Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2019
Abstract
The study examined the relationship between people's affective and cognitive representations of God (positive feelings about God, anxious feelings toward God, anger toward God, the perception that God is supportive, ruling or punishing, or passive) and their psychological well-being. Eighty-six college students who identified as Christian responded to the Questionnaire of God Representations (Schaap-Jonker, 2018) and a set of scales measuring hedonic well-being (life satisfaction, positive/negative affect), eudaimonic well-being (personal growth, environmental mastery, positive relationships, purpose in life, self-acceptance, and autonomy), and psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress). Results indicated that perceiving God's actions as supportive was associated with higher levels life satisfaction, positive affect, and environmental mastery. Viewing God as angry was associated with higher levels of negative affect and lower levels of autonomy, personal growth, and purpose in life. The perception of God as ruling or punishing was negatively correlated with life satisfaction. Additionally, feeling anxious about God was negatively correlated with self-acceptance. None of the six cognitive and affective representations of God was predictive of depression, anxiety, and stress.
Recommended Citation
Adams, Melanie, "The Relationship Between God Representations and Psychological Well-Being" (2019). Undergraduate Honors Theses. 159.
https://thekeep.eiu.edu/honors_theses/159
