Attachment to God as a Function of Mortality Salience and Intrinsic Religiosity

Author

Jill Hoffman, Texas Christian UniversityFollow
Robert B. Arrowood, Texas Christian UniversityFollow
Maddie Weinstock, Texas Christian UniversityFollow
Arielle Cenin, Texas Christian UniversityFollow
Cathy R. Cox, Texas Christian UniversityFollow

Periodical Title

Modern Psychological Studies

Volume

25

Number

1

Department

Dept. of Psychology

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

The present study examined the association between intrinsic religiosity and attachment to God following mortality salience. Participants (N = 158) consisted of Christian individuals who were asked to complete the Religious Orientation Scale (Allport & Ross, 1967) as a measure of intrinsic religiosity, a word search puzzle to prime either death-related or neutral words, and the Attachment to God Inventory (Beck & McDonald, 2004). A moderated regression found a significant interaction between MS and intrinsic religiosity on avoidant but not anxious attachment to God. Specifically, following reminders of death, low intrinsic individuals were more avoidant toward God compared to high intrinsic individuals. These findings suggest that MS is associated with bolstering religious beliefs in order to cope with existential anxieties.

Subject

Psychology

Keyword

Terror Management Theory; Religion; Mortality Salience; Intrinsic Religiosity; Attachment to God

Discipline

Psychology

Document Type

article

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Recommended Citation

Hoffman, Jill; Arrowood, Robert B.; Weinstock, Maddie; Cenin, Arielle; and Cox, Cathy R. (2020) "Attachment to God as a Function of Mortality Salience and Intrinsic Religiosity," Modern Psychological Studies: Vol. 25: No. 1, Article 7.
Available at: https://scholar.utc.edu/mps/vol25/iss1/7