Assessing the Relationships among Religion, Humility, Forgiveness, and Self-Rated Health

Abstract

The purpose of this study is estimate a model that contains five hypotheses: (1) people who attend worship services more often will receive more spiritual support; (2) individuals who receive more spiritual support will be more humble; (3) people who are more humble will be more likely to forgive; (4) people who are more forgiving will find a greater sense of meaning in life; and (5) a greater sense of meaning in life will be associated with better self-rated health. Data from a nationwide survey of adults age 18 and older (N = 1,744) provide support for each hypothesis.

Notes

1. Although the reliability estimate for the measure of humility is low by social and behavioral science standards, it is important to keep an important issue in mind. Humility is measured with only three items in the current study. This is important because, as Zeller and Carmines (1980) convincingly demonstrate, the number of items in a scale create a downward bias in estimates of Cronbach’s alpha. Cronbach’s alpha is based upon the number of items in a scale as well as the average intercorrelations among the study measures. The average intercorrelation among the items in the current study is .314. If three additional items with the same average intercorrelation were added to the items in the current study, the reliability estimate would jump to approximately .720, which is acceptable by most standards. This is one reason why Sijtsma (2009) concludes that, “Alpha is a lower bound to the reliability, in many cases, even a gross underestimate” (p. 107).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the John Templeton Foundation (40077).