High Stress Life Events and Spiritual Development

• Published in: Journal of psychology and theology Vol. 27; no. 3; pp. 250 - 260
• Main Authors: James, Barry J., Samuels, Curtis A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: La Mirada Sage Publications Ltd 01.09.1999
• Subjects: Families & family life; Hypotheses; Psychologists; Religion; Spirituality
• ISSN: 0091-6471; 2328-1162
• DOI: 10.1177/009164719902700305

This study investigated the relationships between the experience of common high stress life events and measures of adult spiritual development. Three hundred thirty-two respondents (116 male and 216 female) aged from 19 to 79 years completed a four-part survey. Intrinsic and extrinsic religiousness were measured using the Intrinsic/Extrinsic-Revised Scale (Gorsuch & MacPherson, 1989), and universalistic spiritual orientation was assessed using a modified version of the Religious Beliefs Inventory (Ring, 1986). The Fowler Scale (Barnes, Doyle, & Johnson, 1989) was used to estimate faith style. Experience of high stress life events was investigated using a life events survey adapted here from several previous studies, including Holmes and Rahe (1967) and Tennant and Andrews (1976). Results support the hypothesis that the experience of a high stress life event is associated with a universalistic spiritual orientation, but not the hypothesis that intrinsic religiousness is related to the experience of such events. The hypothesis that faith stage is associated with the experience of a high stress life event is supported for males only. This study lends support to earlier case-history reports which indicated that spiritual growth can be a constructive consequence of highly stressful life experiences.