Abstract
Cutrona and Russell's social support model was used to develop a religious support measure (C. E. Cutrona & D. W. Russell, 1987), including 3 distinct but related subscales respectively measuring support from God, the congregation, and church leadership. Factor analyses with the main sample's data (249 Protestants) and cross-validation (93 additional Protestants) supported the scales' reliability and validity. All 3 types of religious support were related to lower depression and greater life satisfaction. Moreover, several relationships between the 3 subscales and psychological functioning variables remained significant after controlling for variance because of church attendance and social support. Results suggest that religious attendance does not automatically imply religious support, and that religious support can provide unique resources for religious persons, above and beyond those furnished by social support. Findings are discussed regarding relevance to community psychology.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Barrera, M. J. (1986). Distinctions between social support concepts, measures, and models. American Journal of Community Psychology, 14, 413-445.
Benson, P., & Spilka, B. (1973). God image as a function of self-esteem and locus of control. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 12, 297-310.
Bernard, M. E. (1998). Validation of the General Attitude and Belief Scale. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive Behavior Therapy, 16(3), 183-196.
Bjorck, J. P., & Cohen, L. (1993). Coping with threats, losses, and challenges. Journal of Clinical and Social Psychology, 12, 56-72.
Bjorck, J. P., & Fiala, W. E. (1998). God concept, appraisal, religious coping and adjustment. Poster session presented at the California Psychological Association's 51st Annual Convention, Pasadena, CA.
Bradley, D. E. (1995). Religious involvement and social resources: Evidence from the data set “Americans' changing lives.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 34, 259-267.
Carey, R. C. (1974). Emotional adjustment in terminal patients: A quantitative approach. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 21, 433-439.
Chalfant, H. P., Heller, P. L., Roberts, A., Briones, D., Aguirre-Hochbaum, S., & Farr, W. (1990). The clergy as a resource for those encountering psychological distress. Review of Religious Research, 31, 305-313.
Chartier, M. R., & Goehner, L. A. (1976). A study of the relationship of parent-adolescent communication, self-esteem, and God image. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 4, 227-232.
Clark, K. K., Bormann, C. A., Cropanzano, R. S., & James, K. (1995). Validation evidence for three coping measures. Journal of Personality Assessment, 65(3), 434-455.
Cobb, S. (1976). Social support as a moderator of life stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 38, 300-314.
Cohen, S., Doyle, W. J., Skoner, D. P., Rabin, B. S., & Gwaltney, J. M. (1997). Social ties and susceptibility to the common cold. Journal of the American Medical Association, 277, 1940-1944.
Cohen, S., & Wills, T. A. (1985). Stress, social Support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 310-357.
Cole, D. A., Martin, J. M., Peeke, L., Henderson, A., & Harwell, J. (1998). Validation of depression and anxiety measures in White and Black youths: Multitrait-multimethod analyses. Psychological Assessment, 10(3), 261-276.
Court, J. H. (1997). Church-related counseling in Australia. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 16(2), 142-147.
Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, 297-334.
Cutrona, C. E. (1989). Ratings of social support by adolescents and adult informants: Degree of correspondence and prediction of depressive symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 723-730.
Cutrona, C. E., Cole, V., Colangelo, N., Assouline, S. G., & Russell, D. W. (1994). Perceived parental social support and academic achievement: An attachment theory perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 369-378.
Cutrona, C. E., & Russell, D. W. (1987). The provisions of social relationships and adaptation to stress. In W. H. Jones & D. Perlman (Eds.), Advances in personal relationships (Vol. 1, pp. 37-67). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71-75.
Ellison, C. G. (1991). Religious involvement and subjective well-being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 32, 80-99.
Ellison, C. G., Gay, D. A., & Glass, T. A. (1989). Does religious commitment contribute to individual life satisfaction? Social Forces, 68, 100-123.
Ellison, C. G., & George, L. K. (1994). Religious involvement, social ties, and social support in a southeastern community. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 33, 46-61.
Folkman, S., Chesney, M. A., Pollack, L., & Phillips, C. (1992). Stress, coping, and high risk sexual behavior. Health Psychology, 11, 218-222.
Gorsuch, R. L. (1968). The conceptualization of God as seen in adjective ratings. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 7, 56-64.
Gorsuch, R. L. (1983). Factor analysis. New Jersey: Erlbaum.
Gorsuch, R. L. (1988). Psychology of religion. Annual Review of Psychology, 39, 201-221.
Gorsuch, R. L. (1991). UniMult for univariate and multivariate data analysis. Altadena, CA: UniMult.
Guadagnoli, E., & Velicer, W. F. (1988). Relation to sample size to the stability of component patterns. Psychological Bulletin, 103(2), 265-275.
Hadaway, C. K., & Roof, W. C. (1978). Religious commitment and the quality of life in American society. Review of Religious Research, 19, 295-307.
Jolley, J. C., & Taulbee, S. J. (1986). Assessing perceptions of self and God: Comparison of prisoners and normals. Psychological Reports, 59, 1139-1146.
Kirkpatrick, L. A. (1995). Attachment theory and religious experience. In R. W. Hood (Ed.), Handbook of religious experience: Theory and practice. Advances in personal relationships (pp. 446-475). Birmingham, AL: Religious Education Press.
Kirkpatrick, L. A., Shillito, D. J., & Kellas, S. L. (1999). Loneliness, social support, and perceived relationships with God. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 16(4), 513-522.
Kloos, B., Horneffer, K., & Moore, T. (1995). Before the beginning: Religious leaders' perceptions of the possibility for mutually beneficial collaboration with psychologists. Journal of Community Psychology, 23, 275-291.
Koenig, H. G., Cohen, H. J., Blazer, D. G., Pieper, C., Meador, K. G., Shelp, F., et al. (1992). Religious coping and depression among elderly, hospitalized medically ill men. American Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 1693-1700.
Koenig, H. G., George, L. K., & Siegler, I. C. (1988). The use of religion and other emotionregulating coping strategies among older adults. The Gerontologist, 28, 303-310.
Kosmin, B. A., & Lachman, S. P. (1993). One nation under God: Religion in contemporary American society. New York: Harmony Books.
Krause, N., Ellison, C. G., & Wulff, K. M. (1998). Church-based emotional support, negative interaction, and psychological well-being: Findings from a national sample of Presbyterians. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 37(4), 725-741.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.
Levin, J. S., & Vanderpool, H. Y. (1987). Is frequent religious attendance really conducive to better health? Toward an epidemiology of religion. Social Science and Medicine, 24(7), 589-600.
Lindner, E. W. (2000). Yearbook of American and Canadian churches 2000. Nashville: Abingdon Press.
Maton, K. I. (1988). Social support, organizational characteristics, psychological well-being, and group appraisal in three self-help group populations. American Journal of Community Psychology, 16, 53-77.
Maton, K. I. (1989a). Community settings as buffers of life stress? Highly supportive churches, mutual help groups, and senior centers. American Journal of Community Psychology, 17, 203-232.
Maton, K. I. (1989b). The stress-buffering role of spiritual support: Cross-sectional and prospective investigations. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 28, 310-323.
Maton, K. I., Pargament, K. I., & Hess, R. E. (Eds.). (1991). Religion and prevention in mental health: Community intervention (Special Issue). Prevention in Human Services, 10(1).
Maton, K. I., & Salem, D. A. (1995). Organizational characteristics of empowering community settings:Amultiple case study approach. American Journal of Community Psychology, 23, 631-656.
Maton, K. I., & Wells, E. A. (1995). Religion as a community resource for well-being: Prevention, healing, and empowerment pathways. Journal of Social Issues, 51, 177-193.
McCrae, R. R. (1984). Situational determinants of coping responses: Loss, threat, and challenge. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 919-928.
McIntosh, D. N., Silver, R. C., & Wortman, C. B. (1993). Religion's role in adjustment to a negative life event: Coping with the loss of a child. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 812-821.
Myers, D. G., & Diener, E. (1995). Who is happy? Psychological Science, 6, 10-19.
Novy, D. M., Nelson, D. V., Goodwin, J., & Rowzee, R. D. (1993). Psychometric comparability of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for different ethnic subpopulations. Psychological Assessment, 5(3), 343-349.
Pargament, K. I. (1990). God help me: Toward a theoretical framework of coping for the psychology of religion. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 2, 195-224.
Pargament, K. I. (1997). The psychology of religion and coping: Theory, research, and practice. New York: Guilford Press.
Pargament, K. I., Ensing, D. I., Falgout, K., Olsen, H., Reilly, B., Van Heitsma, K., et al. (1990). God help me: I. Religious coping efforts as predictors of the outcomes to significant negative life events. American Journal of Community Psychology, 18, 793-824.
Pargament, K. I., Falgout, K., Ensing, D., Reilly, B., Silverman, M., Van Heitsma, K., et al. (1991). The congregation development program: Data-based consultation with churches and synagogues. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 5, 393-404.
Pargament, K. I., & Hahn, J. (1986). God and the just world: Causal and coping attributions to God in health situations. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 25, 193-207.
Pargament, K. I. Stanik, P., Rouiller, R., Crowe, P., et al. (1994). Methods of religious coping with the gulf war: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 33, 347-361.
Pargament, K. I., Maton, K. I., & Hess, R. E. (Eds.). (1991). Religion and prevention in mental health: Conceptual and empirical foundations (Special Issue). Prevention in Human Services, 9(2).
Pargament, K. I., & Park, C. L. (1995). Merely a defense? The variety of religious means and ends. Journal of Social Issues, 51, 13-32.
Pargament, K. I., Silverman, W., Johnson, S., Echmendia, R., & Snyder, S. (1983). The psychosocial climate of religious congregations. American Journal of Community Psychology, 11, 351-381.
Park, C. L., & Cohen, L. H. (1993). Religious and nonreligious coping with the death of a friend. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 17, 561-577.
Pavot, W. G., Diener, E., Colvin, C. R., & Sandvik, E. (1991). Further validation of the SWL Scale: Evidence for the cross-method convergence of well-being measures. Journal of Personality Assessment, 57(1), 149-161.
Petersen, L. R., & Roy, A. (1985). Religiosity, anxiety, and meaning and purpose: Religious consequences for psychological well-being. Review of Religious Research, 27, 49-62.
Plante, T. G. (1999). A collaborative relationship between professional psychology and the Roman Catholic church:Acase example and suggested principles for success. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 30(6), 541-546.
Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale:Aself-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385-401.
Reddon, J. R. (1990). The rejection of the hypothesis of complete independence prior to conducting a factor analysis. Multivariate Experimental Clinical Research, 9(3), 123-129.
Reynolds, W. M., & Kobak, K. A. (1995). Reliability and validity of the Hamilton Depression Inventory: A paper-and-pencil version of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale Clinical Interview. Psychological Assessment, 7(4), 472-483.
Santor, D. A. Zuroff, D. C., Ramsay, J. O., Cervantes, P., & Palacios, J. (1995). Examining scale discriminability in the BDI and CES-D as a function of depressive severity. Psychological Assessment, 7(2), 131-139.
Schaefer, C. A., & Gorsuch, R. L. (1991). Psychological adjustment and religiousness: The multivariate belief-motivation theory of religiousness. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 30, 448-461.
Seligman, M. E. P. (1991). Learned optimism. New York: Random House.
Spilka, B., Armatas, P., & Nussbaum, J. (1964). The concept of God: A factor analytic approach. Review of Religious Research, 6, 28-36.
Tan, S. Y. (1991). Lay counseling. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Templer, D. I. (1972). Death anxiety in religiously very involved persons. Psychological Reports, 31, 361-362.
Uchino, B. N., Cacioppo, J. T., & Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K. (1996). The relationship between social support and physiological processes: A review with emphasis on underlying mechanisms and implications for health. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 488-531.
Ventis, W. L. (1995). The relationships between religion and mental health. Journal of Social Issues, 51, 33-48.
Voss, S. L. (1996). The church as an agent in rural mental health. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 24(2), 114-123.
Weaver, A. J., Koenig, H. G., & Larson, D. B. (1997). Marriage and family therapists and the clergy: A need for clinical collaboration, training, and research. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 23(1), 13-25.
Weiss, R. (1974). The provisions of social relationships. In Z. Rubin (Ed.), Doing unto others (pp. 17-26). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Wetherell, J. L., & Areán, P. A. (1997). Psychometric evaluation of the Beck Anxiety Inventory with older medical patients. Psychological Assessment, 9(2), 136-144.
Winemiller, D. R., Mitchell, M. E., Sutliff, J., & Cline, D. J. (1993). Measurement strategies in social support: A descriptive review of the literature. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 49, 638-648.
Zimmerman, M. A., & Maton, K. I. (1992). Life style and substance use among male African-American urban adolescents: A cluster analysis approach. American Journal of Community Psychology, 20, 121-138.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fiala, W.E., Bjorck, J.P. & Gorsuch, R. The Religious Support Scale: Construction, Validation, and Cross-Validation. Am J Community Psychol 30, 761–786 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020264718397
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020264718397