Dimensionality and factorial invariance of religiosity among Christians and the religiously unaffiliated: A cross-cultural analysis based on the International Social Survey Programme

Abstract

We present a study of the dimensionality and factorial invariance of religiosity for 26 countries with a Christian heritage, based on the 1998 and 2008 rounds of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) Religion survey, using both exploratory and multi-group confirmatory factor analyses. The results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that three factors, common to Christian and religiously unaffiliated respondents, could be extracted from our initially selected items and suggested the testing of four different three-factor models using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. For the model with the best fit and measurement invariance properties, we labeled the three resulting factors as “Beliefs in afterlife and miracles”, “Belief and importance of God” and “Religious involvement.” The first factor is measured by four items related to the Supernatural Beliefs Scale (SBS-6); the second by three items related to belief in God and God’s perceived roles as a supernatural agent; and the third one by three items with the same structure found in previous cross-cultural analyses of religiosity using the European Values Survey (ESS) and also by belief in God. Unexpectedly, we found that one item, belief in God, cross-loaded on to the second and third factors. We discussed possible interpretations for this finding, together with the potential limitations of the ISSP Religion questionnaire for revealing the structure of religiosity. Our tests of measurement invariance across gender, age, educational degree and religious (un)affiliation led to acceptance of the hypotheses of metric- and scalar-invariance for these groupings (units of analysis). However, in the measurement invariance tests across the countries, the criteria for metric invariance were met for twenty-three countries only, and partial scalar invariance was accepted for fourteen countries only. The present work shows that the exploration of large multinational and cross-cultural datasets for studying the dimensionality and invariance of social constructs (in our case, religiosity) yields useful results for cross-cultural comparisons, but is also limited by the structure of these datasets and the way specific items are coded.

Belief in God, Confidence in the Church and Secularization in Scandinavia

“…The definitions by Steve Bruce and Peter Berger stress that secularization is a multidimensional phenomenon that includes both the macro (or systemic) and the micro (or individual) levels. Studies on religion may focus either on the systemic or public sphere (Furseth, 2018b) or on the level of individual religiosity (Allport and Ross, 1967, Glock and Stark, 1965, Jong et al, 1976, Gorsuch and Venable, 1983, Gorsuch and McPherson, 1989, Genia, 1993, Lemos et al, 2019. Individual religiosity is itself a multidimensional concept (Mueller, 1980), but the number and nature of these dimensions are still open to debate (Lemos et al, 2019).…”

“…Studies on religion may focus either on the systemic or public sphere (Furseth, 2018b) or on the level of individual religiosity (Allport and Ross, 1967, Glock and Stark, 1965, Jong et al, 1976, Gorsuch and Venable, 1983, Gorsuch and McPherson, 1989, Genia, 1993, Lemos et al, 2019. Individual religiosity is itself a multidimensional concept (Mueller, 1980), but the number and nature of these dimensions are still open to debate (Lemos et al, 2019). The 'believing'-'belonging' paradigm (Davie, 1990) is often adopted as an analytical framework in secularization studies, although some authors proposed that individual religiosity should include three aspects, belonging, behaving, and believing, which must be considered together for defining a unified scale of religiosity (Keysar, 2014).…”

“…How can the asymmetry of these associations be explained? We propose that the answer lies in that belief in God is strongly related to its meaning and importance in one's life (Rosen, 2009, Lemos et al, 2019. Those with positive (above average) attitudes toward the church have higher odds of believing when in doubt or being firm believers because both God and the church play an important role in their lives.…”

Validación De La Escala De Involucramiento Religioso Universal Age I-E 12 en Escolares Entre 8 Y 19 Años Del Norte De Chile

“…Koenig (2018), al revisar la medición de los aspectos de la religiosidad e involucramiento religioso, identifica 17 dimensiones diferentes que pueden medirse, estas incluyen: creencia religiosa, afiliación religiosa, práctica religiosa (pública y privada), motivación religiosa, afrontamiento religioso, apoyo religioso, entre otras. La falta de acuerdo entre las diferentes disciplinas que estudian la religiosidad, e incluso al interior de ellas, así como el debate en torno a las dimensiones que debería considerarse hace más compleja la medición (Lemos, Gore, Puga-Gonzalez, & Shults, 2019).…”

Assessment of Personality, Psychomotor Abilities, Spirituality and Team Work in Surgeons Depending on Experience: a Prospective Pilot Study

“…Individuals with an intrinsic orientation show greater degree of empathy, are more socially responsible (12), and genuinely believe in the doctrine of their faith, rooted in deep inner beliefs. On the contrary, individuals with an extrinsic religious orientation mostly behave "religiously" only to achieve certain external effects or some sel sh goals (13).…”