Images of a Loving God and Sense of Meaning in Life

Social Indicators Research

Volumn 111, Issue 1, 2013, Pages 25-44

  Stroope, Samuel ^a   Draper, Scott ^a   Whitehead, Andrew L ^a  

^a BAYLOR UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Beliefs; Images of God; Mental health; Religion; Sense of meaning; Sense of purpose; Well being

Indexed keywords

COPING STRATEGY; IMAGERY; MENTAL HEALTH; QUALITY OF LIFE; RELIGION;

EID: 84873394525     PISSN: 03038300     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11205-011-9982-7     Document Type: Article

References (108)

1. Allison, P. (2001). Logistic regression using the SAS system: Theory and application. New York: John Wiley.
2. American Association for Public Opinion Research. (2008). Do response rates matter? Retrieved November 23, 2010, from http://www. aapor. org.
3. Athens, L. (1994). The self as a soliloquy. The Sociological Quarterly, 35(3), 521-532.
4. Bader, C. D., Desmond, S. A., Mencken, F. C., & Johnson, B. R. (2010). Divine justice: The relationship between images of god and attitudes toward criminal punishment. Criminal Justice Review, 35(1), 90-106. doi: 10. 1177/0734016809360329.
5. Bader, C. D., & Froese, P. (2005). Images of God: The effect of personal theologies on moral attitudes, political affiliation, and religious behavior. Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, 1, 1-24.
6. Bader, C. D., Mencken, F. C., & Froese, P. (2007). American piety 2005: Content and methods of the Baylor religion survey. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 46(4), 447-463.
7. Battista, J., & Almond, R. (1973). The development of meaning in life. Psychiatry: Journal for the Study of Interpersonal Processes, 36(4), 409-427.
8. Belavich, T. G., & Pargament, K. I. (2002). The role of attachment in predicting spiritual coping with a loved one in surgery. Journal of Adult Development, 9(1), 13-29.
9. Berger, P. L. (1967). The sacred canopy: Elements of a sociological theory of religion (Vol. 1). Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
10. Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1967). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. New York, NY: Anchor.
11. Bradshaw, M., Ellison, C. G., & Flannelly, K. J. (2008). Prayer, God imagery, and symptoms of psychopathology. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 47(4), 644-659.
12. Bradshaw, M., Ellison, C., & Marcum, J. (2010). Attachment to God, images of God, and psychological distress in a nationwide sample of presbyterians. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 20(2), 130-147. doi: 10. 1080/10508611003608049.
13. Branden, N. (1995). The six pillars of self-esteem: The definitive work on self-esteem by the leading pioneer in the field. New York, NY: Bantam.
14. Clark, W. H. (1958). The psychology of religion: An introduction to religious experience and behavior. New York, NY: Macmillan.
15. Clements, W. M., & Koenig, H. G. (1994). Aging and God: Spiritual pathways to mental health in midlife and later years (1st ed.). London: Routledge.
16. Collins, R. (1975). Conflict sociology: Toward an explanatory science. New York: Academic Press.
17. Collins, R. (2004). Interaction ritual chains. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
18. Crumbaugh, J. C. (1977). The seeking of noetic goals test (SONG): A complementary scale to the purpose in life test (PIL). Journal of Clinical Psychology, 33(3), 900-907. doi: 10. 1002/1097-4679(197707)33: 3< 900: AID-JCLP2270330362> 3. 0. CO; 2-8.
19. Damon, W., Menon, J., & Bronk, K. C. (2003). The development of purpose during adolescence. Applied Developmental Science, 7(3), 119-128. doi: 10. 1207/S1532480XADS0703_2.
20. Debats, D. L. (1998). Measurement of personal meaning: The psychometric properties of the life regard index. In P. T. P. Wong & P. S. Fry (Eds.), The human quest for meaning: A handbook of psychological research and clinical applications (pp. 237-259). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
21. Debats, D. L. (1999). Sources of meaning: An investigation of significant commitments in life. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 39(4), 30-57. doi: 10. 1177/0022167899394003.
22. Dougherty, K. D., Johnson, B. R., & Polson, E. C. (2007). Recovering the lost: Remeasuring US religious affiliation. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 46(4), 483-499.
23. Draper, S. (2008). Dogmatic Beliefs Regarding Secular and Religious Authority. Presented at the Annual Meeting for the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Louisville, KY.
24. Driskell, R., Embry, E., & Lyon, L. (2008). Faith and politics: The influence of religious beliefs on political participation. Social Science Quarterly, 89(2), 294-314. doi: 10. 1111/j. 1540-6237. 2008. 00533. x.
25. Ebersole, P., & DeVogler-Ebersole, K. (1986). Meaning in life of the eminent and the average. Journal of Social Behavior & Personality, 1(1), 83-94.
26. Ellis, A. (1962). Reason and emotion in psychotherapy. New York: Lyle Stuart.
27. Ellison, C. G. (1991). Religious involvement and subjective well-being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 32(1), 80-99. doi: 10. 2307/2136801.
28. Ellison, C. G., Boardman, J. D., Williams, D. R., & Jackson, J. S. (2001). Religious involvement, stress, and mental health: Findings from the 1995 Detroit area study. Social Forces, 80(1), 215-249.
29. Ellison, C. G., & Bradshaw, M. (2009). Religious beliefs, sociopolitical ideology, and attitudes toward corporal punishment. Journal of Family Issues, 30(3), 320-340. doi: 10. 1177/0192513X08326331.
30. Ellison, C. G., Burdette, A. M., & Hill, T. D. (2009). Blessed assurance: Religion, anxiety, and tranquility among US adults. Social Science Research, 38(3), 656-667.
31. Flannelly, K. J., Galek, K., Ellison, C. G., & Koenig, H. G. (2009). Beliefs about God, psychiatric symptoms, and evolutionary psychiatry. Journal of Religion and Health, 49(2), 246-261. doi: 10. 1007/s10943-009-9244-z.
32. Foucault, M. (1965). Madness and civilization: A history of insanity in the age of reason. New York: Random House.
33. Francis, L. J. (2005). God Images and self-esteem: A study among 11-18 year-olds. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 16, 105-121.
34. Froese, P., & Bader, C. D. (2007). God in America: Why theology is not simply the concern of philosophers. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 46(4), 465-481.
35. Froese, P., & Bader, C. D. (2008). Unraveling religious worldviews: The relationship between images of god and political ideology in a cross-cultural analysis. The Sociological Quarterly, 49(4), 689-718.
36. Froese, P., & Bader, C. D. (2010). America's four Gods: What we say about God and what that says about us. New York: Oxford University Press.
37. Froese, P., Bader, C., & Smith, B. (2008). Political tolerance and God's wrath in the United States. Sociology of Religion, 69(1), 29-44. doi: 10. 1093/socrel/69. 1. 29.
38. Goffman, E. (1961). Asylums: Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
39. Gorsuch, R. L. (1968). The conceptualization of God as seen in adjective ratings. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 7(1), 56-64. doi: 10. 2307/1385110.
40. Granqvist, P., & Hagekull, B. (2001). Seeking security in the new age: On attachment and emotional compensation. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 40(3), 527-545.
41. Greeley, A. M. (1988). Evidence that a maternal image of God correlates with liberal politics. Sociology and Social Research, 72(3), 150-154.
42. Greeley, A. (1996). Religion as poetry. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
43. Greeley, A., & Hout, M. (2006). Happiness and lifestyle among conservative Christians. The truth about conservative Christians (pp. 150-161). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
44. Hadaway, C. K. (1978). Life satisfaction and religion: A reanalysis. Social Forces, 57(2), 636-643. doi: 10. 2307/2577686.
45. Hall, P. A., & Lamont, M. (2009). Successful societies: How institutions and culture affect health. New York: Cambridge University Press.
46. Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. R. (1994). Attachment as an organizational framework for research on close relationships. Psychological Inquiry, 5(1), 1-22.
47. Humphreys, K., & Kaskutas, L. A. (1995). World views of alcoholics anonymous, women for sobriety, and adult children of alcoholics/al-anon mutual help groups. Addiction Research & Theory, 3(3), 231-243.
48. Idler, E. L., Musick, M. A., Ellison, C. G., George, L. K., Krause, N., Ory, M. G., et al. (2003). Measuring multiple dimensions of religion and spirituality for health research. Research on Aging, 25(4), 327-365.
49. Jang, S. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2005). Gender, religiosity, and reactions to strain among African Americans. The Sociological Quarterly, 46(2), 323-357. doi: 10. 1111/j. 1533-8525. 2005. 00015. x.
50. Kellstedt, L., Green, J., Guth, J., & Smidt, C. (1996). Grasping the essentials: The social embodiment of religion and political behavior. In J. Green, J. Guth, C. Smidt, & L. Kellstedt (Eds.), Religion and the culture wars: Dispatches from the front (pp. 174-192). Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
51. Kiang, L., & Fuligni, A. J. (2009). Meaning in life as a mediator of ethnic identity and adjustment among adolescents from Latin, Asian, and European American backgrounds. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39(11), 1253-1264. doi: 10. 1007/s10964-009-9475-z.
52. Kirkpatrick, L. A. (2004). Attachment, evolution, and the psychology of religion (1st ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
53. Klinger, E. (1977). Meaning and void: Inner experience and the incentives in people's lives. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
54. Krause, N. (2003). Religious meaning and subjective well-being in late life. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 58(3), S160.
55. Krause, N. (2004). Stressors arising in highly valued roles, meaning in life, and the physical health status of older adults. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 59(5), S287-S297.
56. Krause, N. (2007a). Evaluating the stress-buffering function of meaning in life among older people. Journal of Aging and Health, 19(5), 792-812. doi: 10. 1177/0898264307304390.
57. Krause, N. (2007b). Longitudinal study of social support and meaning in life. Psychology and Aging, 22(3), 456-469. doi: 10. 1037/0882-7974. 22. 3. 456.
58. Krause, N. (2008). The social foundation of religious meaning in life. Research on Aging, 30(4), 395-427. doi: 10. 1177/0164027508316619.
59. Krause, N. (2009a). Meaning in life and mortality. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 64(4), 517-527.
60. Krause, N. (2009b). Church-based social relationships and change in self-esteem over time. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 48(4), 756-773.
61. Ladd, K. L., & Spilka, B. (2002). Inward, outward, and upward: Cognitive aspects of prayer. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 41(3), 475-484.
62. Ladd, K. L., & Spilka, B. (2006). Inward, outward, upward prayer: Scale reliability and validation. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 45(2), 233-251.
63. Lamont, M. (2000). The dignity of working men: Morality and the boundaries of race, class and immigration. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
64. Levin, J. S. (1994). Religion and health: Is there an association, is it valid, and is it causal? Social Science and Medicine, 38(11), 1475-1482. doi: 10. 1016/0277-9536(94)90109-0.
65. Levin, J. S. (2002). Is depressed affect a function of one's relationship with God?: Findings from a study of primary care patients. International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 32(4), 379-393.
66. Levin, J. S. (2004). Prayer, love, and transcendence: An epidemiologic perspective. In K. W. Schaie, N. M. Krause, & A. Booth (Eds.), Religious influences on health and well-being in the elderly (1st ed., pp. 69-95). New York: Springer.
67. Levin, J. S. (2009). How faith heals: A theoretical model. Explore, 5(2), 77-96.
68. Levin, J. S. (2010). Religion and mental health: Theory and research. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 7(2), 102-115. doi: 10. 1002/aps. 240.
69. Lim, C., & Putnam, R. D. (2010). Religion, social networks, and life satisfaction. American Sociological Review, 75(6), 914-933. doi: 10. 1177/0003122410386686.
70. Mascaro, N., & Rosen, D. H. (2006). The role of existential meaning as a buffer against stress. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 46(2), 168-190. doi: 10. 1177/0022167805283779.
71. Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self, and society. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press.
72. Mencken, F. C., Bader, C. D., & Embry, E. (2009). In god we trust: Images of god and trust in the United States among the highly religious. Sociological Perspectives, 52(1), 23-38.
73. Nonnemaker, J. M., McNeely, C. A., & Blum, R. W. (2003). Public and private domains of religiosity and adolescent health risk behaviors: Evidence from the national longitudinal study of adolescent health. Social Science and Medicine, 57(11), 2049-2054. doi: 10. 1016/S0277-9536(03)00096-0.
74. Nonnemaker, J., McNeely, C. A., & Blum, R. W. (2006). Public and private domains of religiosity and adolescent smoking transitions. Social Science and Medicine, 62(12), 3084-3095. doi: 10. 1016/j. socscimed. 2005. 11. 052.
75. Pampel, F. C. (2000). Logistic regression: A primer. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
76. Park, C. L. (2005a). Religion as a meaning-making framework in coping with life stress. Journal of Social Issues, 61(4), 707-729. doi: 10. 1111/j. 1540-4560. 2005. 00428. x.
77. Park, C. L. (2005b). Religion and meaning. Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality (pp. 295-317). New York: Guilford.
78. Park, C. L. (2007). Religiousness/spirituality and health: A meaning systems perspective. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 30(4), 319-328. doi: 10. 1007/s10865-007-9111-x.
79. Park, C. L., Malone, M. R., Suresh, D. P., Bliss, D., & Rosen, R. I. (2007). Coping, meaning in life, and quality of life in congestive heart failure patients. Quality of Life Research, 17(1), 21-26. doi: 10. 1007/s11136-007-9279-0.
80. Pevey, C., Williams, C. L., & Ellison, C. G. (1996). Male god imagery and female submission: Lessons from a southern baptist ladies' bible class. Qualitative Sociology, 19, 173-193. doi: 10. 1007/BF02393417.
81. Pollner, M. (1989). Divine relations, social relations, and well-being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 30(1), 92-104.
82. Reker, G. T. (1997). Personal meaning, optimism, and choice: Existential predictors of depression in community and institutional elderly. The Gerontologist, 37(6), 709-716. doi: 10. 1093/geront/37. 6. 709.
83. Reker, G. T. (2000). Theoretical perspective, dimensions, and measurement of existential meaning. In Exploring existential meaning: Optimizing human development across the life span (pp. 39-55). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
84. Roberts, C. W. (1989). Imagining God: Who is created in whose image? Review of Religious Research, 30(4), 375-386. doi: 10. 2307/3511298.
85. Salovey, P., Rothman, A. J., Detweiler, J. B., & Steward, W. T. (2000). Emotional states and physical health. American Psychologist, 55(1), 110-121.
86. Schieman, S., Bierman, A., & Ellison, C. G. (2010). Religious involvement, beliefs about God, and the sense of mattering among older adults. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 49(3), 517-535.
87. Schieman, S., Pudrovska, T., Pearlin, L., & Ellison, C. G. (2006). The sense of divine control and psychological distress: Variations across race and socioeconomic status. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 45(4), 529-549.
88. Silberman, I. (2005). Religion as a meaning system: Implications for the New Millennium. Journal of Social Issues, 61(4), 641-663. doi: 10. 1111/j. 1540-4560. 2005. 00425. x.
89. Singer, E. (2006). Special issue on nonresponse bias in household surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly, 70(5), 639-810.
90. Smith, C., & Snell, P. (2009). Souls in transition: The religious and spiritual lives of emerging adults. New York: Oxford University Press.
91. Smith, B. W., & Zautra, A. J. (2004). The role of purpose in life in recovery from knee surgery. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 11(4), 197-202. doi: 10. 1207/s15327558ijbm1104_2.
92. Spilka, B., Addison, J., & Rosensohn, M. (1975). Parents, self, and God: A test of competing theories of individual-religion relationships. Review of Religious Research, 16(3), 154-165. doi: 10. 2307/3510353.
93. Spilka, B., Armatas, P., & Nussbaum, J. (1964). The concept of God: A factor-analytic approach. Review of Religious Research, 6(1), 28-36. doi: 10. 2307/3510880.
94. Stark, R., & Glock, C. (1968). American piety: The nature of religious commitment. Berkeley: University of California Press.
95. Steensland, B., Park, J. Z., Robinson, L. D., Wilcox, W. B., & Woodberry, R. D. (2000). The measure of American religion: Toward improving the state of the art. Social Forces, 79(1), 291-318.
96. Steger, M. F. (2007). Structural validity of the life regard index. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 40(2), 97-109.
97. Steger, M. F., & Frazier, P. (2005). Meaning in life: One link in the chain from religiousness to well-being. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(4), 574-582. doi: 10. 1037/0022-0167. 52. 4. 574.
98. Sternthal, M. J., Williams, D. R., Musick, M. A., & Buck, A. C. (2010). Depression, anxiety, and religious life: A search for mediators. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 51(3), 343-359. doi: 10. 1177/0022146510378237.
99. Stroope, S. (2011a). Education and religion: Individual, congregational, and cross-level interaction effects on biblical literalism. Social Science Research, 40(6), 1478-1493. doi: 10. 1016/j. ssresearch. 2011. 05. 001.
100. Stroope, S. (2011b). How culture shapes community: Bible belief, theological unity, and a sense of belonging in religious congregations. The Sociological Quarterly, 52(4), 568-592. doi: 10. 1111/j. 1533-8525. 2011. 01220. x.
101. Stroope, S. (2011c). Hinduism in India and congregational forms: Influences of modernization and social networks. Religions, 2(4), 676-692. doi: 10. 3390/rel20x000x.
102. Stroope, S. (2011d). Social networks and religion: The role of congregational social embeddedness in religious belief and practice. Sociology of Religion. doi: 10. 1093/socrel/SRR052.
103. Stroope, S. (2012). Caste, class, and urbanization: The shaping of religious community in contemporary India. Social Indicators Research, 105(3), 499-518. doi: 10. 1007/s11205-011-9784-y.
104. Unnever, J. D., Bartkowski, J. P., & Cullen, F. T. (2010). God imagery and opposition to abortion and capital punishment: A partial test of religious support for the consistent life ethic. Sociology of Religion, 71(3), 307-322. doi: 10. 1093/socrel/srq046.
105. Whitehead, A. L. (2010). Sacred rites and civil rights: Religion's effect on attitudes toward same-sex unions and the perceived cause of homosexuality. Social Science Quarterly, 91(1), 63-79.
106. Whitehead, A. L. (2012). Gender ideology and religion: Does a masculine image of God matter? Review of Religious Research.
107. Wong, P. T. (1998). Implicit theories of meaning life and the development of the personal meaning profile. In The human quest for meaning: A handbook of psychological research and clinical applications (pp. 111-140). Mahwa, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
108. Zemore, S. E., & Kaskutas, L. A. (2004). Helping, spirituality and alcoholics anonymous in recovery. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 65(3), 383-391.