Beyond Behavior:Developing a Model for Assessing Spirituality

Dr. Ronald M. Miller

Dr. Paul H. Freebairn

Kelsey J.O. Cowden

M.L. Brian Chan

Taylor Snarr

Kathy L. Pulotu

BYU-Hawaii2007

BYU Hawaii

Small, 4-year comprehensive university About 2400 students Highly international campus (50%) Mission to serve Asia & Pacific Arts & sciences (professional programs in business,

education and computing) Located near Oahu’s north shore

Positive Effects of Religion

Positive Psychology Correlations between religion, and academic performance

have become very popular (Tisdell, 2001).

Religious students often… …obtain higher GPA’s. …study for longer periods of time. …rate higher on overall satisfaction with their academic

experience (Mooney, 2005). …display positive self-concept characteristics (Astin, et al., 2004)

Definitions

Spirituality“The search for the sacred” (Slater, Hall, and

Edwards, 2001).

Religiosity “…religion includes a sacred element, but the search

must be done in the context of a group that legitimizes its means and methods” (Slater, et al, 2001).

Religiosity and spirituality are not mutually exclusive concepts and can both overlap and exist separately. (Mytko, Knight, 1999)

Spirituality vs. Religiosity Constructs overlap but are not identical

Religiosity measures outward religious practice

Spirituality by an inner felt sense of closeness or relationship with a higher power.

Religiosity is the outward expression of an inner feeling

Religious exercise provides structure to support spirituality within a community of believers

Current Assessments

Religious Well-Being subscale measures a sense of well-being in relation to God.

Example: I don’t find much satisfaction in private prayer with God

Existential Well-Being measures a sense of life-purpose and life-satisfaction.

Example: I don’t know who I am where I came from, or where I’m going.

Assumes dynamics involved in relationships with others is relevant to relationship with God.Two dimensions:

1)Development of one’s relationship with God

Example: I almost always feel completely cut off from god

2)Awareness of God

Example: I am frequently aware of God prompting me to do something.

Three subscales:Fulfillment

Example: In the quiet of my prayers and /or meditations, I find a sense of wholeness. Universality

Example: There is no higher plane of consciousness or spirituality that binds all people. Connectedness

Example: I do not have any strong emotional ties to someone who has died.

Lengthy Interview A forced-choice, paired item scale, consisting of eight pairs of statements, with one statement representing a “more mature” statement of faith development.Example:a)It does not bother me to become exposed to other religionsb) I don’t find value in becoming exposed to other religions.(In this pair, statement (a) reflects greater faith development.)

Faith Development Scale (Leak, 2003)

Spiritual Transcendence Scale (Piedmont, 2000)

Spiritual Assessment Inventory (Hall & Edwards, 1996)

Spiritual Well Being Scale (Ellison, 1983)

Religious Orientation Scale (Allport & Ross, 1967)

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic

IntrinsicExample: Quite often I have been keenly aware of the presence of God or the Divine Being.

ExtrinsicExample: The primary purpose of prayer is to gain relief and protection.

Our Need for a New Scale

Current Scales… …mostly measure religiosity---not spirituality …do not measure motivations

Our definition of spirituality is based on motivations, not behaviors

…do not utilize levels or stages …are not precise in definitions

Christian Based Religious University (LDS)

Desire to better understand motivations behind behaviors

LDS students “…receive the highest scores of all groups on five of the 12 measures: Religious Commitment, Religious Engagement, Religious/Social Conservatism, Spirituality, and Equanimity. They also obtain above average scores on Spiritual Quest, Charitable Involvement, and Ecumenical Worldview, and the lowest score of all groups on Religious Skepticism” (Astin et al., 2004).

Modeling Kohlberg’s Morality

Kohlberg’s six-stage model of moral development has been a backbone to the moral reasoning construct.

There are 2 stages for the 3 separate levels:

Pre-Conventional: External Morality These persons act morally to avoid punishments or to gain rewards.

Conventional: Member-of-society perspective These persons act morally to please society or to remain in good

standing with others. Post-Conventional: Broad conception of universal principles

(Justice) These persons act morally because they understand it to be the best

for all; they act according to what is just or right.

Kohlberg validated his model with trained professionals conducting The Moral Judgment Interview or MJI. (Colby & Kohlberg, 1987)

Defining Issues Test (DIT)

DIT Designed by James Rest in the 1970’s (Rest, 1976) Psychometric measure for Kohlberg’s 6 stages of moral

development. Has been utilized for over 25 years

Valid cross-sectionally, longitudinally, sequentially, and across all different ages (Schlafli, Rest, Thoma, 1985)

After reading a dilemma and then rating and ranking the importance of statements in a decision making process Rest could accurately place participants within the appropriate stage of moral development.

This was an alternative to the constraints inherent in Kohlberg’s interview.

James Rest

The Structure of the DITParticipants… …are presented with a

dilemma within a short story

…answer what should be done.

It is unimportant what they would actually do, rather the justification behind the action is important. (Kohlberg, 1971)

DIT

HEINZ AND THE DRUG

In Europe a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $1,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money on it." So Heinz got desperate and began to think about breaking into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.

Should Heinz steal the drug? __Should Steal __Can't Decide __Should not steal

The Structure of the DITParticipants… …rate 12 statements

according to the extent the statement influenced their decision. 5 point Likert scale

…then rank the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th most important items that influenced their decision.

Please rate the following statements in terms of their importance. (1=Great importance, 2=Much importance, 3=Some Importance, 4=Little importance, 5=No importance)

__1. Whether a community's laws are going to be upheld.

__2. Isn't it only natural for a loving husband to care so much for his wife that he'd steal?

__3. Is Heinz willing to risk getting shot as a burglar or going to jail for the chance that stealing the drug might help?

__4. Whether Heinz is a professional wrestler, or had considerable influence with professional wrestlers.

__5. Whether Heinz is stealing for himself or doing this solely to help someone else.

__6. Whether the druggist's rights to his invention have to be respected.

__7. Whether the essence of living is more encompassing than the termination of dying, socially and individually.

__8. What values are going to be the basis for governing how people act towards each other.

__9. Whether the druggist is going to be allowed to hide behind a worthless law which only protects the rich anyhow.

__10.Whether the law in the case is getting in the way of the most basic claim of any member of society.

__11.Whether the druggist deserves to be robbed for being so greedy and cruel.

__12.Would stealing in such a case bring about more total good for the whole society or not.

Now please rank the top four most important statements. Put the number of the statement in the blank:

__ Most important item

__ Second most important item

__ Third most important item

__ Fourth most important item

Scoring the DIT:The Principled reasoning score, or the P-Score … is defined as “the weighted average of the ranked Stage 5 and 6 items

summed across the six dilemmas” (Thoma, 2002).

Stages 5 and 6 make up the 3rd, or Post-conventional, level of moral reasoning

If a participant ranks a level 3 item as the most important down to 4th most important, they receive between 4 and 1 points depending 0 pts are rewarded for anything other than a stage 3 answer 10 points possible per dilemma 60 points possible for entire DIT

Points are summed and divided by 60

The resulting percentage is the P-Score

“The DIT is a rating and ranking task that produces a non-stage based index of development” (Thoma, 2002).

James W. Fowler

Fowler’s (1981) Stages of Faith Development similar to Kohlberg -- focused on actual human

development.

Stage 1 - "Primal or Undifferentiated" faith (birth to 2 years) Stage 2 – "Intuitive-Projective" faith (ages 3 to 7) Stage 3 – "Mythic-Literal" faith (mostly school children) Stage 4 – "Synthetic-Conventional" faith (arising in adolescence) Stage 5 – "Individualize-Reflective" faith (usually mid- twenties to late

thirties) Stage 6 – "Conjunctive" faith (mid-life crisis) Stage 7 – "Universalizing" faith, or Enlightenment

Only first two stages have empirical support Not a validated scale Not peer reviewed (published in a book)

Gibson, T. S. Gibson (2004) “Four levels Toward Christian Spiritual

Maturity”

4 stages based on Kohlberg’s stages and Christian beliefs. Accommodation to God’s Law Respect for and obedience to God’s Law Principle-centered commitment to a Christian worldview Kingdom-centered commitment to God’s glory

Gibson did not design a scale to measure these, merely presented this theory and encourages churches to aid people in their progression.

Designing a New Instrument

Defining Spiritual Issues Test (DSIT) Based on Kohlberg’s stages of Morality Combining Fowler and Gibson’s theories Utilizing DIT as a framework

Goal: Design and Validate the DSIT to better measure spirituality. …without eliminating religiosity habits but

focusing on motivations

DSIT: Three levels Level 1

Correlates to Kohlberg’s Pre-conventional stage Entitled “Reward/Punishment” These persons are spiritual in order to avoid punishment, or to

receive a direct reward. Level 2

Correlates to Kohlberg’s Conventional stage Entitled “Social Consequence” These persons are only spiritual or “good” because they want to

please society or direct authority such as church leaders. Level 3

Correlates to Kohlberg’s Post-Conventional stage Entitled “Enlightenment” These persons are spiritual because they want to become better,

knowledgeable, or like God.

Defining Spiritual Issues Test (DSIT) Framework of DIT

Builds off Fowler & Gibson’s theories and scales

Simpler wording and fragments for ease with an international population. DIT Example: Whether the essence of living is more encompassing than the

termination of dying, socially and individually. DSIT Example: Church authorities teach me to pray.

Eliminated confusing grammar, such as switching tenses, double negatives

Strictly personalized statements dealing with spiritual motivations DIT Example: Whether the druggist deserves to be robbed for being so greedy

and cruel. DSIT Example: I will be saved in Heaven if I pray.

Each statement deals with 1 of the 3 levels of spirituality

Parallel DIT Scoring In DIT & DSIT: Participants rate (scale: Great to

None) then rank most important influences The DSIT also has them rank least important

DIT utilizes P-Score, DSIT utilizes S-Score In ranking section…

DIT assigns points based on stage 5 & 6 responses DSIT assigns points based on level 3 (which parallels

stage 5 & 6)

Unlike DIT, we were also interested in individual rating scores for each level.

Method: Participants Participants

105 in total 82 of whom completed demographics

Home Area: USA: 42 Pacific Islands (including Hawaii): 21 Asia: 19

Year in School: Freshmen: 8 Sophomore: 18 Junior: 26 Senior: 30

Gender: Male: 18 Female: 64

Method: Procedures

DSIT was placed online for students’ convenience

Professors called for participants during class & emailed the link; some offered extra credit as an incentive

Each participant read and responded to 3 of the 6 total dilemmas

Method: Apparatus

DSIT: 6 Dilemmas

Aaron’s Prayer After losing his wife, should Aaron stop

praying? Ruth’s Conversion

When her husband demands she stay home, should Ruth attend church?

James’ Study When answers from the scriptures cost him

money, should James stop searching the scriptures?

David’s Job When the company seems to be dishonest,

should David quit his job? Gary & Kristy’s Hardship

When they are unable to buy food, should Gary & Kristy pay tithes to the church?

Steve’s Offer When competing for a job position, should

Steve accept the offer?

Demographics

Gender Age Year in School Two Year Religious

Service Mission Marriage Status Home Country

Apparatus: DSIT

Each participant received 3 of the 6 dilemmas

Some dilemmas have non-sequitur questions, to detect honest responding The DIT also had non-sequitur questions

Each of the 3 levels has 6-7 statements per dilemma

Similar Format for DSIT & DITDIT DEFINING ISSUES TEST (Copyright, James Rest, 1979)

HEINZ AND THE DRUG

In Europe a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $1,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money on it." So Heinz got desperate and began to think about breaking into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.

Should Heinz steal the drug? __Should Steal __Can't Decide __Should not steal

Please rate the following statements in terms of their importance. (1=Great importance, 2=Much importance, 3=Some Importance, 4=Little importance, 5=No importance)

__1. Whether a community's laws are going to be upheld.

__2. Isn't it only natural for a loving husband to care so much for his wife that he'd steal?

__3. Is Heinz willing to risk getting shot as a burglar or going to jail for the chance that stealing the drug might help?

__4. Whether Heinz is a professional wrestler, or had considerable influence with professional wrestlers.

__5. Whether Heinz is stealing for himself or doing this solely to help someone else.

__6. Whether the druggist's rights to his invention have to be respected.

__7. Whether the essence of living is more encompassing than the termination of dying, socially and individually.

__8. What values are going to be the basis for governing how people act towards each other.

__9. Whether the druggist is going to be allowed to hide behind a worthless law which only protects the rich anyhow.

__10.Whether the law in the case is getting in the way of the most basic claim of any member of society.

__11.Whether the druggist deserves to be robbed for being so greedy and cruel.

__12.Would stealing in such a case bring about more total good for the whole society or not.

Now please rank the top four most important statements. Put the number of the statement in the blank:

__ Most important item

__ Second most important item

__ Third most important item

__ Fourth most important item

DSIT: Aaron’s Prayer

Aaron is happily married and is a successful businessman. Devastatingly, his wife Irene is diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer. Respectable church leaders have taught Aaron that blessings result from prayer. In addition to his regular prayers, Aaron starts praying for Irene’s recovery. Because of the complexity of her condition, Irene’s unique treatment starts becoming a financial burden to Aaron. Due to his increasing stress levels, his performance at work has declined. This decline coupled with the downsizing within his company results in Aaron losing his job. He is no longer able to afford the expensive treatment; therefore, the innovative treatment is halted. While searching for other resources, Irene’s condition worsens and sadly she passes away. Should Aaron stop praying? (Check one)

Should stop praying Can’t decide Should not stop praying

If you were Aaron, how much would each of the following statements impact your decision to pray or not? Great Much Some Little None 1) God will reward me with blessings if I continue to pray. 2) Church authorities teach me to pray. 3) I will be punished if I stop praying.

4) I want to communicate with God. 5) My family is pleased with me when I pray. 6) I have faith in God’s ultimate plan. 7) My friends would question me if I stopped praying. 8) By continuing to pray I can become more like God. 9) I will be saved in Heaven if I pray. 10) Christ would continue to pray if he were in my situation. 11) The church members expect me to pray. 12) It has become part of my daily habit to pray. 13) My father has never quit praying during hard times. 14) Prayer is essential to long life. 15) I would feel guilty if I missed my prayers. 16) Prayer brings the guidance of God. 17) I pray occasionally in church. 18) Prayer brings direct blessings to me. 19) Characters in the scriptures pray often. 20) If my knowledge of God’s eternal perspective grows.

From the list of statements above, select the four MOST important:

Most important ______ Second ______ Third ______ Fourth ______

From the list of statement above, select the four LEAST important:

Least important______ Second______ Third ______ Fourth______

Example Dilemma: Aaron’s Prayer Aaron is happily married and is a successful businessman. Devastatingly,

his wife Irene is diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer. Respectable church leaders have taught Aaron that blessings result from

prayer. In addition to his regular prayers, Aaron starts praying for Irene's recovery.

Because of the complexity of her condition, Irene's unique treatment starts

becoming a financial burden to Aaron. Due to his increasing stress levels, his performance at work has declined.

This decline coupled with the downsizing within his company results in

Aaron losing his job. He is no longer able to afford the expensive treatment; therefore, the innovative treatment is halted.

While searching for other resources, Irene's condition worsens and sadly

she passes away.

Should Aaron stop praying?

Example Questions: Aaron’s Prayer 5-point scale: 4) Great 3) Much 2) Some 1) Little 0) None

Level 1: Reward/Punishment Examples:

God will bless me if I continue to pray. I will be punished if I stop praying.

Level 2: Social Consequence Examples:

My family is pleased with me when I pray. Church authorities teach prayer.

Level 3: Enlightenment Examples:

I want to communicate with God. I have faith in God’s ultimate plan.

Validation: Factor Analyses & Reliability Due to each participant doing only 3

dilemmas, two factor analyses were performed. (DSIT 1 and DSIT 2 represent the two halves)

Both revealed 3 separate levels as predicted. Factor Loadings ranged from .02

to .91 32.5% were above .7

Reliability: DSIT 1 Cronbach Alpha = .952 DSIT 2 Cronbach Alpha = .704

In further steps the questions will be revised to improve factor loadings as well as reliability

DSIT #2 Plo t o f Eigenva lues

Number o f Eigenva lues0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

Va

lue

DSIT #1: Plot of Eigenv alues

Number of Eigenv alues0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Value

Scoring Techniques Two main types of scoring were utilized

Spirituality Score or S-Score... …is found by summing the points received in the “Most

Important” section. Students received various points based on the importance they

choose for Level 3 statements. S-Score: If they choose a Level 3 for “Most Important” =4 pts. Level 3 for

“2nd most important” =3pts. Down to 1 pt….At each dilemma they could get 10 points.

Scale: 0-30pts.

Level Scores… …are found by summing the total for each level during the rating

portion. Each participant receives scores for Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3. Scale: 0-72pts (6 questions X 3 dilemmas X 4 max points)

Investigative Analyses

Other instruments have found that spirituality generally increases from Freshman to Senior years in college. (Holcomb & Nonneman, 2004)

We will investigate if our instrument shows the same trend.

*Note: For these analyses the instrument was no longer split.

S-Score by Year in School

As predicted… Spirituality as defined

by the S-Score increases from Freshmen to Seniors.

10.875

16.26667

0

5

10

15

20

Freshman Senior

S-Score (0-30)

Analyses: Level 1,2,3 by Year in School

Both Freshmen and Seniors show the highest scores on Level 3 then Level 1.

Both groups scored the lowest on Level 2.

49.375

34.875

61.623

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

44.4

32.9

55.5

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

Freshmen Seniors

Level 1 by Year in School

As predicted… Level 1 (the lowest level

of spirituality) decreased as students spent more time in college

49.375

44.4

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

Freshman Senior

Level One (0-72)

Level 2 by Year in School

As predicted… Level 2 spirituality

decreased from Freshmen to Seniors.

34.87532.9

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

Freshman Senior

Level Two (0-72)

Level 3 by Year in School

Not as predicted… Level 3 spirituality actually

decreases from Freshmen to Seniors.

This is interesting especially since S-Score, which takes into account level 3 answers, increased.

61.625

55.5

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

Freshman Senior

Level Three (0-72)

Conclusions from Results While S-Scores increased from Freshmen to Seniors, the

individual level scores decreased. This may be the result of Seniors being more discriminating in rating individual items, but they actually rank level 3 items as more important in the decision making process.

The S-Score tells us a great deal because it takes into account the person’s most important statements

Yet, it is necessary to examine all 3 level’s scores in order to fully understand the person’s spirituality.

Next Steps… Revise questions to increase factor loadings

Create & validate more dilemmas

Correlate scale with other spirituality measures for validity

Retest reliability

Negative S-Score by utilizing the least important responses

To reduce imprecise interpretations, have each participant give examples of the different ratings For example, “To me a 5 means I am unselfish.”

Next Steps… Improve scoring technique by use of Ternary plots

This will take into account each person’s level scores to better illustrate spirituality

Author Contact Information

Dr. Ronald M. Miller

millerr@byuh.edu

Dr. Paul H. Freebairn

freebaip@byuh.edu