Predictors and outcomes of experiences deemed religious: A longitudinal investigation

Experiences deemed religious (EDRs) are events that a person regards as religious and/or supernatural. This study considered four such experiences—miraculous healing, glossolalia, unusual joy and peace during meditation or prayer, and prayer answered. We proposed a process model and conducted a longitudinal study to address three main research questions: (a) Who are more likely to have EDRs? (b) What effects would the experiences have on the person's subsequent spiritual and psychological conditions? (c) Are all EDRs alike? Findings suggest that EDRs can be predicted through certain common individual characteristics, such as vertical faith maturity (i.e., intimacy with the divine). However, there are also individual predictors that are EDR-specific. Regarding outcomes, the experience of unusual joy and peace during prayer and meditation heightens vertical faith maturity, motivates more religious practices, predicts better sleep quality at a later time, and perhaps improves quality of life. However, tongue speaking results in no change in any measured outcome variables. Neither does having prayers answered. Surprisingly, being healed from serious physical illness can have negative consequences. Results demonstrate that the EDRs should not be treated as the same when it comes to their antecedents and consequences.postprin

Purpose-driven life: Life goals as a predictor of quality of life and psychological health

On the basis of self-determination theory, we predicted that the pursuit of material goals might negatively affect quality of life and psychological outcomes including sleep quality and mood states. We further hypothesized that the link between religious affiliation and these outcome variables could be explained, at least partially, by life goals. Longitudinal data collected from 700 Chinese adults demonstrated that for both Christians and non-believers, material goals had a detrimental effect on outcome variables measured 6 months later. More importantly, material goals partially mediated the effects of religious affiliation. That is, Christians were different from non-believers on the outcome variables partly because the former did not go after material goals. For these believers, moreover, the pursuit of religion-based goals brought psychological benefits. Not only can certain life goals explain why people with religious faiths have better psychological health and quality of life, they can also explain why not every religious person feels good and is content about their lives.postprin

Psychological predictors of Chinese Christians’ church attendance and religious steadfastness: A three-wave prospective study

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The role of religion in moderating the impact of life events on material life goals: Some evidence in support of terror management theory.

How would religion and a life event carrying an existential threat (LEET) jointly impact a person's life goals of becoming wealthy and successful in one's career? Goal reprioritisation, socioemotional selectivity, and gerotranscendence theories predict a shift away from material goals following a LEET, independent of the effect of religion. However, terror management theory (TMT) predicts that the effect of death thoughts depends on one's prevailing cultural values. As religion can be regarded as a culture, it is possible that Christians' and non-believers' material life goals would be differentially altered by LEET. Data from 1259 young Chinese adults reveal no main effect of LEET, but a strong effect of religion. Moreover, there was an interaction effect between LEET and religion on material life goals: LEET weakened material goals for Christians but not for non-believers. These findings suggest that TMT is more suitable than the other theories for predicting life goal changes.postprin

In search of the psychological antecedents and consequences of Christian conversion: A three-year prospective study

Religious conversion is often an overwhelming experience. Although self-reports by some converts about life before and after conversion often contain vivid descriptions of the type and extent of changes, few rigorous empirical studies have documented them. This 3-year longitudinal prospective study aimed to understand the precursors of conversion, and whether this event would result in psychological changes. A logistic regression on 455 non-Christian Chinese (of whom 46 later became Christian converts) showed that neither baseline personality, personal values, social axioms, nor psychological symptoms predicted whether one would be converted during the next three years. However, people who thought that there is one and only one true religion were more likely than others to be converted. We further formed a matched sample of 92 individuals who had been Christians throughout the study, and a matched sample of 92 nonbelievers who remained so throughout the study. Comparison between measures taken at the baseline and end of the study period showed that converted people were transformed not in personality but in symptoms of stress and anxiety, as well as several personal values.postprin

Predictors and outcomes of some religious experiences

Paper Session - 117 Understanding Religious ExperiencesA non-ordinary and transcendent religious experience (NOTRE) is an event that a religious believer reports about an unusual encounter with the divine, and which does not occur on a day-to-day basis. NOTREs are distinguishable from general feelings of closeness with God, of beauty of life and the world, and of joy and comfort attributed to the divine. Often highly emotionally charged, they are events which the believers themselves consider extraordinary, miraculous, and overwhelming. In this research, we focused on NOTREs that are related to physical healing from serious illness, speaking in tongues, and prayers and meditation. Two questions formed the focus of the present longitudinal study: First, who are more likely to report NOTREs? We expected that some NOTREs would be predicted by faith-related variables (faith maturity and religiosity) measured at an earlier time. Second, what are the effects of such alleged experiences on the person’s subsequent spiritual and psychological state? We expected that some NOTREs would predict faith maturity, religiosity, and religious behaviors measured ...postprin

The well-being among college students living on campus: a focus on morning-evening preference

Conference Theme: The Development of Psychology in Hong Kong: Past, Present, and FuturePoster Presentation: no. P-36BACKGROUND/RATIONALE: Getting into college, students can choose to live on-or off-campus. While on-campus residence allows easier access to campus facilities, its impact on college students’ well-being remains unclear. This research aims to study the well-being(indicated by mood, sleep and quality-of-life) among students living on/off campus. We also intend to explore the factors leading students to discontinue living on campus. While studies showed that morning-evening preference(M/E) has a role in college students’ well-being …published_or_final_versio

Prediction of biogeographical ancestry in admixed individuals.

Estimation of ancestral affiliation for human genotypes is now possible for major geographic populations and has been employed for forensic casework. Prediction algorithms, such as the Snipper Bayesian classifier, have the ability to classify non-admixed BGA in African (AFR), European (EUR), East Asian (EAS), and most Amerindian (NAM) individuals, but are not always appropriate for admixed individuals. Artificial admixture was simulated for all possible admixture ratios (1:1, 3:1, 2:1:1, and 1:1:1:1) from four grandparents. The simulated genotypes were used to test the accuracy of various prediction algorithms, most successful of which were the population genetics program, STRUCTURE, and a novel genetic distance algorithm (GDA). STRUCTURE was ideal for admixed individuals with 1:1 and 3:1 ratios from AFR, EUR, EAS, and NAM reference populations. Individuals with 1:1:1:1 BGA proportions were more accurately predicted by GDA. The use of hypothetical root genotypes improved the accuracy of GDA predictions for 1:1 and 3:1 admixtures and STRUCTURE classification of 1:1:1:1 admixture. The GDA requires only allele or genotype frequency values from each reference population, which offers a simpler sampling and input formatting procedure than is required by STRUCTURE. It can also be implemented in a spreadsheet without the need for long run times

Structure of faith maturity: a bifactor model approach

1190 Poster Session: Counseling, Coping, and Individual Differences - Division: 3