Further Examination of the Spirituality Scale

Abstract

This study provides additional data on a newly developed paper-and-pencil measure of spirituality from an Afrocultural perspective. Sixty-eight African American and 75 European American college students completed the Spirituality Scale and indices of internal, external, and quest religious motivation, divine and personal agency, and religious and existential well-being. Results indicated that the Spirituality Scale had good internal consistency in both cultural groups and that the level of endorsement of females was significantly higher than that of males. However, after adjusting for gender effects, mean scale endorsement was significantly higher among African Americans than it was among European Americans. There were few differences in the patterns of bivariate correlations. Standard regression procedures yielded significant, but different, predictive models of Spirituality Scale scores for both groups. For African Americans, an internal religious motivation was predictive of scores on the Spirituality Scale. Divine causality and religious well-being emerged as predictors for Spirituality Scale scoresfor European Americans. The discussion highlightsfuture directions for research using the Spirituality Scale.