An investigation of religiosity and mental health measures in Bible college students

The purpose of this study was to clarify what type of relationship exists between religiosity and mental health characteristics. Religiosity was measured by the Religious Orientation Scale (Allport & Ross, 1967), in which four religious orientations are described. Mental health characteristics included manifest anxiety, self-esteem, and negative and positive daily stressors.

The Religious Orientation Scale was administered to Bible college students along with the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, the Janis-Field Feelings of Inadequacy Scale, the Hassles Scale, and the Uplifts Scale. It was hypothesized that there would be no significant differences among the four religious orientations on measures of anxiety, self esteem, and negative and positive daily stressors. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and T-Tests were used in the analysis of the data.

Results indicated that the intrinsically religious subjects had low manifest anxiety, high self-esteem, and experienced few daily hassles and uplifts. Support for the consideration of religious orientations in religiosity research and support for the contentions of Allport and Ross (1967) concerning the intrinsic religious orientation were found in the results of the study.