Relationships Between Religiosity, Spirituality, and Personality: A Multivariate Analysis

It has been purported that univariate analyses may be too simplistic when studying correlates of religiosity and spirituality (Thoresen & Harris, 2002). Consequently, the current study evaluated the relationships between religiosity, spirituality, and personality at both the univariate and multivariate levels. Our results suggest strong relationships between these constructs at both levels. At the univariate level, all religiosity and spirituality variables, excluding the Extrinsic orientation, demonstrated significant associations with the Big Five. However, at the multivariate level, the Extrinsic orientation. in conjunction with the Quest orientation and the Intrinsic orientation, demonstrated a significant association with the Big Five. These findings support the supposition that religious and spiritual constructs ought to be examined at a multivariate level and further explicates the nature of religious and spiritual constructs by grounding them within a comprehensive taxonomy of personality. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserve