased social interactions 26 . Assertiveness training is meant to help people change their attitudes toward life, improve their assertiveness, express their mood and thoughts rationally and therefore boost their self-confidence.…”