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Religion, Spirituality and Health Research: Warning of Contaminated Scales.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Koenig, HG; Carey, LB
Published in: J Relig Health
October 2024

The relationship between religiosity, spirituality and health has received increasing attention in the academic literature. Studies involving quantitative measurement of religiosity and/or spirituality (R/S) and health have reported many positive associations between these constructs. The quality of various measures, however, is very important in this field, given concerns that some measures of R/S have been contaminated with indicators of mental health. When this occurs, that is when R/S is defined and measured a priori, this subsequently guarantees a positive association between R/S and health (especially mental health). Such associations are called tautological, which involves correlating a construct with itself, thus producing associations that are uninterpretable and misleading. In this article, concerns about the measurement of R/S are discussed, examples of contaminated and potentially probelmatic measures of R/S are noted, and recommendations are made regarding uncontaminated measures of R/S that should be used in future studies of R/S and health.

Duke Scholars

Published In

J Relig Health

DOI

EISSN

1573-6571

Publication Date

October 2024

Volume

63

Issue

5

Start / End Page

3729 / 3743

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Spirituality
  • Social Psychology
  • Religion and Psychology
  • Mental Health
  • Humans
  • Health Status
  • 5203 Clinical and health psychology
  • 4206 Public health
  • 1117 Public Health and Health Services
 

Citation

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Koenig, H. G., & Carey, L. B. (2024). Religion, Spirituality and Health Research: Warning of Contaminated Scales. J Relig Health, 63(5), 3729–3743. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-024-02112-6
Koenig, Harold G., and Lindsay B. Carey. “Religion, Spirituality and Health Research: Warning of Contaminated Scales.J Relig Health 63, no. 5 (October 2024): 3729–43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-024-02112-6.
Koenig HG, Carey LB. Religion, Spirituality and Health Research: Warning of Contaminated Scales. J Relig Health. 2024 Oct;63(5):3729–43.
Koenig, Harold G., and Lindsay B. Carey. “Religion, Spirituality and Health Research: Warning of Contaminated Scales.J Relig Health, vol. 63, no. 5, Oct. 2024, pp. 3729–43. Pubmed, doi:10.1007/s10943-024-02112-6.
Koenig HG, Carey LB. Religion, Spirituality and Health Research: Warning of Contaminated Scales. J Relig Health. 2024 Oct;63(5):3729–3743.
Journal cover image

Published In

J Relig Health

DOI

EISSN

1573-6571

Publication Date

October 2024

Volume

63

Issue

5

Start / End Page

3729 / 3743

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Spirituality
  • Social Psychology
  • Religion and Psychology
  • Mental Health
  • Humans
  • Health Status
  • 5203 Clinical and health psychology
  • 4206 Public health
  • 1117 Public Health and Health Services