Sergej Flere

The Role of Culture in the Relationship Between Religiosity and Psychological Well-being

Several measures of religious practice and religious orientation (intrinsic/extrinsic/quest) and two measures of psychological well-being (positive affect and negative affect) have been employed in a cross-cultural survey of undergraduate university students from five different cultural/religious environments: Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, the United States of America, and Japan. Results suggest that measures of exstrinsic, intrinsic, and quest religiosity are not entirely applicable in most of the cultures observed. Nevertheless, it was possible to discern abbreviated cross-culturally valid scales for each dimension. The strength and direction of the correlation between psychological well-being and a particular type of religious orientation proved to depend substantially upon culture. More importantly, the cultural environment plays a crucial role in shaping the relationship between general measures of religiosity and psychological well-being. According to the data, higher general levels of religiosity at the societal level are linked to more positive correlations between religiosity and psychological well-being. The overall picture leads to the conclusion that there is no culturally universal pattern in the relationship between measures of religiosity and psychological well-being and that the particular cultural and religious context should always be considered in studies dealing with this issue.

On the Validity of Cross-Cultural Social Studies Using Student Samples

Student samples have become a widely used resource in the study of not only particular phenomena and problems within individual environments but also of their study within a cross-cultural context. A number of such studies, most often generalizing their results to the level of cultures, are illustrated in this article. In addition, the authors carry out a number of empirical tests of the generalizability of results attained on student samples in cross-cultural research. Based on the World Values Survey data, mean values of four sociologically and psychologically relevant measures are compared between national and student samples of twenty-three countries. Results suggest that the findings attained on student samples can be viewed cautiously as a good indicator of national sample rankings in cross-national comparisons.

Cultural Capital and Intellectual Ability as Predictors of Scholastic Achievement: A Study of Slovenian Secondary School Students.

Cultural capital, originally a general sociological concept, has been transformed into a construct that is often applied in predicting scholastic attainment. Intellectual ability (IQ) has also been proven to be a strong, although basically psychological, predictor of educational attainment. However, these strands of research have hardly been contrasted in terms of their predictive power and in terms of their potential interaction. In the current study of Slovenian secondary school students, the results indicated that both constructs had statistically significant predictive power, both as to attainment and as to transition into type of secondary education. Results also indicated that: both constructs were fairly robust, as their predictive power remained statistically significant even after control variables were entered into the model; and they operated independently as results indicated no interaction between these constructs. The ‘return’ on cultural capital was greater for students whose parents had lower educational status.

The psychometric properties of the Slovenian translation of the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity : a study among Roman Catholic undergraduate students

In order to contribute to a growing international research programme concerned with the correlations, antecedents and consequences of individual differences in attitude toward religion, the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity was translated into Slovenian. Data provided by a sample of 808 undergraduate students affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church supported the internal consistency reliability and construct validity of this instrument and commended it for further use in studies conducted in Slovenia.

Religious Orientation in Three Central European Environments: Quest, Intrinsic, and Extrinsic Dimensions

The concepts of intrinsic, extrinsic, and quest religiosity, as operationalized by tested instruments (Batson & Schoenrade, 1991a, 1991b, Gorsuch & McPherson, 1989) were analyzed, tested, and validated in three different cultural settings in central Europe (among Bosnian Muslims, the Serbian Orthodox, and Slovenian Catholics). The study was carried out in spring 2005 on undergraduate university students. The study indicated that the intrinsic and extrinsic dimensions functioned in line with expectations (intrinsic being consistent; extrinsic bifurcating into a social and a psychological component) in all samples. Quest religious orientation functioned in line with Edwards, Hall, and Slater (2002) in the two Christian settings, being decomposed into three entities. In the Muslim setting, quest behaved differently both as to decomposition and as to relationship to the other orientations, indicating a clear opposition to the latter, when correlations are considered.

Trait anxiety and measures of religiosity in four cultural settings

Several measures of religious practice and religious orientation (intrinsic/extrinsic/quest) and the trait form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were employed in a survey of undergraduate university students from four different cultural environments: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, and the USA. The results suggest that (1) the relationship between trait anxiety and religiosity substantially varies between these samples; (2) the relationship between quest religious orientation and trait anxiety was the only one to give stable (positive) unidirectional and significant correlations across the four samples; and (3) among the religious measures employed, attendance at religious services proved to be potentially the most effective anxiety-buffering mechanism within the samples.

Intrinsic religious orientation and religious rewards: An empirical evaluation of two approaches to religious motivation

Gordon Allport defined intrinsic religious orientation as the polar opposite of the utilitarian and instrumental extrinsic orientation. On the other hand, Rodney Stark and associates developed a theory of religion according to which the utilitarian motive is at the very core of (any) religious motivation. A study of undergraduate students from three social settings with different dominant religions (Catholic, Islamic and Eastern Orthodox) showed that the intrinsic religious orientation and the perceived religious rewards, such as expectations of eternal life in heaven or perceptions of God’s help in everyday life, tend to form a unidimensional construct in all the observed samples. On the one hand, these results shed new light on the assumption of intrinsic religious orientation being free of utilitarian and instrumental motives. On the other hand, they lend substantial support to the basic assumption of the rational choice approach to religion.

Exit Yugoslavia: longing for mononational states or entrepreneurial manipulation?

The study analyzed whether the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the establishment of succeeding mono-national states was the expression of “longing” of mass proportions on the part of the nationalities within respective federal units. Using the data from two pan-Yugoslav surveys from the period preceding the dissolution, results were obtained that indicated a very limited support for this hypothesis. More specifically, results indicated that support for emancipation was rather weak, among youth in 1986 and even among the adult population in 1990, although some significant mean differences between the federal units and between major nationalities within them were evident. Specifically, opinions favoring independence were detected among Kosovo Albanians and later among Slovenians in Slovenia. In addition, findings also indicated that those with higher socioeconomic status were not more inclined toward independence. Results thus pointed more towards the idea that the dissolution was indeed instigated by a small group of “political entrepreneurs” not captured by the survey data.

Measuring religious costs and rewards in a cross-cultural perspective

The assumption of rationally motivated individual religious behavior was tested in a survey of undergraduate university students from four different cultural/religious environments: Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and the United States of America. In particular, an attempt was made to explain readiness to bear religious costs by the expectation of otherworldly rewards and some other variables, such as religious socialization, support in the upbringing of children, religious capital, satisfaction with religious services and the perceived social sanctions for possible religious nonparticipation. It was found that it is the otherworldly rewards in all the samples that explain by far the major part of the variance in the readiness to bear religious costs. These results suggest that individuals do tend to make rational choices even when it comes to religion. Based on their beliefs, they are ready to accept religious costs approximately to the level of their expectation of otherworldly rewards.

Social inequity and educational expansion in Slovenia

The study examines the relationship between social inequalities (stratificational, gender and other disparities) and schooling, including academic attainment, longitudinally, in Slovenia. The issue is indicated most clearly at the tertiary education level. The basic finding is the parallel between educational expansion and the diminution of social inequalities as measured by standard parameters. This was particularly evident in the 1990s. Inequalities are measured in terms of gender, parental education and occupation. The impact of parental education proves to be an indicative, observable and longitudinally comparative measure. Parental occupational status is also clearly linked to their children’s scholastic attainment, although there are difficulties in the formation of occupational strata. Further considered is the impact of school reforms over a lengthier period of time; there was not, however, any detectable impact. School and welfare policies, even financing, have little significance. There are clear indications that social disparities at school are continually regenerated, despite the decline established by standard measures. New forms of social disparities appear, through which the privileged ensure the continuation of privilege.