Spirituality has been identified in the research literature as inversely associated with symptoms of depression and suicidal ideation. Whether or not this association might be culturally and religiously bound within Judeo-Christian Western traditions, or more universally human, has yet to be examined. As a step toward exploring universality, we investigated whether the inverse association between spirituality and depression is found, and perhaps relatively stable in magnitude, across 3 religiously and culturally diverse cultures: the United States, China, and India. Our study sample included 5,512 participants (41% women, mean age 29 years, age range 18 -75 years) from the United States (N ϭ 1,499), China (N ϭ 3,150), and India (N ϭ 863). Scales used to assess personal spirituality included the Delaney Spirituality Scale (a phenomenological scale) and Daily Spiritual Experience subscale from the Fetzer Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness and Spirituality (a more theistic scale). Severity of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). A high level of personal spirituality decreased by half the relative risk of moderate depression across all 3 countries-United States, China, and India. The findings were consistent using a phenomenological conceptualization for spirituality, but true only for India and United States for a theistic conceptualization. Spirituality in phenomenological terms was protective against suicidal ideation across all 3 countries, with a theistic conceptualization protective only in the United States. Findings were interpreted as pointing to the possibility of universal phenomenological spirituality as protective against depression.
The aim of the current investigation was to identify universal profiles of lived spirituality. A study on a large sample of participants (N = 5512) across three countries, India, China, and the United States, suggested there are at least five cross-cultural phenotypic dimensions of personal spiritual capacity—spiritual reflection and commitment; contemplative practice; perception of interconnectedness; perception of love; and practice of altruism—that are protective against pathology in a community sample and have been replicated in matched clinical and non-clinical samples. Based on the highest frequency combinations of these five capacities in the same sample, we explored potentially dynamic profiles of spiritual engagement. We inductively derived five profiles using Latent Profile Analysis (LPA): non-seeking; socially disconnected; spiritual emergence; virtuous humanist; and spiritually integrated. We also examined, in this cross-sectional data, covariates external to the LPA model which measure disposition towards meaning across two dimensions: seeking and fulfillment, of which the former necessarily precedes the latter. These meaning covariates, in conjunction with cross-profile age differences, suggest the profiles might represent sequential phases along an emergent path of spiritual development. Subsequent regression analyses conducted to predict depression, anxiety, substance-related disorders, and positive psychology based on spiritual engagement profiles revealed the spiritually integrated profile was most protected against psychopathology, while the spiritual emergence profile was at highest risk. While this developmental process may be riddled with struggle, as evidenced by elevated rates of psychopathology and substance use in the intermediate phases, this period is a transient one that necessarily precedes one of mental wellness and resilience—the spiritual development process is ultimately buoyant and protective.
Self-transcendence has been associated with lower levels of psychopathology. Most studies of self-transcendence have focused on samples of Western participants, and used scales addressing such concepts as self-awareness and feelings of oneness with the larger universe. However, a common Eastern notion of transcendence—perception of ongoing relationships with ancestors—has not been studied. We conducted a cross-cultural investigation of the association between self-transcendence, perceived degree of relationship to ancestors and depression and anxiety in the United States (N = 1499), China (N = 3,150), and India (N = 863). Degrees of perceived relationship to ancestors differed across countries, with the highest rates in India and China, and lowest rates in the United States. Self-transcendence was negatively associated with risks for depression and anxiety in the United States. In India, self-transcendence was also negatively associated with risks for depression and anxiety, and a strong perceived relationship with ancestors had further protective benefit. In China, those with a high level of perceived relationship to ancestors and a high level of self-transcendence exhibited lower levels of psychopathology. Results suggest that measures of relationship to ancestors might be included in future cross-cultural studies of transcendence.
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