Psychological type and work-related psychological health among clergy in Australia, England and New Zealand

Abstract

A sample of 3,715 clergy from Australia, England and New Zealand completed two indices of work-related psychological health, the Scale of Emotional Exhaustion in Ministry (negative affect) and the Satisfaction in Ministry Scale (positive affect), together with a measure of Jungian psychological type, the Francis Psychological Type Scales. The data were employed to establish three issues: the level of work-related psychological health among clergy; the psychological type profile of clergy; and the relationship between psychological type and individual differences in work-related psychological health. The data demonstrate that clergy display high levels of positive affect coupled with high levels of negative affect; that the predominant psychological type profile of clergy prefers introversion over extraversion, sensing over intuition, feeling over thinking, and judging over perceiving; and that psychological type is able to predict differences in work-related psychological health among clergy. Clergy who prefer introversion and thinking experience lower levels of work-related psychological health than clergy who prefer extraversion and feeling. The implications of these findings are discussed for developing effective and healthy Christian ministry