The Jesus People: Changes in Security and Life-Style as a Function of Nonconformist Religious Influence

Summary

Members of the Jesus movement in Johannesburg, South Africa, were presented with Brown and Lowe's Inventory of Religious Belief, Maslow's Security-Insecurity Inventory, and Friedlander's Life-Style Questionnaire. The Ss were Caucasian, English-speaking young men and women between the ages of 17 and 28. The control group (N = 22) comprised members of mainstream church denominations who were matched with the Jesus People (N = 22) for age, home-language, occupation of father, and general intelligence. It was found that members of the Jesus movement showed significant increases in fundamentalism and psychological security, as a function of their conversion experience. In addition, there were significant changes in their life-style orientations. It is suggested that the Jesus movement serves as a “halfway” house, reintegrating counterculture youth back into mainstream society.