How does one become spiritual? The Spiritual Modeling Inventory 5 of Life Environments (SMILE)

We report psychometric properties, correlates, and underlying theory of the 15 Spiritual Modeling Index of Life Environments (SMILE), a measure of perceptions of spiritual models, defined as everyday and prominent people who have functioned for respondents as exemplars of spiritual qualities, such as compassion, self-control, or faith. Demographic, spiritual, and personality correlates were examined in an ethnically diverse sample of college students 20 from California, Connecticut, and Tennessee (N ¼ 1010). A summary measure of model influence was constructed from perceived models within family, school, religious organization, and among prominent individuals from both tradition and media. The SMILE, based on concepts from Bandura's (1986) Social Cognitive Theory, was well-received by respondents. The summary measure demonstrated 25 good 7-week test-retest reliability (r ¼ 0.83); patterns of correlation supporting convergent, divergent, and criterion-related validity; demographic differences in expected directions; and substantial individual heterogeneity. Implications are discussed for further research and for pastoral, educational, and health-focused interventions. 30 Keywords: spirituality; religion; social cognitive theory; measurement; validity; health promotion; education Introduction Throughout history, religious traditions have emphasized the importance of keeping company and attending to the example of good or holy persons, arguing that people tend 35 to become more like those with whom they associate. The power of example is also recognized and documented in modern scientific psychology, in which Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory (SCT, Bandura, 1986) Improved understanding of spiritual modeling processes would be of obvious interest in pastoral psychology. Such understanding would also be of interest to education, health psychology, medicine, nursing, social work, public health, and other fields in which spiritual factors have been found to predict or cause outcomes of significant interest This article reports on an initial psychometric evaluation of the Spiritual Modeling Inventory of Life Environments (SMILE), a multidimensional inventory of perceptions 65 about spiritual models and their availability and influence. Validated measurement instruments are vital for scientific progress in any field, and spiritual modeling measures have not previously been available. As described later, the SMILE follows in operationally defining spirituality with reference to a respondent's perceived ''ultimate concerns.'' 1 In the study reported here, the SMILE was administered to a geographically 70 and ethnically diverse sample of US college students drawn from both religious and statesupported public universities (N ¼ 1010). Besides providing psychometric information, these findings offer a solid initial view of the contours of spiritual modeling perceptions in contemporary US college students. We present theoretical background and a conceptual framework that specifies 75 key features of spiritual modeling perceptions and processes as experienced in daily life. We then report and discuss empirical findings, including implications for interventions. Conceptual background and model According to Social Cognitive Theory, social learning processes are influenced both by environmental factors, such as the availability of suitable behavioral models, and by intra-80 individual factors, such as motivations and self-efficacy perceptions Interpersonal factors, such as the nature, closeness, and psychic ''investment'' in one's personal relationship with a model, may also affect social learning processes . Intra-individual factors (represented in the center oval) are viewed as potentially 90 changeable and evolving, either conscious or unconscious, and closely related to social learning processes that include attention, retention, and motivation. . Social environments (the outer semicircle), including family, school, and religious or spiritual organizations, are a potential source of spiritual models. They help guide investments of attention and behavior by both individuals and groups, and may either facilitate or impede spiritual modeling learning processes. The framework represented in 105 Multiple levels for intervention The spiritual modeling framework presented in 150 Assessment strategy Constructing the SMILE demanded resolving two main challenges: conveying what we meant by spiritual, and conveying what we meant by model. Failing to offer any explanation of these constructs could create confusing findings due to idiosyncratic understandings of these terms. But asking participants to use a rigid definition of spiri-155 tuality could risk undermining our intended inclusiveness. Thus, in the final SMILE questionnaire, we addressed these challenges through a combination of three main techniques: First, we defined spirituality and spiritual models with reference to Tillich's (1951) notion of ultimate concerns, sometimes expressed in the SMILE simply as ''what's most important in life,'' a notion that does not require specific theological or ontological beliefs 160 (Emmons, 1999). The term spirituality was then introduced as a convenient word to describe skills or qualities viewed as ''helpful for what's most important/consequential in life.'' Second, we included substantial introductory text that used diverse examples to explain how people experience and respond to ultimate concerns, and how they learn from other people (models) how to respond to those concerns (spirituality). To illustrate 165 the concept, some specific everyday and prominent models were mentioned as examples from whom ''some people feel they have learned wise daily living.'' 2 Third, the SMILE was structured to allow earlier questions to set a context for later questions. This feature is analogous to a semistructured interview, in which earlier questions provide a context for understanding the intent and vocabulary of later questions. 170 The SMILE also included several opportunities for respondents to express their own conceptions and definitions of important constructs, which not only helped convey the inclusive intent, but also provided useful feedback. Later, we present evidence suggesting that these communication strategies were reasonably successful for engaging and representing the views of most survey participants. social environments, perceived efficacy for learning from models, and the perceived impact on other life tasks of learning from spiritual models. Scoring As an inventory, the SMILE is not intended to produce a single overall score reflecting all items. However, one can distinguish a meaningful continuum between respondents who 195 report no models in Part II, at one extreme, vs. respondents who report influential models in every major environment. As described later, SMILE scoring quantifies this particular dimension of variability as an interval-level summary measure of perceived influence from spiritual models. sections of the SMILE may be obtained on request from the corresponding author. Research questions The present empirical studies of the SMILE focus on psychometric evaluation of its foundational questions in a college student sample. Our diverse sample also supplies useful reference values for US college students, a population of major educational and 210 health related concern . We examined the following primary research questions: (1) What qualities do students view as important for spirituality (operationalized here as ultimate concerns)? What dimensions of variability (i.e., underlying factors) can be detected in their views? 215 (2) What spiritual models are most commonly recognized (1) within everyday life environments (family, school, religious organization) and (2) among prominent people known from tradition or from contemporary sources? (3) How are the perceived existence and influence of spiritual models associated with demographic and spiritual factors within various environments? 220 (4) Does a summary index of spiritual models across major life environments possess adequate psychometric reliability and validity? Methods We first describe methods used for a multisite cross-sectional study (N ¼ 1010), and then for a smaller single-site test-retest study (N ¼ 66). All surveys in both studies were admin-22

How does one become spiritual? The Spiritual Modeling Inventory of Life Environments (SMILE)

We report psychometric properties, correlates and underlying theory of the Spiritual Modeling Index of Life Environments (SMILE), a measure of perceptions of spiritual models, defined as everyday and prominent people who have functioned for respondents as exemplars of spiritual qualities, such as compassion, self-control, or faith. Demographic, spiritual, and personality correlates were examined in an ethnically diverse sample of college students from California, Connecticut, and Tennessee (N=1010). A summary measure of model influence was constructed from perceived models within family, school, religious organization, and among prominent individuals from both tradition and media. The SMILE, based on concepts from Bandura\u27s (1986) Social Cognitive Theory, was well-received by respondents. The summary measure demonstrated good 7-week test/retest reliability (r=.83); patterns of correlation supporting convergent, divergent, and criterion-related validity; demographic differences in expected directions; and substantial individual heterogeneity. Implications are discussed for further research and for pastoral, educational, and health-focused interventions

Physiological Correlates of Volunteering

We review research on physiological correlates of volunteering, a neglected but promising research field. Some of these correlates seem to be causal factors influencing volunteering. Volunteers tend to have better physical health, both self-reported and expert-assessed, better mental health, and perform better on cognitive tasks. Research thus far has rarely examined neurological, neurochemical, hormonal, and genetic correlates of volunteering to any significant extent, especially controlling for other factors as potential confounds. Evolutionary theory and behavioral genetic research suggest the importance of such physiological factors in humans. Basically, many aspects of social relationships and social activities have effects on health (e.g., Newman and Roberts 2013; Uchino 2004), as the widely used biopsychosocial (BPS) model suggests (Institute of Medicine 2001). Studies of formal volunteering (FV), charitable giving, and altruistic behavior suggest that physiological characteristics are related to volunteering, including specific genes (such as oxytocin receptor [OXTR] genes, Arginine vasopressin receptor [AVPR] genes, dopamine D4 receptor [DRD4] genes, and 5-HTTLPR). We recommend that future research on physiological factors be extended to non-Western populations, focusing specifically on volunteering, and differentiating between different forms and types of volunteering and civic participation

Meditation lowers stress and supports forgiveness among college students: A randomized controlled trial

Objective and Participants: The authors evaluated the effects on stress, rumination, forgiveness, and hope of two 8-week, 90-min/wk training programs for college undergraduates in meditation-based stress-management tools. Methods: After a pretest, the authors randomly allocated college undergraduates to training in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR; n = 15), Easwaran\u27s Eight-Point Program (EPP; n = 14), or wait-list control (n = 15). The authors gathered pretest, posttest, and 8-week follow-up data on self-report outcome measures. Results: The authors observed no post-treatment differences between MBSR and EPP or between posttest and 8-week follow-up (p \u3e .10). Compared with controls, treated participants (n = 29) demonstrated significant benefits for stress (p \u3c .05, Cohen\u27s d = -.45) and forgiveness (p \u3c .05, d = .34) and marginal benefits for rumination (p \u3c .10, d = -.34). Conclusions: Evidence suggests that meditation-based stress-management practices reduce stress and enhance forgiveness among college undergraduates. Such programs merit further study as potential health-promotion tools for college populations

Cultivating mindfulness:Effects on well-being?

There has been great interest in determining if mindfulness can be cultivated and if this cultivation leads to well-being. The current study offers preliminary evidence that at least one aspect of mindfulness, measured by the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS; K. W. Brown & R. M. Ryan, 2003), can be cultivated and does mediate positive outcomes. Further, adherence to the practices taught during the meditation-based interventions predicted positive outcomes. College undergraduates were randomly allocated between training in two distinct meditation-based interventions, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR; J. Kabat-Zinn, 1990; n=15) and E. Easwaran\u27s (1978/1991) Eight Point Program (EPP; n=14), or a waitlist control (n=15). Pretest, posttest, and 8-week follow-up data were gathered on self-report outcome measures. Compared to controls, participants in both treatment groups (n=29) demonstrated increases in mindfulness at 8-week follow-up. Further, increases in mindfulness mediated reductions in perceived stress and rumination. These results suggest that distinct meditation-based practices can increase mindfulness as measured by the MAAS, which may partly mediate benefits. Implications and future directions are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 64: 1–23, 2008

Learning from spiritual models and meditation: A randomized evaluation of a college course

Effects of two meditation and mindfulness-based spiritual interventions were examined in college undergraduates (N=44). Compared to a control group, both interventions decreased negative religious coping (d=−0.80, p\u3c.01) and images of God as mainly controlling (d=−.73, p\u3c.01). One intervention provided more training in tools for learning from community and tradition-based spiritual exemplars. It produced gains in famous or traditional spiritual exemplars’ perceived influence (d=+.81, p\u3c.05) and availability (d=+.66, p\u3c.10), in self-efficacy for learning from spiritual exemplars (d=+.92, p\u3c.05), and in nonmaterialistic aspirations (d=+0.65, p\u3c.05)

Spiritual modeling self-efficacy

We report psychometric properties, correlates, and underlying theory of the Spiritual Modeling Self-Efficacy (SMSE) scale. The SMSE, the first spiritually oriented self-efficacy measure, is a 10-item self-report assessment of perceived efficacy for learning from spiritual models. Spiritual models are defined as community-based or prominent people who function for respondents as exemplars of spiritual qualities, such as compassion, self-control, or faith. Demographic, spiritual, and personality correlates were examined in a racially and ethnically diverse sample of college students from California, Connecticut, and Tennessee (N = 1,012). SMSE total scores demonstrated good 7-week test–retest reliability (r = .77), patterns of correlation supporting convergent, divergent, and criterion-related validity, demographic differences in expected directions, and substantial individual heterogeneity. Factor analyses revealed two correlated subscales corresponding to community-based and prominent models (internal reliabilities α \u3e .85). Previous randomized studies of college students have demonstrated that psychosocial interventions can enhance SMSE scores. Implications are discussed for research and for pastoral, educational, and health applications