Religious doubt and identity formation: salient predictors of adolescent religious doubt

Journal of Psychology and Theology, Winter, 2008 by Keith A. Puffer, Kris G. Pence, T.martin Graverson, Michael Wolfe, Ellen Pate, Stacy Clegg

An evaluation of the assumptions for multivariate regression procedures was conducted. Missing data and outliers among the ten variables were identified and eliminated using listwise deletion for the former and the author's reported score range for the latter. No multicollinearity occurred among the measure variables. And, three skewed distributions (RWB-negative, IRO-negative, and RDS-positive) were transformed to improve normality, linearity, and homoscendasticity. Unfortunately, there was no advantage in these efforts. But, the large sample size in this study helps to reduce the effects of non-normality (Tabachnick & Fidell, 1996).

Table 2 presents the results of the standard multiple regression analyses examining the influence of identity status and religiosity constructs on religious doubting-quest. For the full sample, multiple identity status predictors emerged. This result implicates the exploratory ( MOR) and commitment ( ACH) criteria as significant contributors to the prediction of religious doubt.

TABLE 2
Standard Multiple Regression Analyses for the Influence of Identity
Status and Religious Variables on Religious Doubting-Quest

Group           Variable              B      SE B    [beta]    p-value

Full Sample (n=525)
                   RDS                .39     .08      .23       .00
                   MOR                .63     .13      .23       .00
                   SMI                .03     .04      .04       .46
                   ACH                .42     .12      .14       .00
                   RWB               -.13     .10     -.08       .18
                   ERO               -.02     .13     -.01       .85
                   IRO               -.07     .11     -.04       .52
                   DIF               -.15     .15     -.05       .32
                   FOR               -.54     .12     -.19       .00

Late Adolescence (n = 337)
                   RDS                .42     .10      .27       .00
                   MOR                .72     .17      .25       .00
                   SMI                .03     .05      .04       .57
                   ACH                .33     .16      .11       .04
                   RWB               -.30     .13     -.17       .02
                   ERO                .11     .16      .04       .51
                   IRO                .15     .15      .08       .30
                   DIF               -.28     .19     -.08       .15
                   FOR               -.56     .15     -.19       .00

Early & Middle Adolescence (n=188
                   RDS                .31     .12      .20       .01
                   MOR                .41     .23      .14       .08
                   SMI                .03     .08      .04       .67
                   ACH                .59     .21      .20       .00
                   RWB                .05     .17      .03       .75
                   ERO               -.09     .25     -.03       .71
                   IRO               -.41     .22     -.16       .06
                   DIF               -.03     .26     -.01       .91
                   FOR               -.49     .19     -.18       .01

Females (n= 320
                   RDS                .35     .10      .20       .00
                   MOR                .87     .16      .32       .00
                   SMI                .04     .05      .05       .47
                   ACH                .60     .15     -.21       .00
                   RWB               -.07     .14     -.04       .60
                   ERO               -.01     .16     -.00       .95
                   IRO               -.20     .15     -.10       .17
                   DIF               -.57     .19     -.17       .00
                   FOR               -.56     .14     -.21       .00

Males (n=203)
                   RDS                .48     .12      .31       .00
                   MOR                .23     .23      .08       .33
                   SMI                .04     .08      .05       .63
                   ACH                .19     .22      .06       .40
                   RWB               -.19     .15     -.11       .20
                   ERO                .23     .23     -.01       .85
                   IRO                .08     .19      .04       .66
                   DIF                .49     .26      .15       .06
                   FOR               -.52     .20     -.18       .01

Note: RDS = Religious Doubts Scale; MOR = moratorium identity status
subscale; SMI = Spiritual Maturity Scale; ACH = achieved identity
status subscale; RWB = Religious Well-Being; ERO=extrinsic religious
orientation; IRO = intrinsic religious orientation; DIF = diffused
identity status subscale; and FOR = foreclosed identity status
subscale.