For many members of our community, the presence and nature of their relationship to God is a significant aspect of their coping system in both illness and health. The paper introduces the notion that relationship to God may be viewed for many as an attachment relationship. More specifically it presents findings from a study that examined the mediating role of spiritual maturity with respect to the attachment to God (ATG) –psychological health link. Australian Christian participants (N=646, 18-77) completed previously validated psychological and psycho-spiritual measures, and ATG measures derived from pre-existing human attachment measures. Regression analyses indicated a secure ATG uniquely predicted (i) psychological health, and (ii) spirit maturity, beyond the effects of age, gender and human attachment. Further, Structural Equation Modelling confirmed Spiritual Maturity mediated the effects of ATG on Psychological Symptoms and Satisfaction with Life.
The findings (i) depict secure ATG as an important foundation for both spiritual maturity and psychological health; (ii) demonstrates the unique additive effect of attachment to God on psychological outcomes, adding weight to the more differentiated theory of adult attachment, in which both general and relationship-specific mental representations are held to be influential. Theoretical and clinical implications of the findings and their importance for psychology of religion are overviewed.
Recorded in Sydney in July 2008 at the PASS Conference, UWS.
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