An attachment-theoretical approach to the psychology of religion

The purpose of this dissertation is to demonstrate that attachment theory, as originally proposed by John Bowlby and subsequently refined by a host of other psychological researchers, provides a powerful framework for integrating research and theory in the psychology of religion. Part I of the thesis presents an overview of attachment theory, with emphasis on recent applications of the theory to adult relationships. Next, the discussion focuses on ways in which attachment theory appears to be useful for conceptualizing a diverse array of religious beliefs in a personal, accessible God and the experience of having a personal relationship with God. Religious conversion, images of God, and prayer are among other topics discussed from the perspective of attachment theory.;The results demonstrated that attachment relationships with parents interacted with parents' religiousness in predicting a variety of measures of conventional and conservative religiosity. Attachment relationships with parents also proved to be a powerful predictor of sudden religious conversions, particularly during adolescence. In these cases, religion appeared to serve a compensatory attachment function. In contrast, religious beliefs tended to be directly related to individual differences in attachments to romantic love partners. Finally, individual differences in reported attachments to God were found to be strongly associated with measures of general life satisfaction and absence of depression and anxiety. Discussion of the results focuses on the potential for the study of religion to inform psychological research and theory on such topics as personal relationships and, conversely, for theory in social and developmental psychology to enhance our understanding of religious belief and commitment.;Part II of the dissertation reports the procedures and results of an exploratory study in which several of the hypotheses developed in Part I were examined empirically. Two hundred-thirteen adults who had previously responded to a newspaper survey concerning love relationships and other topics completed a detailed survey designed for this study. The questionnaire included measures of religious background, changes in religious beliefs during and after adolescence, and a variety of measures of current religious beliefs and behaviors.