The Religious Schema Scale: Construction and Initial Validation of a Quantitative Measure for Religious Styles

Abstract

This article presents the Religious Schema Scale (RSS). Its conceptual background is the model of religious styles. After a conceptual discussion of the relation between religious styles and religious schemata, the steps of scale construction are reported. Based on 822 responses from research participants in the United States and Germany to a preliminary 78-item version, we used construct-oriented iterative and factor-analytic procedures for reducing the RSS to a 15-item version that consists of three 5-item subscales with acceptable reliabilities. Confirmatory factor analysis indicates that the RSS has a robust 3-factor structure, which is cross-culturally valid in both the United States and Germany. We report correlations of the RSS with the Big Five, Psychological Well-Being, Religious Fundamentalism, and Right-Wing Authoritarianism. We also present predictive characteristics of the RSS in regard to Fowler's stages of faith. Finally, we report results on the incremental validity of the RSS.Correspondence should be sent to

Religious Styles Predict Interreligious Prejudice: A Study of German Adolescents with the Religious Schema Scale

“…In contrast, the religious schemata of ftr and xenos are not significantly associated with religiosity, religious experience, and traditional images of God for these adolescents-with one exception: Between the image of God as judge and redeemer and xenos, there was a strong negative correlation (r D .42, p < .001). Correlations between the three religious schemata measured by the RSS are, as in previous research (Streib et al, 2009;Streib et al, 2010), almost zero and nonsignificant between ttt and ftr, negative (r D .33, p < .001) between ttt and xenos, and positive between ftr and xenos (r D .32, p < .001).…”

“…1 Eventually, closer attention to the distinct profiling of Fowler's (1981) stages of faith-which have been advanced in a model of religious styles (Streib, 2001;Streib, Hood, & Klein, 2010)-would have even more effect in predicting and explaining the promotion and prevention of prejudice.…”

“…In the construction of the Religious Schema Scale (RSS; Streib et al, 2010), which is used in this research, the schema of absolutistic, exclusivist, and literal understanding of one's own sacred texts has been operationalized in the subscale Truth of Texts and Teachings (ttt). Sample items are "What the texts and stories of my religion tell me is absolutely true and must not be changed" and "The stories and teachings of my religion give meaning to the experiences of my life and reveal the unchangeable truth about God or the Divine."…”

“…Another instrument with focus on religion is the RSS (Streib et al, 2010), which was previously introduced and conceptually explained. The RSS consists of three subscales of five items each (for original English items, see Streib et al, 2010, the appendix; for German version, see Streib & Gennerich, 2011; sample items are quoted previously).…”

“…The RSS consists of three subscales of five items each (for original English items, see Streib et al, 2010, the appendix; for German version, see Streib & Gennerich, 2011; sample items are quoted previously). Reliabilities of the three subscales in the current sample are Cronbach's˛D .88 for the subscale ttt, Cronbach's˛D .63 for ftr, and Cronbach's˛D .71 for xenos.…”