Attachment to God, adult attachment, and spiritual pathology: mediator and moderator effects

In this exploratory study, we examined moderated mediation models grounded in psychoanalytic and attachment theory regarding the correspondence between adult attachment and Divine-human relating in a sample of graduate students in the USA. Results supported the correspondence hypothesis as positive...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mental health, religion & culture religion & culture, 2015-11, Vol.18 (10), p.795-808
Main Authors: Sandage, Steven J., Jankowski, Peter, Crabtree, Sarah A., Schweer, Maria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
attachment
Psychopathology
religion
Religion & psychology
spiritual grandiosity
spiritual instability
Spirituality
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In this exploratory study, we examined moderated mediation models grounded in psychoanalytic and attachment theory regarding the correspondence between adult attachment and Divine-human relating in a sample of graduate students in the USA. Results supported the correspondence hypothesis as positive correlations between adult attachment dimensions and attachment to God dimensions were observed. An interaction effect was observed as spiritual grandiosity moderated the indirect effect between insecure adult attachment and insecure God attachment dimensions through spiritual instability. Results therefore provided support for the theoretical notion that spiritual dysregulation can function as a mechanism of the attachment correspondence that varies as a function of spiritual grandiosity. Findings are discussed in the context of advancing existing theory on implicit models of attachment correspondence and the nature of the association between spiritual insecurity and spiritual grandiosity.
ISSN:1367-4676
1469-9737
DOI:10.1080/13674676.2015.1090965