Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 20 [1 ed.] 9789047429067, 9789004175624

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Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion

Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion Series Editors RALPH L. PIEDMONT ANDREW VILLAGE

VOLUME 20

Research in the Social Scientifi c Study of Religion Volume 20

Edited by

Ralph L. Piedmont Loyola College, Maryland and

Andrew Village York St. John

LEIDEN • BOSTON 2009

Published with kind support of Loyola College, Maryland, USA. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data LC control number 89650738

ISSN 1046-8064 ISBN 978900417562 4 © Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. RSSR is indexed in Sociological Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts, Religion Index Two: Multi-Author Works, Religions and Theology: Religions and Theology, Social Sciences: Comprehensive Works, Psyc INFO Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands

CONTENTS Preface ......................................................................................... Acknowledgements ..................................................................... Manuscript Invitation ................................................................. Couples Viewing Marriage and Pregnancy through the Lens of the Sacred: A Descriptive Study .............................................. Annette Mahoney, Kenneth I. Pargament, and Alfred DeMaris

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Contemporary Conversions: Compensatory Needs or Self-Growth Motives? ....................................................................................... 47 Coralie Buxant, Vassilis Saroglou, and Jacques Scheuer Alternative Spiritualities: Different Personalities? An Enquiry Concerning Paranormal Beliefs and Traditional Religiosity ....... Leslie J. Francis and Emyr Williams Spiritual and Psychological Health of Malaysian Youths ............ Syed S. Imam, Abu S. Nurullah, Pute R. Makol-Abdul, Saodah A. Rahman, and Hazizan M. Noon

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Cultural Psychology of Religion: Profile of an Interdisciplinary Approach ...................................................................................... 103 Jacob A. Belzen The Utility of the Assessment of Spirituality and Religious Sentiments (ASPIRES) Scale with Christians and Buddhists in Sri La nka ...................................................................................... 131 Ralph L. Piedmont, Mary Beth Werdel, and Mario Fernando SPECIAL SECTION

ISLAM AND MENTAL HEALTH Introduction to Special Section: Islam and Mental Health: Fertile Ground for Research ................................................................ 147 Mark M. Leach

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Post-Critical Beliefs in Iran: Predicting Religious and PsychologicalF unctioning ............................................................ 151 Nima Ghorbani, P. J. Watson, Kadijeh Shamohammadi, and Christopher J.L. Cunningham Family Privacy as Protection: A Qualitative Pilot Study of Mental Illness in Arab-American Muslim Women ...................... 195 Dena Hassouneh and Anahid Kulwicki Pakistani Muslims Dealing with Cancer: Relationships with Religious Coping, Religious Orientation, and Psychological Distress ......................................................................................... 217 Ziasma Haneef Khan, Saabera Sultana, and P. J. Watson The Significance of Islam for Coping with Loss and Bereavement: Palestinian Children Killed in Israel ............................................ 239 Nader Shhadi, Muhammad M. Haj-Yahia, and Zvi Bekerman The Impact of the Explicit Integration of Islam in Counseling: Implications for Interpersonal Relationship Development T heory ................................................................... 267 Paul E. Priester and Asma Jana-Masri Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale in Egypt: Its Factor Structure and Relationship to Islamic Beliefs and Behaviors ....................................................... 281 Mark M. Leach, Asma Jana-Masri, and Paul E. Priester Using Feminist Psychotherapy with Muslim Women ................... 297 Saba Rasheed Ali Authors’ B iographies .................................................................... 317 Manuscript R eviewers .................................................................. 323 Index Na mes ................................................................................ 325 Subject Index ............................................................................... 327

PREFACE The 2009 volume of Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion is the 20th issue of this annual serial. In looking back over those years, I find clear support for the old cliché, “the only constant in the universe is change.” RSSSR has evolved much itself. The original founding editor, David Moberg, has moved on, Brill has become our publisher, the form of each volume has changed with new colors and a hardcover added. This year brings its own changes: Dr. Andrew Village joins as a coEditor. Dr. Village is at York St. John University in Great Britain. His research interests are in how lay people interpret the Bible. I welcome Dr. Village as a colleague in this endeavor and am confident that his presence will broaden the international reach and presence of RSSSR. Hopefully, what has not changed over the years is the content of each volume, which has continued to present a diverse sampling of high quality, cutting edge research. Over the past several issues, our effort has been to make RSSSR less of a review of what has occurred in the field and more of a barometer of where the field is going. The current issue continues in this direction. The regular articles featured here capture a diverse array of topics and the special section on Muslim Mental Health delves into an area not well researched in the current literature. The first paper by Mahoney, Pargament, and DeMaris presents research on a construct of growing importance: sacredness. Sacredness refers to the extent to which an individual may perceive some aspect of his/her life (in this case the family experiences of marriage and pregnancy) as being a manifestation of God. In general, such construals enable a person to view behaviors in a larger context of meaning that can promote greater commitment to those behaviors as well as higher positive emotions. This study is pioneering in that it extends the concept of “sacredness” to specific family experiences. Buxant and colleagues examine the motivations behind why individuals convert to mainstream religions. Specifically, they are interested in determining whether such changes reflect some perceived deficiency or the need to satisfy self-growth motivations. The value of this study is that it attempts to understand what converts feel they are missing in their current denominations that would lead them to seek a new faith community.

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Francis and Williams examine an emerging issue in current research: the role of the paranormal and its role as a religious experience. Much discussion is now taking place on just how researchers of religion and spirituality should view the growing interest of people in paranormal phenomena. Frequently, those who have mystical experiences have been shown to also have paranormal encounters as well. Is this because both types of experiences represent similar psychological processes? This paper addresses this important issue head on, and finds that religious and paranormal beliefs seem to be addressing different needs within the person. The final three papers appearing in the regular section all focus on research with international samples. Belzen’s paper examines the interface between cultural psychology and religious research. He outlines specific models and methods by which the cultural psychological approach can be fruitfully applied to the psychology of religion. Working in the cross-cultural context, Imam and colleagues examined the value of the Spiritual Well-Being scale in predicting psychological health among Malaysian youth. Interestingly, only the Existential Wellbeing scale evidenced any significant relations; the Religious Wellbeing scale being mostly orthogonal to the psychosocial criteria. These findings highlight the need for a better examination of the psychological significance of these two subscales. The Existential and Religious Wellbeing scales clearly do not reflect a common construct: each seems to represent qualities that are non-overlapping with the other. The Existential scale appears to represent aspects of general psychological well-being. There does not appear to be much content related to spirituality in this scale. The Religious Well-being scale, on the other hand, does seem to capture aspects of the numinous (i.e., the sacred, hallowed) and correlates well with other measures of spirituality. Its lack of association with psychological health raises important questions about the function of spiritual constructs: Are they supposed to protect people from pain? Finally, rounding out the international papers, Piedmont, Werdel, and Fernando examine the psychometric utility of the Assessment of Spirituality and Religious Sentiments (ASPIRES) scale in a Sri Lankan sample. The ASPIRES has been shown to be a robust instrument across religious denominations and cultures. Several papers have already appeared in previous issues of RSSSR documenting the reliability of this instrument as well as its broad predictive power. This study adds to this growing database. Overall the findings supported the utility of the instrument, although some aspects of the scale seem more

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robust than others. Specifically, how Sri Lankans understand spiritual transcendence may be different from some Western and Far Eastern groups. Interestingly, the scale evidenced comparable reliabilities and validities for both the Christian and Buddhist sub-samples in this study, suggesting that the ASPIRES captures aspects of spirituality that are nondenominational and universal. The theme for this year’s Special Section of RSSSR is Muslim Mental Health. Dr. Mark Leach assembled some of the best researchers from a variety of disciplines in six countries to present both quantitative and qualitative projects on the multiple roles of Islam on mental health. Dr. Leach accurately points out that the research state of affairs assessing faith groups in the U.S. is theoretically and practically limited, since most research is based on Christian samples and assumptions. Our theories and models of the roles religion and spirituality play in individual and group health can benefit from previously underrepresented faith groups and frameworks. Including researchers from multiple countries extends our conceptual reach. Religions are universal and it is hoped that more researchers begin to broaden the scope of their investigations. Islam, both religiously and culturally, has significant influence in a variety of social, economic, educational, political, and personal endeavors, both in the U.S. and globally. Given the continuing growth of Islam it is important that we begin to increase our research emphases to include Muslim samples in order to continue our quest to develop comprehensive and valid approaches to the study of religion and spirituality. Volume 20 is perhaps the most international volume of the series to date. Samples included in these studies are from the USA, Great Britain, Malay, Sri Lanka, Iran, Pakistan, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Multiple faith groups are also represented, including Christian, Islam, and Buddhist. The growing interest in the scientific study of religion and spirituality is world-wide. As noted earlier, the current focus on Muslim issues presents information about a much understudied group and the findings have value not only for researchers, but for clinicians who may be working with this population. As research better mines the diversity of religious and spiritual phenomena across nations and faith traditions, the need will begin to grow for the development of new, broader theories that can outline the universal factors that contribute to the growth and expression of religious sentiments. It is hoped that this edition of RSSSR will continue to stimulate interest and thinking in this area. The studies included here continue

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this series’ tradition of presenting diverse methodological approaches to studying religious issues. It can only be hoped that future research will move towards employing multi-method designs that aim to capture numinous effects at different levels of analysis simultaneously. This would promote the development of more integrated conceptual models that can chart spirituality’s multiple influences on functioning. Aside from the empirical value of these studies, findings generated here also have important applied implications as well. Clinicians can find in these pages ways to understand how religion and spirituality shape clients’ sense of self and social identities. Such knowledge can help therapists empathize and understand their religiously oriented clients. These studies can also be helpful in identifying potentially new ways of intervening with clients. Religious and spiritual dimensions may offer potential therapeutic pathways for facilitating change.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The editorial staff and I are grateful for the contributions and cooperation of a large number of people without whom publication of RSSSR would not be possible. Most obvious among them are the authors and coauthors of the published articles. There were a number of researchers, scholars, and clinicians who have served as anonymous reviewers of the manuscripts that were received for current publication. These individuals are noted at the end of this volume. They not only have functioned as professional referees evaluating the appropriateness of the respective manuscripts for publication, but they also have given the authors significant suggestions to improve the quality and scope of their future research in this area. Their efforts helped to insure a high quality among those reports that are published. I would also like to acknowledge the efforts of Dr. Mark Leach for his wonderful work in managing the Special Section on Muslim Mental Health. There is little research with Islamic samples and our understanding of this community remains incomplete. Thus, the series of papers presented here make a significant, and substantial, contribution to the literature. The variety of topics is very relevant for both researchers and clinicians. The articles presented here are informative and should provide highly stimulating reading. Rochelle K. Pereira has served as the editorial assistant for this volume. Her experience, talent, and painstaking work contributed immeasurably to the high standards of production. Throughout this process, she was always patient and quick to smile. Although the work load got very heavy at times, her commitment and diligence was always in evidence and she maintained a very high level of professionalism. Thank You Rochelle! My own academic institution has provided many critical necessities for the production of this volume. Loyola College in Maryland, especially its graduate Department of Pastoral Counseling, has provided office space, funds for the editorial assistant, telephone services, computer technology, postage, access to its admirable support infrastructure, and related services. I am very grateful to both the Department’s and Graduate Administration’s support for this worthy endeavor. I am grateful, too, to Regine Reincke and the production staff of Brill Academic Press who have efficiently published this attractive and useful

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volume. Brill’s marketing department (www.brill.nl or e-mail brill@ turpin-distribution.com for R.O.W. and [email protected] for North Amierica) is eager to fill orders for either single volumes or on-going subscriptions to RSSSR. Please recommend RSSSR to your professional and academic colleagues. Also support its addition or continuation in your academic, religious, research, and public libraries for its rich contents are relevant to everyone, both lay and professional, who is interested in keeping up with the rapidly expanding frontiers of scientific knowledge about spirituality and religion. Ralph L. Piedmont, Ph.D., Co-Editor Andrew Village, Ph.D., Co-Editor

MANUSCRIPT INVITATION For future volumes we welcome the submission of manuscripts that report on research that contributes to the behavioral and social science understanding of religion, whether done by members of those disciplines or other professions. RSSSR is an annual interdisciplinary and international volume that publishes original reports of research, theoretical studies, and other innovative social scientific analyses of religion. (However, we do not include studies that are purely historical or theological.) Manuscripts should be original contributions (not reprints) based upon any of the quantitative or qualitative methods of research or the theoretical, conceptual, or meta-analytical analysis of research on religion in general or on any specific world religion. They should not be under consideration for publication by any other journal or publication outlet and should comply with the professional ethical standards of psychology, sociology, and other social science professions. Manuscripts may be submitted at any time during the year, although those received within the calendar year have the best chance of inclusion in the next volume. Manuscripts must conform to the style guidelines of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Publication Manual 5th edition. Papers not in APA style will be returned to the author un-reviewed. (Authors who lack access to the Publication Manual may contact Dr. Piedmont for sample materials to help in the final preparation of their papers.) Send three copies, double spaced on standard paper to: Ralph L. Piedmont, Ph.D., Editor Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion Department of Pastoral Counseling Loyola College in Maryland 8890 McGaw Road, Suite 380 Columbia, MD 21045 USA Questions about suitability can be directed to Dr. Piedmont or Ms. Pereira electronically ([email protected] or [email protected]). Manuscripts that are judged by the editors as relevant to the coverage of RSSSR are reviewed anonymously for quality and then either accepted

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(usually along with constructive suggestions for revision) or rejected. Manuscripts relevant to our subject that are not accepted for publication also receive the benefit of critiques and suggestions that can aid their improvement for submission elsewhere. Authors will be required to complete a copyright transfer form giving Brill the rights to publish the work. RSSSR is also interested in developing “special topic sections” for inclusion in future editions. Special topic sections would include a series of papers (5–7) on a specific theme. These sections would be “guest edited” by a single individual who would be responsible for the solicitation of the manuscripts and their review. If you have a suggestion for a special topic section or would be interested in editing such a section, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Piedmont for details.

COUPLES VIEWING MARRIAGE AND PREGNANCY THROUGH THE LENS OF THE SACRED: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY Annette Mahoney*, Kenneth I. Pargament, and Alfred DeMaris Abstract Although a given family member’s general religiousness has often been tied to family functioning, scarce documentation exists on the psychological integration of spirituality into family experiences. This study offers such evidence using 178 couples pregnant with their first child. Most husbands and wives perceived their marriage and pregnancy as imbued with sacred qualities (non-theistic sanctification) and a manifestation of God (theistic sanctification). Such perceptions were tied to three other spiritual facets of marriage and pregnancy: spiritual behavioral investment, spiritual emotions, and positive spiritual coping. These links were not merely a reflection of a spouse’s general religiousness (i.e., religious attendance, prayer, Biblical conservatism). Quotes from a subset of couples further illuminate the viewing of family life through a sacred lens. Keywords: Religion, spirituality, marriage, pregnancy, family, parenting, sanctification.

Ever since William James defined religion as the “feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude” (1902, p. 31), social scientists have primarily treated religion and spirituality as individualistic phenomena (Hill, 2005; Hill & Pargament, 2003). For instance, religion and spirituality have been measured in terms of a given individual’s daily spiritual experiences, sense of meaning, values, beliefs, private or public practices, religious/spiritual coping, commitment, involvement

* Author Note: Annette Mahoney and Kenneth I. Paragment are from the Department of Psychology, and Alfred DeMaris is from the Department of Sociology at Bowling Green State University. The research reported was funded by a grant from the Templeton Foundation, and we appreciate this generous support. Portions of this research were presented at the 2008 Mid Year Conference on Spirituality and Religion co-sponsored by Loyola College in Maryland and Division 36 of the American Psychological Association, Columbia, MD. We are grateful to the families who participated in this study as well as the staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students at BGSU who worked diligently on the project. C. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to the first author at the Department of Psychology, BGSU, Bowling Green, Ohio, 43403, Email: amahone@ bgsu.edu. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 20 © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009

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in organized religious institutions, and perceived support from a faith community (Fetzer Institute/National Institute of Aging Working Group, 1999; Hill, 2005). Such indicators have well-established links with other measures of individual functioning, such as personality (Emmons, 1998; Piedmont, 2005), physical health (Koenig, McCullough & Larson, 2001), and mental health (Koenig, 1998). The individual orientation within the subfield of the psychology of religion and spirituality is perhaps reflective of the larger individualistic bias in psychological studies conducted in the U.S. and American culture more generally (Benjamin, 2007). Although the subfield has generated a significant and fruitful set of findings as evidenced by a recent major handbook (Paloutzian & Park, 2006), this research tradition has left unanswered many questions about the ways religion and spirituality are experienced and expressed in intimate relationships. The relative absence of studies of how religion and spirituality shape peoples’ understanding and experience of marital and family life is particularly glaring given the important implications of religion and spirituality for the domestic domain (Boyatzis, 2003; Dollahite, Marks, & Goodman, 2004; Mahoney & Tarakeshwar, 2005; Parke, 2001). Anecdotal evidence has highlighted the intimate linkages between religion and family life. As one spouse commented about marriage: “To me, it would be like being inside a room with no air, not to have God in a marriage” (Robinson, 1994). Here a professional working mother explains, “Obviously there are some exceptional individuals who are able to reach for the sublime by making music, painting pictures, or playing baseball. But for ordinary mortals like myself, it is often a child who helps us ‘touch the face of God’” (Hewitt, 2002). Demographic evidence also underscores the overlap of religion and family life. For instance, the vast majority of married couples (Myers, 1996) as well as parents of children (Bartkowski, Xu & Levin, 2008) and adolescents (Smith, 2005) in the United States identify with a religious tradition. Likewise, the majority of married couples with children (Bartkowski, 2008) or adolescents (Smith, 2005) attend church at least once a month. Furthermore, the world’s major religious traditions prescribe the nature of ideal family structure, rituals that signify major developmental transitions in the family life cycle, and rules and guidelines that define the ways family members should treat each other (Mahoney, Pargament, Murray-Swank, & Murray-Swank, 2003; Wilcox, 2004). It is therefore surprising that relatively few rigorous, empirical studies have closely examined specific points of connection between

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the domains of religion and spirituality, and marriage and parenting. For example, Mahoney, Pargament, Tarakeshwar, and Swank (2001) conducted a meta-analysis and located only 78 quantitative studies published between 1980 and 1999 in peer-reviewed journals on this interface, with 46 studies focused on marital relationships and 35 on parenting. Moreover, less than 20 of these studies were published by research psychologists. Yet even this limited literature has yielded significant findings that validate the value of empirically studying religion and spirituality within the context of family life (Mahoney et al., 2001; Mahoney & Tarakeshwar, 2005). For example, across several studies, higher levels of religiousness and religious homogamy between spouses have been tied to lower rates of divorce as well as greater marital commitment and satisfaction (see Mahoney et al., 2001). Likewise, greater parental religiousness has been associated with better child adjustment (Bartkowski, 2008), less adolescent drug and alcohol use (Smith, 2005), and more positive parent-adolescent relationship dynamics (Mahoney et al., 2001). Tantalizing as these findings are, they generally are not well grounded in well delineated conceptual models, and they overwhelmingly rely on superficial assessment of religion and spirituality. For instance, in their review, Mahoney et al. (2001) found that 83% of the studies relied on one or two items to assess the religiousness of family members (e.g., denominational affiliation, frequency of religious attendance, frequency of prayer). These brief indices may lead to an underestimation of the effects of religion and spirituality on the family. Moreover, even when significant findings emerge, researchers are left with a critical question: What is it about religion or spirituality that affects the character of marriage and family (Thomas & Cornwall, 1990)? The present study represents an initial effort to go deeper in exploring several ways that faith can be experienced and expressed in family life, using a sample of married couples who are on the verge of giving birth to their first child. More specifically, we highlight one construct—sanctification—and suggest that it offers a promising starting point for advancing theory and research on the roles of religion and spirituality in family life. First, we offer descriptive data on how common it is for married men and women to view their marriage and first pregnancy as being sanctified. We then examine how such perceptions relate to three other ways that spiritually can be integrated with marriage or pregnancy, namely spiritual behavioral investment, spiritual emotions, and positive spiritual coping. We also demonstrate

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that linkages between perceived sanctification and these three spiritual constructs are not merely a reflection of global levels of religiousness, including the frequency of religious attendance and private prayer, and conservative views of the Bible. To set the stage for the study, we begin with an overview on theory about sanctification, and then move onto the other three psychospiritual constructs that pertain to marriage and pregnancy. General Theory and Research on Sanctification Definitions of Religion and Spirituality We need to be explicit about our conceptualization of religion and spirituality, given the theoretical controversies surrounding these terms (Hill et al., 2000; Hill & Pargament, 2003). We adhere to Pargament’s definition that religion is “a search for significance in ways related to the sacred” (Pargament, 1997). Each element of this formulation merits elaboration. The significance component refers to whatever people construe as most important in their lives, whether it is psychological, social, physical, or spiritual in nature. The search refers to the means or pathways that individuals use to achieve their chosen destinations. Of course, not every search for a desired destination is religious in nature. In fact, the sphere of religion is unique because it incorporates perceptions of the sacred into either the desired destinations or pathways of a person’s life journey. In our view, the core of the sacred involves perceptions of God, higher powers, divinity and/or transcendent reality, but extends to any aspect of life that takes on divine character and significance by virtue of its association with the core (Pargament & Mahoney, 2005). Thus, the term the sacred can be pictorially represented as consisting of both a core and ring (Figure 1). This definition of religion allows us to encompass both the substantive and functional dimensions of this complex, multi-faceted domain of life. The substantive dimension of religion refers to beliefs, practices and feelings rooted in theological understandings of reality (i.e., ideas about the sacred), regardless of whether based on personal or institutional thinking. The functional dimension of religion refers to the multitude of psychological (e.g., sense of security or meaning) and social (e.g., communal cohesion or control) purposes that religion may serve. Although some have begun to divorce spirituality from religion, we hold that the most central function of religion is to facilitate spirituality, which we define as the search for the sacred (Pargament & Mahoney, 2002). In our

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Sacred Ring Place

Meaning Sacred Core

God

Divine

Soul

Transcendent Reality

Children Marriage

Nature Time Figure 1 view, spirituality thus forms the heart and soul of both private and institutional forms of religiousness because it centers on how people integrate the sacred into their lives. While other legitimate, scholarly conceptions of spirituality exist that completely separate it from religion (for reviews, see; Hill, 2005; Hill & Pargament, 2003; Zinnbauer & Pargament, 2005), it is important to recognize that approximately 65% of Americans label themselves religious and spiritual, with another 15 to 20% seeing themselves as spiritual but not religious, and 5 to 10% saying they are religious but not spiritual (Marler & Hadaway, 2002). These data support the notion that the search for the sacred (i.e., spirituality) is often informed by traditional religious organizations, although can easily occur outside this context (Pargament & Mahoney, 2002). We posit that our definition allows for unconventional pathways in the search for the sacred while respecting the central role that major world religions play for many in their faith journeys.

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Definition of Sanctification Underlying our definition of spirituality is the assertion that the search for the sacred is a motivating force for many people, one that directs them toward higher, ultimate, sacred ends in life (see Emmons, 1999). In considering this, we need to reiterate that while the core of the sacred includes concepts of God, the divine and transcendent reality, the sacred can extend to other aspects of life that take on extraordinary character by virtue of their association with, or representation of, divinity. As Durkheim (1915) wrote: “By sacred things one must not understand simply those personal beings which are called gods or spirits; a rock, a tree, a pebble, a piece of wood, a house, in a word anything can be sacred” (p. 52). We use the term sanctification to refer to the process by which people perceive seemingly secular aspects of life as having divine character and significance (Pargament & Mahoney, 2005). In our writing and research, we have distinguished between theistic and nontheistic forms of sanctification. Theistic sanctification involves the process of experiencing an aspect of life as a manifestation of one’s images, beliefs, or experiences of God. Through religious readings, education, and ritual, adherents to a wide range of traditions are taught that God’s powers are manifest in many dimensions of life. For instance, in their regular religious services, Jews regularly recite the blessing: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! The whole earth is full of his glory” (Donin, 1980, p. 122) and among Christians, each believer’s life and actions are said to reflect the presence of God through the gift of the Holy Spirit. The God of religious traditions then is not removed from the workings of the world, but is concerned with earthly as well as heavenly matters (for more elaboration, see Pargament & Mahoney, 2005). Perceptions of spiritual character and significance can also develop nontheistically by investing objects with qualities that are associated with the divine. These sacred qualities include attributes of transcendence, ultimate value and purpose, and boundlessness. Individuals could conceivably attribute such sacred qualities to significant objects even though they do not espouse beliefs in a God or higher power. Indicators of this indirect form of sanctification are commonplace in our culture. Sacred qualities are often linked to ostensibly secular objects. People speak of a sacred trust, holy wars, saintly figures, divine inspiration, eternal family bonds, hallowed ground, and so on (for more elaboration, see Pargament & Mahoney, 2005).

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It is important to point out that our use of the word sanctification differs from theological meanings that vary across religious traditions. For example, from a Christian vantage point, sanctification is an inherently mysterious process through which God transforms profane objects into sacred entities. In this vein, the Catholic Church holds that God converts a heterosexual relationship via the sacrament of Holy Matrimony into a divine, eternal union that cannot be dissolved by human action (i.e., annulments are granted to marriages judged to have never actually existed; Bokenkotter, 1992). In contrast, our definition of sanctification is not theological. Rather, we conceptualize sanctification as a psychospiritual construct. It is spiritual because of its point of reference, the sacred. It is psychological because it: a) focuses on human perceptions of the sacred, and b) is studied with social scientific rather than theological methods (for more discussion, see Mahoney et al., 2003; Pargament and Mahoney 2005). While sanctification can occur theistically and/or nontheistically, neither form of sanctification appears to be unusual. For instance, in a U.S. national survey, Doehring et al. (2002) found that the majority of participants reported that they see God’s presence in all of life (75%) and see evidence of God in nature and creation (78%). Similarly, significant proportions of the sample endorsed nontheistic sanctification items: “I sense that there are qualities of life, such as love and hope, which are everlasting” (90%), and “I experience something more sacred in life than simply material existence” (76%). Furthermore, a study of major life strivings found that many different endeavors in life are commonly seen as sacred (Mahoney, Pargament, Cole, et al., 2005). Likewise, cross-sectional studies that have focused on a specific topic have found high rates of the sanctification of the parenting of young children (Murray-Swank, Mahoney, & Pargament, 2006; Volling, Rauer & Mahoney, in press), premarital sex intercourse (Murray-Swank, Pargament & Mahoney, 2005), marital sexuality (Hernandez, 2008), one’s physical body (Mahoney, Carels, et al., 2005), and the environment (Tarakeshwar, Swank, Pargament & Mahoney, 2001). Findings from these studies also highlight the possible implications of sanctification, as follows. Implications of Sanctification In 2005, Pargament and Mahoney proposed that perceiving an aspect of life as part of the sacred represents more than a set of theoretically intriguing cognitions that people may entertain in passing. We suggested

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that initial evidence indicates that sanctification may have five salient implications for human functioning: (a) people invest disproportional time and energy in sacred matters (investment/prioritization); (b) people go to great lengths to preserve and protect whatever they perceive to be sanctified, especially in times of threat (care for appropriately and cope adaptively); c) sanctified aspects of life are likely to elicit powerful comforting (e.g., love, adoration, gratitude) and discomforting (e.g., awe, fear, humility) feelings traditionally associated with a “numinous consciousness” (spiritual emotions); (d) people are likely to draw on sanctified objects as resources that provide benefits, such as a sense of satisfaction, identity, strength, and support, especially in times of challenge (resources); and (e) the loss or destruction of sanctified aspects of life can have devastating effects (risks). Prior studies have focused on the links between sanctification and psychosocial variables to illustrate these various implications (e.g., investing time or energy in strivings, taking good care of one’s body). In this study, we focus our attention on spiritual functioning that may be connected to viewing life through a sacred lens. Specifically, we highlight three spiritual constructs that reflect three of the implications of sanctification. Namely, the more a specific aspect of life is perceived as sacred, the more people are likely to invest time in spiritually oriented activities (spiritual behavioral investment), experience spiritual emotions connected to that aspect of life (spiritual emotions), and draw on spiritual resources to preserve and protect the sacred object (positive spiritual coping). This brief overview shows the promise of sanctification as a way to extend research on religion and spirituality to broader domains of life. Nevertheless, like the field more generally, much of the initial work on sanctification has focused on the individual level of analysis. This is not to say that relationships, including the family bonds, cannot be viewed through the lens of the sacred. In fact, there are several reasons to expect that many people sanctify family relationships and that these perceptions are tied to spiritual dimensions of family life. Sanctification within Marriage and Pregnancy Sanctification and family life Through the lens of the sacred, the family is more than a biological, psychological, and social process; it taps directly into the spiritual realm. This observation is consistent with Zimmerman’s (1974) conclusion about the main Eurasian religions (e.g., Confucianism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity):

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They are concerned with the sanctity of family relations more than any other mundane object. In other words, the most sacred or divine aspect of society is considered to be the family system and being religious is tantamount to being a good husband, a good wife, or a good parent, child or kinsman (p. 6).

Further insights into how religion and spirituality can infuse family relationships with spiritual significance is evident in a recent textbook written for marital and family therapists that contains distinct chapters across a broad array of faith traditions, including conservative Christianity, liberal Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Native religions (Onedera, 2008). Likewise, a comprehensive volume by Dollahite (2000) delineates the principles of happy and successful family life based on doctrines of the Latter-Day Saints. Such scholarship provides a theological foundation for the assertion that people are psychologically capable of experiencing God and nurturing their sense of spirituality through participation in various family relationships. Next, we offer a few additional theoretical illustrations of this process for marriage and pregnancy. Marriage and the Sacred Marriage can be elevated to sacred status and have spiritual meaning. A recent scholarly analysis of historical and contemporary marriage and religious practices among adherents of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam highlights how marriage is an attachment relationship that may often be influenced by sacred texts and religious doctrine (Harris, Marshall, & Schvaneveldt, 2008). For instance, Christian traditions teach that traditional wedding ceremonies join a couple not only to each other until death intervenes, but also to God in a three-fold cord (Eccles 4: 9–12). After weddings, Christian traditions continue to articulate connections between marriage and the spiritual realm in teachings that portray marriage as a sacred encounter marked by transcendental love and grace (Stanley et al., 1998), and that describe God as an active third party whose purposes are intimately connected to the growth of the relationship over the life span (Butler & Harper, 1994). Similarly, other religious traditions signify the spiritual significance of the marital bond via a religious ceremony and offer religious narratives to illuminate the transcendent nature of the union (Onedera, 2008). Further, all faiths offer believers guidelines to validate the sacred nature of the marriage in lived experience over time, including rules about sexual relations, gender roles, self-sacrifice, and conflict resolution within marriage (Dollahite, 2000; Onedera, 2008).

10 annette mahoney, kenneth i. pargament, and alfred demaris Pregnancy and the Sacred Once sanctified, pregnancy becomes much more than a biological event; it has spiritual significance. Many religions attach deep spiritual meaning to conceiving and giving birth as a fulfillment of the most basic purpose of marriage (Onedera, 2008). Further, it is not difficult to find descriptive accounts of pregnancy that reflect the sanctification process. For example, pregnancy can be described as a “blessing from God,” “miraculous,” or “divine” (Fitzpatrick, 1991; Klassen, 2001). However to date, there are virtually no controlled studies on the role of religion for the experience of pregnancy, other than research documenting fertility rates across different religious groups (Mahoney & Tarakeshwar, 2005). Prior research on sanctification and marriage and pregnancy As yet, there is a dearth of scientific studies on the sanctification of marriage and pregnancy (Mahoney & Tarakeshwar, 2005). As one exception to this rule, Mahoney et al. (1999) conducted a quantitative study of a community sample of 97 married couples. Most of the couples indicated that they perceived God as active in their marital relationship. Most participants also perceived that their marriage held sacred qualities (e.g., transcendence, ultimacy, boundlessness). Furthermore, higher levels of marital sanctification were associated with greater marital adjustment, more perceived benefits from marriage, less marital conflict, and more effective marital problem solving strategies. Goodman and Dollahite (2006) also conducted a qualitative study of 32, highly religious, Christian, Jewish or Muslim couples who had been married an average of two decades. All but one couple believed God was an important aspect of their marriage, and 29 couple were able to articulate specific ways God was active in their daily married life, either directly (God being a role model or doing actions for the marriage) or indirectly (via doctrine, values, or other people). These findings underscore the potential value of studies of applying sanctification to family relationships. Furthermore, the other empirical studies conducted on sanctification that were cited earlier provide an empirical foundation to expect that the sanctification of marriage and pregnancy is likely to be prevalent and reflect perceptions that go far beyond conventional markers of personal religiousness (i.e., religious attendance, private prayer or conservative views of the Bible). However, empirical evidence regarding the power of religion to infuse marriage and pregnancy with spiritual meaning and significance needs further documentation.

pregnancy, marriage, and sanctification

11

Goals of the Present Study The present study represents one of the first attempts to extend the psychology of religion and spirituality to family formation processes. More specifically, this study had three main objectives using a community sample of 178 married couples in the third trimester of their first pregnancy. The first goal was to apply the construct of sanctification to the family realm and examine the extent to which both husbands and wives perceived their marriage and pregnancy through a sacred lens. Extrapolating from studies of sanctification in other domains and from the Mahoney et al. (1999) study, we expected that the sanctification of marriage and pregnancy would be commonplace for couples on the verge of giving birth to their first child. The second goal was to examine theoretical linkages between sanctification and three other potentially salient ways that spirituality may be woven into the fabric of daily family life: spiritual behavioral investment, spiritual emotions, and spiritual resources to cope with stress. In terms of spiritual behavioral investment, we anticipated that people who perceived their marriages and pregnancy as sacred would be more likely to engage in behaviors that reflect an investment in these aspects of life. In particular, sanctification is likely to be related to investment in spiritual activities that reinforce the spiritual meaning attached to family relationships and cultivate spiritual resources to have available if and when family stressors occur. In the marital realm, examples of spiritual investment include the couple praying together and for each other, having spiritually oriented conversations, and attending church together. Parallel behaviors to heighten the spiritual capital surrounding pregnancy include a prospective parent who prays or meditates for the baby, and who deepens his or her own faith life or connection to a spiritual community for the sake of the unborn child. With regard to spiritual emotions, we predicted that people who perceived their marriages and pregnancy as sacred would also be more likely to report experiencing profound emotions traditionally described in theological literature as elicited by the sacred (Otto, 1928). Drawing on the work of Otto (1928), who described the powerful feelings associated with a numinous consciousness, we have posited links between perceptions of the sacred and a variety of strong emotions (Pargament & Mahoney, 2005), including awe and uplift (Haidt & Keltner, 2004), gratitude (Emmons & Crumpler, 2000), and love (Levin, 2000). Thus, we anticipated participants would report experiencing a spiritually rooted

12 annette mahoney, kenneth i. pargament, and alfred demaris sense of gratitude, awe, humility, peace, and hope in connection with the marriage or pregnancy. Phrases such as feeling “spiritually uplifted or inspired,” “an intense sense of gratitude toward a higher power,” “a sense of peace beyond all understanding,” or “fully accepted by God” highlight an explicitly spiritual dimension to emotions; this helps differentiate such experiences from a myriad of emotions that could be experienced in either spiritual or non-spiritual contexts. Finally, the transition from couplehood to a three-person family can challenge the marital relationship as well as be accompanied by pregnancy related stressors. We predicted that those who sanctified marriage and pregnancy would be more likely to draw on personal spiritual coping resources that are designed to sustain individuals through such difficult times. Examples include the use of prayer to cope, benevolent spiritual reappraisals of difficult situations, and seeking a collaborative relationship with God or spiritual support from others to overcome adversity. A third goal of this study was to illustrate our quantitative findings by offering quotes from interviews that we conducted with some of the couples. Specifically, we supplemented our quantitative findings with interviews with a sub-sample of 23 high—or low—sanctifying couples. Quotes from these interviews provide a window into the couples’ spiritual worlds, or lack thereof, which uses their own words and examples. We believe our sample of couples pregnant with their first child is particularly informative for a study on spirituality and family life because these couples are at a critical point of transition, for not only themselves as individuals, but also as husbands and wives, soon-to-be prospective fathers and mothers, and their soon-to-be sons and daughters. By studying these couples as their family is about to be launched, we may be able to learn a great deal about how married couples integrate their spirituality into family life and how this sets the stage for the evolution of the family. Method Sample Participants consisted of 178 married couples experiencing the third trimester of pregnancy of both spouse’s first biological child (length of marriage, M = 2.6 years, SD = 2.1). Couples were drawn from a

pregnancy, marriage, and sanctification

13

socioeconomically diverse, midsized, Midwestern city and surrounding suburban and rural communities. The mean ages of husbands and wives, respectively, were 28.7 (SD = 4.4) and M = 27.2 years (SD = 4.0). Self described ethnicity was Caucasian for both partners in 80% of cases and non-Caucasian for one or both spouses in 20% of cases. The breakdown of highest education for husbands and wives, respectively, was 12% and 6% high school, 28% and 23% partial college or post-high school education, 42% and 45% college degree, and 18% and 26% graduate/professional degree. In 2005–06 dollars, household income was broadly distributed as follows: 8% at 0–$25,000, 29% at $25–50,000, 30% at $50–75,000, 19% at $75,000–100,000, and 13% at greater than $100,000. The self-reported religious affiliation preference of wives was 34.5% non-denominational Christian, 31.6% Protestant, 26.0% Catholic, 4.5% None, 2.8% Other, and .6% Jewish. For husbands, self-reported affiliation was 31.5% Protestant, 28.1% nondenominational Christian, 27.0% Catholic, 6.7% None, 5.6% Other, .6% Jewish, and .6% Muslim. Couples were primarily recruited from childbirth classes (64%), with the rest responding to announcements posted in medical offices, retail locations or newspapers (14%), word of mouth referrals (15%) or direct mail (8%). Inclusionary criteria were that spouses: (a) were married, (b) pregnant with each individual’s first biological child, and (c) both spoke English. In addition, given the focus of the project, couples were screened to insure that at least one of the spouses considered him or herself to be “slightly religious” and/or “slightly spiritual”; no prospective couples who expressed an interest in participating in the study were excluded based on this criterion. To determine the comparability of our sample’s general level of religiousness to national norms, we compared the wives’ religious attendance rates to a nationally representative sample of married women who were currently pregnant with either their first or second child and were married to a man who had no children from a prior relationship. (Unfortunately, we could not locate comparable national data on married men having their first or second baby.) Specifically, we examined the 502 cases available in Cycle 6 of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) ( January 2002 to March 2003) that met these criteria. Notably, further restricting the sample to first time, maternal births reduced the sample to only 44 cases. Religious attendance rates for the two samples were quite similar. For example, 38.0% of the NSFG and 40.5% of our sample attended services once a week or more, 17.0% and 21.4%, respectively, attended 1–3 times

14 annette mahoney, kenneth i. pargament, and alfred demaris per month, 28.2% and 27.0% attended less than once a month, and 16.9% and 11.3% never attended. Measures Sanctification of marriage and sanctification of pregnancy We revised the two sanctification subscales from Mahoney et al. (1999) to assess theistic and non-theistic sanctification of marriage and pregnancy. Parallel subscales containing ten items each were used to assess each domain. See Table 1 for all items. The Manifestation of God items assessed the extent to which the participants agreed that marriage/pregnancy was a manifestation of one’s images, beliefs, or experience of God. The Sacred Quality items assessed whether participant imbued the pregnancy/marriage with divine qualities such as boundlessness, ultimate value, and transcendence, and did not reference a specific deity. Items were also worded to avoid confounding desirable outcomes with affirmative responses. All items were rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Ratings for items were summed to create a total score for each spouse. Previous research on the original scales found high internal consistency for both types of items (alphas from .87–.97), and evidence of convergent and construct validity (Mahoney et al., 1999). Spiritual Investment To assess behavioral investment in marital spirituality, we selected the seven most commonly endorsed items from the 13-item Joint Religious Activities scale from Mahoney et al. (1999) that assesses the frequency that a couple engages in religious or spiritual activities together. See Appendix A for the items that were selected for this study. These items encompass informal activities, such as praying together or talking about how to live out God’s will together, as well as formal religious practices, such as attending church or celebrating religious holidays together. Each spouse rated the items on a 7-point scale from “never” (1) to “very often” (7), with a midpoint of “sometimes” (4). Ratings for items were summed to create a total score for each spouse. Previous research on original scales have found high internal consistency for both types of items and evidence of convergent and construct validity (see Mahoney et al., 1999).

Mothers 87% 84%

8. Our pregnancy connects my spouse and me to something greater than ourselves. 1. This pregnancy seems like a miracle to me.

God played a role in how I ended up being married to my spouse. I see God’s handiwork in my marriage. I sense God’s presence in my relationship with my spouse. My marriage is a reflection of God’s will. I feel God at work in my marriage. In mysterious ways, God touches my marriage. I experience God through my marriage. There are moments when I feel a strong connection with God in my marriage. God has been a guiding force in my marriage. God lives through my marriage.

Sacred Qualities in Pregnancy (Revised) Items

1. 10. 2. 5. 8. 7. 3. 9. 6. 4.

Manifestation of God in Marriage (Revised) Items

87% 75%

Fathers

79% 74% 74% 72% 68% 74% 63% 67% 65% 62%

61% 55%

63% 56% 86% 84% 81% 80% 80% 79% 74% 73% 71% 68%

90% 73% 78% 63% 70% 69% 69% 62%

93% 88% 84% 74% 75% 73% 72% 66%

My marriage is sacred to me. My marriage seems like a miracle to me. My marriage connects my spouse and me to something greater than ourselves. Being with my spouse feels like a deeply spiritual experience. This marriage is part of a larger spiritual plan. This marriage is holy. At moments, my marriage makes me very aware of a creative power beyond us. When I am with my spouse, there are moments when time stands still and I feel I am part of something eternal. 7. My marriage reveals the deepest truths of life to me. 8. My marriage puts me in touch with the deepest mysteries of life

5. 1. 8. 2. 3. 4. 10. 9.

Husbands

Wives

Sacred Qualities in Marriage (Revised) Items

Table 1. Percentage of Cases Endorsing Sanctification Sub-Scale Items at a Level Greater than “Neutral” and up to “Strongly Agree”

pregnancy, marriage, and sanctification 15

Mothers 84% 81% 79% 76% 74% 74% 72% 71% 71% 61%

Manifestation of God in Pregnancy (Revised) Items

1. 5. 2. 10. 8. 7. 9. 3. 6. 4.

God played a role our getting pregnant. Our pregnancy is a reflection of God’s will. I sense God’s presence in this pregnancy. I see God’s handiwork in this pregnancy. I feel God at work in this pregnancy. In mysterious ways, God has touched our pregnancy. There are moments when I feel a strong connection with God through this pregnancy. I experience God through this pregnancy. God has been a guiding force in our pregnancy. God lives through our pregnancy.

52%

49%

At moments, this pregnancy makes me very aware of a creative power beyond us. This pregnancy is sacred to me. This pregnancy is part of a larger spiritual plan. Our pregnancy feels like a deeply spiritual experience. Being pregnant puts me in touch with the deepest mysteries of life. This pregnancy reveals the deepest truths of life to me. During this pregnancy there are moments when time stands still and I feel I am part of something eternal. 4. This pregnancy is holy.

62% 55%

78% 72% 73% 75% 71% 67% 64%

Fathers

76% 68% 66% 60% 54% 54% 53%

83% 76% 70% 65% 60% 51% 51%

10. 5. 3. 2. 6. 7. 9.

Husbands

Wives

Sacred Qualities in Marriage (Revised) Items

Table 1. (cont.)

16 annette mahoney, kenneth i. pargament, and alfred demaris

pregnancy, marriage, and sanctification

17

Positive Spiritual Emotions A measure of explicitly spiritual emotions (Butter, 2004) was adapted to assess participants’ positive spiritual emotions connected to an aspect of life (e.g., “spiritually uplifted or inspired,” “intense sense of gratitude toward a higher power,” “sense of peace beyond all understanding).” Items were rated on a five-point scale (1 = not at all to 5 = most of the time) and summed into a score for positive spiritual emotions. Positive Spiritual Coping To assess the degree to which each spouse used his/her faith to cope with marital or pregnancy stressors in an adaptive way, each partner responded to 18 items found on six of short, 3–item subscales available in the full version of the Religious Coping Scale—RCOPE—(Pargament Koenig & Perez, 2000). See Appendix A for list of all items used. These subscales assess the frequency with which the individual tries to work collaboratively with God in problem solving, actively surrenders control to God after putting forth maximal personal effort to solve a problem, seeks spiritual support from God and a religious community, seeks a sense of spiritual connection, and forms benevolent spiritual reappraisals of stressful events. The RCOPE has been used with a variety of samples coping with a variety of major life stressors, and estimates of internal consistency for the positive spiritual coping subscales have been acceptable (alphas > .80). With respect to criterion and predictive validity, according to a recent meta-analysis (Ano & Vasconcelles, 2005), higher scores on positive spiritual coping have been associated with greater life satisfaction, spiritual growth, and stress-related growth and lower levels of depression, anxiety, distress, hopelessness, and guilt. Global Indicators of Conventional Religiousness Global levels of conventional religiousness were assessed by measuring the frequency of private prayer and worship service attendance, and conservative beliefs about the Bible. Specifically, each spouse rated how often they prayed on a 6-point scale ranging from 0 (never) to 5 (several times a day) and attended religious services on an 8-point scale ranging from 0 (never) to 7 (more than once a week). Both items were drawn from the General Social Survey (GSS; National Opinion Research Center, 2004). In addition, participants’ conservative beliefs about the Bible were assessed with the two items which have been used repeatedly in prior sociological studies on religion and family life: “The

18 annette mahoney, kenneth i. pargament, and alfred demaris Bible is God’s word and everything will happen exactly as it says” and “The Bible has the answers to all important human problems” (Ellison, Bartkowski & Segal, 1996a; 1996b). Both items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 0 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), and summed to yield an index of conservative Biblical views. Procedures Data for this study were drawn from the first phase of a larger project on spiritual dimensions of the transition to parenthood. The quantitative data came from part of a battery of paper-and-pencil measures that were administered during a 2.5 to 3 hour visit to the homes of all couples who enrolled in the study. The interview data were drawn from 1–1.5 hour qualitative interviews subsequently conducted with a sub-sample of couples where both partners scored in the upper or lower quartile of a total combined score of the sanctification of marriage and pregnancy items. Other inclusionary criteria were that the couple was available (e.g., baby had not arrived yet), and that both partners exhibited an interest and ability to discuss their marriage and pregnancy at length (e.g., were highly talkative during initial home visit). Husbands and wives were each interviewed separately for about 15–25 minutes (random order of who was interviewed first), following by a joint interview with both partners (15–20 minutes). All couples received a gift card of $75 to a major retailer for their participation in the first visit to their home during pregnancy; couples who participated in follow-up interviews during pregnancy received another $50 gift card. Each partner read and signed informed consent forms prior to both data collection processes, and all procedures were approved by the university’s Institutional Review Board. Results The findings from this study are organized as follows. First, we review quantitative data on the prevalence of sanctification of marriage and pregnancy among husbands and wives. Second, we discuss the links between the two types of sanctification for each domain of life as well as agreement between couples in their perceptions. We then examine bivariate correlations between the sanctification of marriage and pregnancy, and spiritual investment, positive spiritual emotions and positive spiritual coping as well as examine these links after taking into account

pregnancy, marriage, and sanctification

19

the three global indicators of conventional religiousness. Third, we supplement the quantitative findings with illustrative quotes from our qualitative interviews. Prevalence, Means, and Reliability of Sanctification of Marriage and Pregnancy Scores The prevalence rates, means, and reliability figures for spouses’ ratings on the Manifestation of God and Sacred Qualities items for marriage and pregnancy can be seen on Table 1. With respect to marriage, the proportion of wives and husbands who endorsed the Manifestation of God items for marriage at a level greater than “neutral” and up to “strongly agree” ranged from 86% and 79% (“God played a role in how I ended up being married to my spouse”) to 68% and 62% (“God lives through our marriage”), respectively. More than two-thirds of both spouses also agreed with all but one of the ten items on the Sacred Qualities of marriage subscale. In fact, 93% of wives and 90% of husbands agreed with the item, “My marriage is sacred to me.” The two other, most highly endorsed Sacred Qualities items dealt with viewing the marriage as miraculous (88% and 73%) and as connecting the couple to something greater than themselves (84% and 78%). As can be seen on Table 2, the total Manifestation of God in Marriage subscores for both spouses displayed good variability with a mean of 55.3 (SD = 15.8) for wives and a mean of 51.8 (SD = 16.7) for husbands. Similarly, the means for the total Sacred Qualities of Marriage scores were 54.0 (SD = 11.7) for wives and 51.9 (SD = 12.3) for husbands. Paired t-tests revealed that, on average, wives endorsed both the Manifestation of God in Marriage (t = 3.15, p < .01) and Sacred Qualities in Marriage (t = 2.12, p < .05) scales at higher levels than husbands. Husbands and wives modestly agreed with each other in their ratings with an interrater correlation equal to .59 (p < .0001) for Manifestation of God scores and .41 (p < .0001) for Sacred Qualities scores. The consistency of participants’ ratings on items within each subscale was very high, with alphas ranging from .92 to .98. Finally, participants’ tended to rate each subscale to a similar degree, with the intercorrelation of the Manifestation of God and Sacred Quality of Marriage subscores equal to.76 (p < .0001) for wives and .78 ( p < .0001) for husbands. The results for the sanctification of pregnancy closely paralleled the marital findings. The large majority of wives agreed with the items on

20 annette mahoney, kenneth i. pargament, and alfred demaris Table 2. Means, Standard Deviations, Alphas, Top Quartile Cut-Point, Female/ Male Agreement & Intercorrelation of Sanctification of Marriage and Sanctification of Pregnancy Scores Marriage Wives Husbands

Pregnancy Mothers Fathers

Manifestation of God Mean (SD) Top 25% cut-point Alpha Female/male r

55.3 (15.8) 51.8 (16.7) 67 64 .98** .98** .59**

54.0 (16.9) 50.9 (17.7) 67 64 .98** .98** .55**

Sacred Qualities Mean (SD) Alpha Top 25% cut-point Female/male r

54.0 (11.7) 51.9 (12.3) .93** .92** 62 60 .41**

51.4 (12.7) 50.2 (13.2) .92** .92** 60 60 .40**

Intercorrelation of .76** subscales * p < .001. ** p < .0001.

.78**

.82**

.85**

the Manifestation of God scale. For example, 81% agreed that “Our pregnancy is a reflection of God’s will” and 76% agreed that “I see God’s handiwork in this pregnancy.” Prevalence rates for husbands were also high on these items (range from 78% to 55%). The majority of wives and husbands also endorsed the items on the Sacred Qualities scale, with the exception that less than half of wives (49%) endorsed the item “This pregnancy is holy.” The three most frequently endorsed sacred quality items reflected thinking the pregnancy was connected to something transcendent, creative, and miraculous. As can be seen in Table 2, the total Manifestation of God in pregnancy scores for both spouses displayed good variability, with a mean of 54.0 (SD = 16.9) for wives and a mean of 50.9 (SD = 17.7) for husbands. Similarly, the means and standard deviations for the total Sacred Qualities of pregnancy scores were 51.4 (SD = 11.7) for wives and 50.2 (SD = 12.3) for husbands. Paired t-tests revealed that, on average, wives endorsed Manifestation of God in pregnancy at higher levels than husbands (t = 2.42, p < .05) but spouses were not different with regard to Sacred Qualities of the pregnancy. Husbands and wives modestly agreed with each other in their ratings with an interrater correlation equal to .55 (p < .0001) for Manifestation of God scores and .40 (p < .0001) for Sacred Qualities scores. The consistency of

pregnancy, marriage, and sanctification

21

participants’ ratings on items within each subscale was again very high (alphas from .92 to .93). Finally, many participants rated each subscale in a similar manner, with the intercorrelation of the Manifestation of God and Sacred Quality of Marriage subscores equal to .82 for wives and .85 for husbands. Links between Sanctification and Spiritual Investment, Positive Emotions and Positive Coping Partial correlations were calculated between the sanctification of marriage and pregnancy scales with the measures of spiritual investment, positive spiritual emotions, and positive spiritual coping after controlling for relevant demographic variables and global religiousness. The demographic variables included those related to one or more of the outcomes (mother’s ethnicity, father’s age, household income, and number of years the couple cohabited) and the three global religious variables included frequency of prayer, frequency of religious attendance, and biblical conservatism. These results are presented in Table 3. Focusing on the Manifestation of God in Marriage scale, higher scores on this scale were very strongly correlated with higher levels of spiritual investment, positive spiritual emotions, and positive spiritual coping for both wives and husbands after controlling for demographic variables that were also significantly related to sanctification (partial r’s = .74 to .79, p < .0001). After also controlling for the respondent’s level of prayer, religious attendance, and Biblical conservatism, the strength of the associations dropped noticeably, but remained moderately significant for both spouses with partial r’s equal to .33 and .57 ( p < .0001). A similar pattern emerged for all three constructs with the Sacred Qualities of Marriage scale with partial r’s ranging from .56 to .76 ( p < .0001) when controlling for demographics. After also controlling for general religiousness, the correlations for spiritual investment and positive spiritual coping again dropped very noticeably, but remained significant, with partial r’s ranging from .23 ( p < .001) up to .36 and .38 (p < .0001). However, the partial correlations between sacred qualities of marriage and positive spiritual emotions remained high at r = .64 (p < .0001) for both spouses. Turning to the pregnancy, higher scores on the Manifestation of God in pregnancy were strongly correlated with higher levels of spiritual investment, positive spiritual emotions, and positive spiritual coping for both wives and husbands after controlling for demographic variables

22 annette mahoney, kenneth i. pargament, and alfred demaris Table 3. Partial Correlations of Sanctification with Spiritual Investment, Spiritual Emotions, and Positive Spiritual Coping for Marriage and Pregnancy

Marriage Manifestation of God Partial demographics only Partial demographics, prayer, religious attendance, & Biblical conservatism Sacred Qualities Partial demographics only Partial demographics, prayer, religious attendance, & Biblical conservatism Pregnancy Manifestation of God Partial demographics only Partial demographics, prayer, religious attendance, & Biblical conservatism Sacred Qualities Partial demographics only Partial demographics, prayer, religious attendance, & Biblical conservatism * p < .001. ** p < .0001.

Spiritual investment

Spiritual emotions

Positive Spiritual Coping

Wives Husbands

Wives Husbands Wives Husbands

r .77**

r .73**

r .74**

r .79**

r .79**

r .73**

.33**

.35**

.47**

.57**

.40**

.37**

.56**

.60**

.76**

.76**

.61**

.60**

.23*

.38**

.64**

.64**

.35**

.36**

.66**

.64**

.78**

.76**

.80**

.75**

.33**

.39**

.49**

.56**

.57**

.43**

.51**

.62**

.75**

.76**

.69**

.64**

.31**

.41**

.57**

.63**

.40**

.38**

that were also significantly related to sanctification (partial r’s = .64 to .80, p < .0001). A similar pattern of associations emerged when controlling demographic variables for the Sacred Qualities in Pregnancy scores with partial r’s from .51 to .75 ( p