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The German-Language Version of the Expressions of Spirituality Inventory-Revised: Adaptation and Initial Validation

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Abstract

This study deals with the development and initial validation of the German language version of MacDonald’s (2000) Expressions of Spirituality Inventory-Revised (ESI-R; Macdonald, D.A. (2000). The Expressions of Spirituality Inventory: Test Development, Validation and Scoring Information. Unpublished test manual. University of Detroit Mercy). Using two samples (N = 479 and N = 610 adults), we found the best fit for a five-factor solution that converges well with the original English language version. Correlations with subjective measures for religiosity, life satisfaction, orientations to happiness, personality, single item ratings of religious and spiritual behaviors as well as a ratings on the depiction of religious contents in the media support the validity of the German ESI-R. Overall, the findings are encouraging and the scale seems to be useful for further research in German-language countries.

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Compliance with Ethical Standards

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Conflict of Interest

René T. Proyer declares that he has no conflict of interest. Nadine Laub declares that she has no conflict of interest. The authors are grateful to Dr. Frank A. Rodden for comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmühlestrasse 14/ Box 7, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland

    René T. Proyer & Nadine Laub

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  1. René T. Proyer
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  2. Nadine Laub
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Correspondence to René T. Proyer.

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Proyer, R.T., Laub, N. The German-Language Version of the Expressions of Spirituality Inventory-Revised: Adaptation and Initial Validation. Curr Psychol 36, 1–13 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-015-9379-x

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