Attachment to God: Its impact on the psychological wellbeing of persons with religious vocation
Year: 2010
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This study focused on the expansion of attachment theory to the spiritual perspective of God as an attachment figure.It examined how attachment to God could be associated with psychological wellbeing in a sample of 47 male students in Roman Catholic seminaries preparing to become priests or religious.Attachment to God was examined under two dimensions of the Attachment to God Inventory (AGI; Beck & McDonald, 2004)-namely, the avoidance of an intimate relationship with God and anxiety over being abandoned by God.The two dimensions were further dichotomized into four styles of attachment to God: secure, preoccupied, dismissing, and fearful.Psychological wellbeing was measured with the Ryff Psychological Wellbeing Scale (PWBS; Ryff, 1989; Ryff & Keys, 1995) under six dimensions: autonomy, self-acceptance, positive relations to others, environmental mastery, personal growth, and purpose in life.The findings of this research study showed a strong association between attachment to God and psychological wellbeing.The results also showed that the secure attachment style was the best predictor of attachment to God, as predicted.However, the findings did not support the hypothesis that there is a relationship between attachment to God (measured by the AGI) and adult attachment relationship (measured by the Relationship Scale Questionnaire; Griffin & Bartholomew, 1994). DEDICATIONTo the family of Edward and Elizabeth Okozi as well as to all those who affirm their faith in God no matter their life circumstance
Author: Innocent F. Okozi
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2051075681