Psychological Reports, 1991, 69, 791-794.
O Psychological Reports 1991
PERSONALITY AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS RELIGION AMONG ADULT CHURCHGOERS IN ENGLAND ' LESLIE J. FRANCIS binity College, Carmarthen, Wales Summary.-A sample of 165 regular churchgoers completed the short form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, together with the Francis scale of attitude towards Christianity. While the data demonstrate that the central thesis of Eysenck's theory relating personality with religious attitudes holds good among a religious sample, they also suggest that other aspects of personality theory and measurement relating personality with religious attitudes may function differently in a religiously committed sample than in more general samples.
In recent years a growing body of empirical research has identified and discussed the location of religion within Eysenckls three-dimensional model of personality (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985). These studies have suggested that the precise location of religion within this model may vary according to the editions of the Eysenck personality tests used (Francis & Pearson, 1985a, 1985b), the measures of religiosity employed (Siegman, 1963; Heaven, 1990), and the populations studied (Johnson, Danko, DarviU, Bochner, Bowers, Huang, Park, Pecjak, Rahim, & Pennington, 1989). A set of studies'using the Francis scale of attitude towards Christianity (Francis, 1989; Francis & Stubbs, 1987) among samples of school pupils between the ages of eleven (Francis, Lankshear, & Pearson, 1989) and sixteen years (Francis & Pearson, 1988) and among various samples of adults (Francis & Bennett, 1991) has tended to produce a consistent and coherent picture. These studies have shown religiosity to be neither positively nor negatively related to neuroticism (Francis, Pearson, Carter, & Kay, 1981; Francis & Pearson, 1991), unrelated to the more recent operationalisations of extraversion (Francis & Pearson, 1985a; Francis & Bennett, 1991), negatively related to psychoticism (Francis & Pearson, 1985b; Francis, 1991c), and positively related to Lie Scale scores (Francis, Pearson, & Kay, 1988; Pearson & Francis, 1989). These studies have been conducted among samples for whom religion had no special salience. Since other strands of research suggest that the relationship between religiosity and personal and social variables may differ from one group to another and according to the salience attributed to religion (Keene, 1967a, 1967b), the aim of the present study is to test the reproducibility of Francis' earlier findings among a sample of adult church members. 'Address correspondence to Leslie J. Francis, Manse1 Jones Fellow, Trinity College, Carmarthen, Dyfed SA31 3EP, Wales, UK.
792
L. J. FRANCIS
METHOD One hundred sixty-five adult churchgoers attending a residential churchrelated conference in England completed the adult form of the Francis 24item Likert scale of attitude towards Christianity (Francis & Stubbs, 1987), together with the short-form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck, Eysenck, & Barrett, 1985), which provides 12-item measures of Extraversion, Neuroticism, Psychoticism, and the Lie Scale. The sample comprised 106 men and 59 women, ranging from the late teens to the early eighties, with a mean age around forty years; 127 of the respondents claimed to attend church services at least once a week and the remaining 38 claimed to do so at least once a month. The sample, therefore, appears to reflect committed regular churchgoers in England. The data were analysed by means of the SPSSX statistical package (SPSS, Inc., 1988).
RESULTS All five scales included in the study achieved satisfactory alpha coefficients (Cronbach, 1951) in relationship to their length (Attitude towards Christianity, 0.95; Extraversion, 0.87; Neuroticism, 0.81; Psychoticism, 0.78; Lie Scale, 0.66). Partial correlation coefficients, controlling for sex differences, reported no significant relationship between attitude towards Christianity and either Extraversion ( r = 0.02) or Lie Scale scores ( r = 0.06), and significant negative relationships between attitude towards Christianity and both Psychoticism (r = -0.23, p < .01) and Neuroticism (r = -0.23, p < .01).
DISCUSSION These findings indicate both important similarities and important differences in relationship with other studies using the same or similar scales among different populations. Three points are worth closer scrutiny. First, the findings that there is a negative relationship between attitude towards Christianity and Psychoticism but no relationship with Extraversion support the Eysenckian theory relating personality with religiosity. This thesis hinges on the notions that religion belongs to the domain of tenderminded social attitudes (Eysenck, 1975), that tenderminded social attitudes are the product of sociahsation and conditioning (Eysenck, 1961), and that, within Eysenck's three-dimensional model of personality, it is Psychoticism rather than Extraversion which is fundamental to conditioning and to tendermindedness (Eysenck & Wilson, 1978). Second, the finding that there is no significant relationship between attitude towards Christianity and Lie Scale scores in the present data supports the view that Lie Scales may function somewhat differently among religious groups. This view is based on the evidence that among general samples there tends to be a positive correlation between Lie Scale scores and religiosity (Francis, Pearson, & Kay, 1988), that among general samples the Lie Scale
ADULT PERSONALITY, ATTITUDE TOWARDS RELIGION
793
contains two distinct components (Francis, Brown, & Pearson, 1991; Francis, 1991a), that in these samples only one of the two components accounts for the positive correlation with religiosity (Pearson & Francis, 1989), and that these two components are not recoverable within religious populations (Francis, 1991b). Third, the finding that there is a significant negative correlation between attitudes towards Christianity and Neuroticism, after controlling for sex differences, contradicts the consensus of previous research, using the Francis scale, which reports that these variables are unrelated (Francis, Pearson, Carter, & Kay, 1981; Francis, Pearson, & Kay, 1983, 1988). The present data suggest that among churchgoers the more stable members of the congregation report a more favourable attitude towards Christianity. While the present study clearly demonstrates that the central thesis of the Eysenckian theory relating personality with religious attitudes holds good among a religious sample as well as among more general ones, it also suggests that other aspects of personality theory and measurement relating personality with religious attitudes may function differently in a relatively committed sample. This conclusion warns against the generalisability of general research findings in this area to specialist groups and highlights the need for further research into the relationship between personality and religion among religious samples. REFERENCES CRONBACH, L. J. (1951) Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, 297-334. H. J. (1961) Personality and social attitudes. Journal of Social Psychology, 53, 243EYSENCK, 248. EYSENCK, H. J. (1975) The structure of social attitudes. Brirish Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 14, 323-331. EYSENCK, H. J., & EYSENCK, M. W. (1985) Personality and individual dlyerences: a natural science approach. New York: Plenum. H. J., & WILSON,G . D. (1978) The psychological basis of ideology. Lancaster: MedEYSENCK, ical and Technical Publ. EYSENCK, S. B. G., EYSENCK, H. J., & BARRET~,P. (1985) A revised version of the psychoticism scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 6, 21-29. FRANCIS,L. J. (1989) Measuring attitude towards Christianity during childhood and adolescence. Personality and Individual Drfferences, 10, 695-698. FRANCIS,L. J. (1991a) The dual nature of the EPQ Lie Scale among college students in England. Personality and Individual Diffmences, in press. FRANCIS,L. J. (1991b) The functioning of the E P Q Lie Scale among religious subjects in England. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, in press. FRANCIS,L. J. (1991~) Is ps choticism r e d the dimension of personality fundamental to religi, press. osity? Personality andllndividual ~ A e n c e s in FRANCIS,L. J., & BENNETT, G. A . (1991) The relationship between personality and religion among female drug rnisusers. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, in press. P. R. (1991) The dual nature of the EPQ Lle Scale FRANCIS,L. J., BROWN,L. B., & PEARSON, among university students in Australia. Personality and Individual Differences, 12, 989. 991. FRANCIS,L. J., LANKSHEAR, D. W., & PEARSON, P. R. (1989) The relationship between religios-
794
"
L. J . FRANCIS
iy the short form JEPQ (JEPQ-S) indices of E, N, L and P among eleven year o ds Personality and lndividual Differences, lo, 763-769. FRANCIS,L. J., & PEARSON, P. R. (1985a) Extraversion and religiosity. Journal of Social Psychology, -. 125, 269-270. FRANCIS,L. J., & PEARSON, P R. (1985b) Psychoticism and religiosity among 15 year olds. Personality and Individual Differences, 6, 397-398. FRANCIS, L. J., & PEARSON, P. R. (1988) Religiosity and the short-scale EPQ-R indices of E, N and L, compared with the JEPI, JEPQ and EPQ. Personality and Individual Differences, 9, 653-657. FRANCIS, L. J., & PEARSON, P. R. (1991) Religiosity, gender and the two faces of neuroticism. Irish Journal of Psychology, in press. L. J., PEARSON,P R., CARTER,M., & KAY, W.K. (1981) The relationship between FRANCIS, neuroticism and religiosity among English 15- and 16-year olds. Journal of Social Psychology, 114, 99-102. FRANCIS,L. J., PEARSON,P. R., & KAY, W. K. (1983) Neuroticism and religiosity among English school children. Journal of Social Psychology, 121, 149-150. L. J., PEARSON, P. R., & KAY, W. K. (1988) Religiosity and lie scores: a question of FRANCIS, interpretation. Social Behaviour and Personality, 16, 91-95. FRANCIS,L. ., & STUBBS,M. T. (1987) Measuring attitudes towards Christianity: from childhoo to adulthood. Personality and Individual Differences, 8, 741-743. P. C. L. (1990) Religious values and personality dimensions. Personality and Individual HEAVEN, Differences, 11, 953-956. JOHNSON,R. C., DANKO,G. P., DARVILL,T.J., BOCHNER, S., BOWERS,J. K., HUANC,Y-H., C ~ O S S - C as~~UI~ PARK,J. Y.,PECJAK,V., RAHIM, A. R. A,, & ~ N N I N G T O D.N(1989) , sessment of altruism and its correlates. Personality and Individual Differences, 10, 855868. GENE, J. J. (1967a) Baha'i world faith: redefinition of religion. Journalfor the Scientific Study of Religion, 6, 221-235. GENE, J. J. (1967b) Religious behaviour and neuroticism, spontaneity and worldmindedness. Sociornetry, 30, 137-157. M S O N ,P. R., & FRANCIS, L. J. (1989) The dual nature of the Eysenckian Lie Scales: are religious adolescents more truthful? Personality and Individual Differences, 10, 1041-1048. SIEGMAN, A. W.(1963) A cm~~-cuItural investigation of the relationship between introversion, social attitudes and anti-social behaviour. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2, 196-208. SPSS, INC.(1988) S P S ~user's guide. New York: McGraw-Hill.
d
Accepted October 16, 1991.
O Psychological Reports 1991
PERSONALITY AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS RELIGION AMONG ADULT CHURCHGOERS IN ENGLAND ' LESLIE J. FRANCIS binity College, Carmarthen, Wales Summary.-A sample of 165 regular churchgoers completed the short form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, together with the Francis scale of attitude towards Christianity. While the data demonstrate that the central thesis of Eysenck's theory relating personality with religious attitudes holds good among a religious sample, they also suggest that other aspects of personality theory and measurement relating personality with religious attitudes may function differently in a religiously committed sample than in more general samples.
In recent years a growing body of empirical research has identified and discussed the location of religion within Eysenckls three-dimensional model of personality (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985). These studies have suggested that the precise location of religion within this model may vary according to the editions of the Eysenck personality tests used (Francis & Pearson, 1985a, 1985b), the measures of religiosity employed (Siegman, 1963; Heaven, 1990), and the populations studied (Johnson, Danko, DarviU, Bochner, Bowers, Huang, Park, Pecjak, Rahim, & Pennington, 1989). A set of studies'using the Francis scale of attitude towards Christianity (Francis, 1989; Francis & Stubbs, 1987) among samples of school pupils between the ages of eleven (Francis, Lankshear, & Pearson, 1989) and sixteen years (Francis & Pearson, 1988) and among various samples of adults (Francis & Bennett, 1991) has tended to produce a consistent and coherent picture. These studies have shown religiosity to be neither positively nor negatively related to neuroticism (Francis, Pearson, Carter, & Kay, 1981; Francis & Pearson, 1991), unrelated to the more recent operationalisations of extraversion (Francis & Pearson, 1985a; Francis & Bennett, 1991), negatively related to psychoticism (Francis & Pearson, 1985b; Francis, 1991c), and positively related to Lie Scale scores (Francis, Pearson, & Kay, 1988; Pearson & Francis, 1989). These studies have been conducted among samples for whom religion had no special salience. Since other strands of research suggest that the relationship between religiosity and personal and social variables may differ from one group to another and according to the salience attributed to religion (Keene, 1967a, 1967b), the aim of the present study is to test the reproducibility of Francis' earlier findings among a sample of adult church members. 'Address correspondence to Leslie J. Francis, Manse1 Jones Fellow, Trinity College, Carmarthen, Dyfed SA31 3EP, Wales, UK.
792
L. J. FRANCIS
METHOD One hundred sixty-five adult churchgoers attending a residential churchrelated conference in England completed the adult form of the Francis 24item Likert scale of attitude towards Christianity (Francis & Stubbs, 1987), together with the short-form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck, Eysenck, & Barrett, 1985), which provides 12-item measures of Extraversion, Neuroticism, Psychoticism, and the Lie Scale. The sample comprised 106 men and 59 women, ranging from the late teens to the early eighties, with a mean age around forty years; 127 of the respondents claimed to attend church services at least once a week and the remaining 38 claimed to do so at least once a month. The sample, therefore, appears to reflect committed regular churchgoers in England. The data were analysed by means of the SPSSX statistical package (SPSS, Inc., 1988).
RESULTS All five scales included in the study achieved satisfactory alpha coefficients (Cronbach, 1951) in relationship to their length (Attitude towards Christianity, 0.95; Extraversion, 0.87; Neuroticism, 0.81; Psychoticism, 0.78; Lie Scale, 0.66). Partial correlation coefficients, controlling for sex differences, reported no significant relationship between attitude towards Christianity and either Extraversion ( r = 0.02) or Lie Scale scores ( r = 0.06), and significant negative relationships between attitude towards Christianity and both Psychoticism (r = -0.23, p < .01) and Neuroticism (r = -0.23, p < .01).
DISCUSSION These findings indicate both important similarities and important differences in relationship with other studies using the same or similar scales among different populations. Three points are worth closer scrutiny. First, the findings that there is a negative relationship between attitude towards Christianity and Psychoticism but no relationship with Extraversion support the Eysenckian theory relating personality with religiosity. This thesis hinges on the notions that religion belongs to the domain of tenderminded social attitudes (Eysenck, 1975), that tenderminded social attitudes are the product of sociahsation and conditioning (Eysenck, 1961), and that, within Eysenck's three-dimensional model of personality, it is Psychoticism rather than Extraversion which is fundamental to conditioning and to tendermindedness (Eysenck & Wilson, 1978). Second, the finding that there is no significant relationship between attitude towards Christianity and Lie Scale scores in the present data supports the view that Lie Scales may function somewhat differently among religious groups. This view is based on the evidence that among general samples there tends to be a positive correlation between Lie Scale scores and religiosity (Francis, Pearson, & Kay, 1988), that among general samples the Lie Scale
ADULT PERSONALITY, ATTITUDE TOWARDS RELIGION
793
contains two distinct components (Francis, Brown, & Pearson, 1991; Francis, 1991a), that in these samples only one of the two components accounts for the positive correlation with religiosity (Pearson & Francis, 1989), and that these two components are not recoverable within religious populations (Francis, 1991b). Third, the finding that there is a significant negative correlation between attitudes towards Christianity and Neuroticism, after controlling for sex differences, contradicts the consensus of previous research, using the Francis scale, which reports that these variables are unrelated (Francis, Pearson, Carter, & Kay, 1981; Francis, Pearson, & Kay, 1983, 1988). The present data suggest that among churchgoers the more stable members of the congregation report a more favourable attitude towards Christianity. While the present study clearly demonstrates that the central thesis of the Eysenckian theory relating personality with religious attitudes holds good among a religious sample as well as among more general ones, it also suggests that other aspects of personality theory and measurement relating personality with religious attitudes may function differently in a relatively committed sample. This conclusion warns against the generalisability of general research findings in this area to specialist groups and highlights the need for further research into the relationship between personality and religion among religious samples. REFERENCES CRONBACH, L. J. (1951) Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, 297-334. H. J. (1961) Personality and social attitudes. Journal of Social Psychology, 53, 243EYSENCK, 248. EYSENCK, H. J. (1975) The structure of social attitudes. Brirish Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 14, 323-331. EYSENCK, H. J., & EYSENCK, M. W. (1985) Personality and individual dlyerences: a natural science approach. New York: Plenum. H. J., & WILSON,G . D. (1978) The psychological basis of ideology. Lancaster: MedEYSENCK, ical and Technical Publ. EYSENCK, S. B. G., EYSENCK, H. J., & BARRET~,P. (1985) A revised version of the psychoticism scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 6, 21-29. FRANCIS,L. J. (1989) Measuring attitude towards Christianity during childhood and adolescence. Personality and Individual Drfferences, 10, 695-698. FRANCIS,L. J. (1991a) The dual nature of the EPQ Lie Scale among college students in England. Personality and Individual Diffmences, in press. FRANCIS,L. J. (1991b) The functioning of the E P Q Lie Scale among religious subjects in England. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, in press. FRANCIS,L. J. (1991~) Is ps choticism r e d the dimension of personality fundamental to religi, press. osity? Personality andllndividual ~ A e n c e s in FRANCIS,L. J., & BENNETT, G. A . (1991) The relationship between personality and religion among female drug rnisusers. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, in press. P. R. (1991) The dual nature of the EPQ Lle Scale FRANCIS,L. J., BROWN,L. B., & PEARSON, among university students in Australia. Personality and Individual Differences, 12, 989. 991. FRANCIS,L. J., LANKSHEAR, D. W., & PEARSON, P. R. (1989) The relationship between religios-
794
"
L. J . FRANCIS
iy the short form JEPQ (JEPQ-S) indices of E, N, L and P among eleven year o ds Personality and lndividual Differences, lo, 763-769. FRANCIS,L. J., & PEARSON, P. R. (1985a) Extraversion and religiosity. Journal of Social Psychology, -. 125, 269-270. FRANCIS,L. J., & PEARSON, P R. (1985b) Psychoticism and religiosity among 15 year olds. Personality and Individual Differences, 6, 397-398. FRANCIS, L. J., & PEARSON, P. R. (1988) Religiosity and the short-scale EPQ-R indices of E, N and L, compared with the JEPI, JEPQ and EPQ. Personality and Individual Differences, 9, 653-657. FRANCIS, L. J., & PEARSON, P. R. (1991) Religiosity, gender and the two faces of neuroticism. Irish Journal of Psychology, in press. L. J., PEARSON,P R., CARTER,M., & KAY, W.K. (1981) The relationship between FRANCIS, neuroticism and religiosity among English 15- and 16-year olds. Journal of Social Psychology, 114, 99-102. FRANCIS,L. J., PEARSON,P. R., & KAY, W. K. (1983) Neuroticism and religiosity among English school children. Journal of Social Psychology, 121, 149-150. L. J., PEARSON, P. R., & KAY, W. K. (1988) Religiosity and lie scores: a question of FRANCIS, interpretation. Social Behaviour and Personality, 16, 91-95. FRANCIS,L. ., & STUBBS,M. T. (1987) Measuring attitudes towards Christianity: from childhoo to adulthood. Personality and Individual Differences, 8, 741-743. P. C. L. (1990) Religious values and personality dimensions. Personality and Individual HEAVEN, Differences, 11, 953-956. JOHNSON,R. C., DANKO,G. P., DARVILL,T.J., BOCHNER, S., BOWERS,J. K., HUANC,Y-H., C ~ O S S - C as~~UI~ PARK,J. Y.,PECJAK,V., RAHIM, A. R. A,, & ~ N N I N G T O D.N(1989) , sessment of altruism and its correlates. Personality and Individual Differences, 10, 855868. GENE, J. J. (1967a) Baha'i world faith: redefinition of religion. Journalfor the Scientific Study of Religion, 6, 221-235. GENE, J. J. (1967b) Religious behaviour and neuroticism, spontaneity and worldmindedness. Sociornetry, 30, 137-157. M S O N ,P. R., & FRANCIS, L. J. (1989) The dual nature of the Eysenckian Lie Scales: are religious adolescents more truthful? Personality and Individual Differences, 10, 1041-1048. SIEGMAN, A. W.(1963) A cm~~-cuItural investigation of the relationship between introversion, social attitudes and anti-social behaviour. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2, 196-208. SPSS, INC.(1988) S P S ~user's guide. New York: McGraw-Hill.
d
Accepted October 16, 1991.
