Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry

180 Ralph L. PiedmontKnowing that spirituality and religiousnessrepresent unique personological qualities, thesecond key issue is to demonstrate that thesenuminous constructs are related to importantpsychosocial criteria over and above the predictivepower of established personality constructs. Inshort, to what extent do spiritual scales evidenceincremental validity over the FFM domains? Agrowing literature continues to document that theASPIRES scales do indeed predict a wide rangeof outcomes over and above the FFM personalitydomains in both normal (24, 27) and clinicalsamples.(31) The data further demonstrated thatwhile both the spiritual and religious sentimentsscales predict some outcomes in common (forexample, Satisfaction with Life, Self-Actualization,and Purpose in Life), these constructs also evidencedincremental validity over each other.In some instances, the STS was the sole predictorof outcomes (for example, Positive Affect,Individualism, and Social Support), while inother instances the religious sentiments scaleswere the only predictors (for example, Attitudestoward Sexuality, Negative Affect, and Pro-socialBehavior). Thus, although these two types of constructsare highly correlated, they do have sufficientunique predictive power to warrant theiruse as separate scales. These data suggest that differentpsychological systems mediate the expressionof spirituality and religiousness.The third major validity issue addresseswhether spirituality is indeed a universal aspectof human functioning. It has long been knownthat the majority of measures designed toassess spirituality are rooted in Christian-basedperspectives, (32) reflecting mostly a mainlineProtestant orientation.(33) Is the STS simply ameasure of this ideology or would non- Christianindividuals and those from other cultures findthese concepts relevant? Research using theASPIRES with non-Christian groups (for example,Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim) and across cultures(for example, India, Korea, Philippines, andMexico) continues to find the scales and theirrelated constructs to be reliable and valid withthese diverse groups.(25 , 34–36) The fact that thespiritual concepts in the ASPIRES can be readilytranslated into languages sharing no commonroot history with English strongly supports theuniversal salience of these ideas. Only genotypicqualities can evidence such cross-culturalgeneralizability.Th e final, and perhaps most essential, issueconcerns the ultimate nature of the relationshipbetween spirituality, religiousness, andpsychological functioning. As Emmons andPaloutzian (37) (pp. 392–393) noted, “We donot yet know whether personality influences thedevelopment of religiousness…, whether religiousnessinfluences personality…, or whetherpersonality and religiousness share commongenetic or environmental causes.” If one’s orientationto the numinous develops out of one’ssense of personhood, then it is the level of psychologicaladjustment that forms the experiencesof the numinous. Like any other behavior,relationships with some ultimate reality arereflections of more basic psychological dynamics.However, if spirituality and religiosity havea causal impact on our psychological system,then these variables become important conduitsthrough which growth and maturity canbe focused. In this scenario, the quality of one’srelationship to the transcendent has importantimplications for our own psychological senseof stability. Disturbances in our relationship tothe transcendent can have serious repercussionsfor the rest of our system. Demonstrating thatnuminous constructs serve as causal inputs intoour psychic systems would have far reachingimplications for how the social sciences conceptualizeindividuals and would open the possibilityfor a whole new class of potential therapeuticstrategies.(38)Employing structural equation modeling(SEM), a growing number of studies are examiningwhich of these two options is more likelycorrect.(39) Piedmont (40) showed in both U.S.and Filipino samples, and with self- and observerratings, that spirituality (as measured by the STS)was best described as a causal input into ourpsychological sense of emotional well-being.Our relationship with a perceived transcendentreality has important implications for our inner