Spirituality as a scientific construct: testing its universality across cultures and languages.

Journal: PloS one

Volume: 10

Issue: 3

Year of Publication: 2016

Affiliated Institutions:  University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America. University of Florida, Gainsville, Florida, United States of America. Veteran Affairs and University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America. The Neurobehavior Center of Minnesota, Edina, Minnesota, United States of America. University of Mysore and Indian Council of Social Sciences Research, New Delhi, Manasagangotri, Mysore, India. Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda and Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, United States of America. Dongwoo Fine-Chem Co., Ltd. Mental Health Center, Pyeong Taek-Si, Gyeonggi-Do, South Korea.

Abstract summary 

Using data obtained from 4004 participants across eight countries (Canada, India, Japan, Korea, Poland, Slovakia, Uganda, and the U.S.), the factorial reliability, validity and structural/measurement invariance of a 30-item version of Expressions of Spirituality Inventory (ESI-R) was evaluated. The ESI-R measures a five factor model of spirituality developed through the conjoint factor analysis of several extant measures of spiritual constructs. Exploratory factor analyses of pooled data provided evidence that the five ESI-R factors are reliable. Confirmatory analyses comparing four and five factor models revealed that the five dimensional model demonstrates superior goodness-of-fit with all cultural samples and suggest that the ESI-R may be viewed as structurally invariant. Measurement invariance, however, was not supported as manifested in significant differences in item and dimension scores and in significantly poorer fit when factor loadings were constrained to equality across all samples. Exploratory analyses with a second adjective measure of spirituality using American, Indian, and Ugandan samples identified three replicable factors which correlated with ESI-R dimensions in a manner supportive of convergent validity. The paper concludes with a discussion of the meaning of the findings and directions needed for future research.

Authors & Co-authors:  MacDonald Douglas A DA Friedman Harris L HL Brewczynski Jacek J Holland Daniel D Salagame Kiran Kumar K KK Mohan K Krishna KK Gubrij Zuzana Ondriasova ZO Cheong Hye Wook HW

Study Outcome 

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Statistics
Citations :  Piedmont RL, Ciarrochi JW, Dy-Liacco GS, Williams JEG (2009) The empirical and conceptual value of the Spiritual Transcendence and Religious Involvement Scales for personality research. Psychol Relig Spiritual 1: 162–179.
Authors :  8
Identifiers
Doi : e0117701
SSN : 1932-6203
Study Population
Male,Female
Mesh Terms
Adult
Other Terms
Study Design
Exploratory Study,Cross Sectional Study
Study Approach
Country of Study
Uganda
Publication Country
United States