An examination of religiosity, spirituality, and psychological well-being among Pagan women: a mixed method approach

Reed, Tamilia D.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/92698 Copy

Description

Title

An examination of religiosity, spirituality, and psychological well-being among Pagan women: a mixed method approach

Author(s)

Reed, Tamilia D.

Issue Date

2016-05-12

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Neville, Helen A.

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Neville, Helen A.

Committee Member(s)

• Rounds, James
• Greene, Jennifer C.
• Aber, Mark S.

Department of Study

Educational Psychology

Discipline

Educational Psychology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Religiosity
• Spirituality
• Psychological Well-Being
• Mental Health
• Life Satisfaction
• Paganism
• Pagan Women

Abstract

Using a convergent mixed method design, the present investigation constitutes a preliminary inquiry into 246 Pagan women's definitions of religiosity and spirituality, as well as an initial examination of the relationship among religiosity, spirituality, and psychological well-being. A cluster analysis was conducted based on the Religious Commitment Index (RCI; Worthington et al., 2003) and the three subscales of the Spirituality Scale (SS; Delaney, 2005) resulting in three distinct religious-spiritual groups of Pagan women: Disengaged, Engaged, and Divided. Using two one-way analyses of variance, the three groups were found to differ significantly on measures of mental health and life satisfaction. The religiously-spiritually Disengaged cluster reported significantly lower mental health and life satisfaction. A thematic analysis was conducted in order to extract themes from Pagan women's definitions of religiosity and spirituality. A total of 11 themes emerged - five for religiosity and six for spirituality. In addition, logistic regression models revealed some relationship between the themes that emerged from Pagan women's definitions of religiosity and spirituality and their religious-spiritual group membership which was based on participants’ responses to accepted measures of religiosity and spirituality within the field.

Graduation Semester

2016-08

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/92698

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2016 Tamilia Reed

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