Self-chosen involvement in new religious movements (NRMs): well-being and mental health from a longitudinal perspective

Abstract

In spite of a cult debate that has lasted for some decades now, the controversy about the harmfulness of new religious movements (NRMs) continues. A core question remains whether current or past involvement with an NRM has an adverse effect on psychosocial adjustment. In this study, this question is investigated from a longitudinal perspective. First, an overview on previous research is given. Then findings from an empirical study on individuals who get involved with NRMs in Germany are reported. Life satisfaction, depression and anxiety are investigated over the course of three years for two groups: (a) “stayers”: individuals who remained in the chosen NRM (n = 51) and (b) “leavers”: persons who left a Pentecostal parish during the course of the study (n = 9). The results confirm findings from previous studies which indicate that joining an NRM is often preceded by some kind of (retrospectively reported) crisis and that well-being increases with involvement. Adaptation during involvement was comparable to that of comparison groups from the general population and remained relatively stable over time. Among several aspects of involvement related to health and well-being, religious sense of coherence and secure attachment to God were most often and most strongly correlated with the outcome measures. Surprisingly, the hypothesis of a crisis accompanying the exit from the Pentecostal parish was only partially supported. Overall, the study does not confirm the popular notion that membership in an NRM must be harmful. It calls for a sensitive handling of the topic.

Keywords:

• new religious movements
• well-being
• mental health
• longitudinal study
• Germany

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the German Volkswagen Foundation's funding of the research project “Self-chosen membership in new religious movements: Psychosocial motives and consequences” (2002–2007) which enabled this study. We thank Claudia Appel, Stefan Huber, Claudia Müller, Angelika Sassin-Meng, Michael Schmiedel and Claudia Zieroff for help with the data collection as well as other support in different stages of the project; Daria Kaluza for the preparation of a related paper; Pehr Granqvist for discussion and helpful comments on a first draft; Lisa Friedrich for her thorough proofreading; and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.

Notes

Notes

1. It must be noted that the term “sect” is used differently in different countries and contexts. Whereas in Europe, “sect” usually is a synonym for “cult,” American sociologists differentiate between church, sect and cult. According to this “church-sect-cult tricotomy” (Melton, 2004, p. 18), the term “church” refers to the established dominant religious community of a culture. Although “sects” rise in protest against churches, they still resemble them to a considerable degree but are more fervent in their worship and are stricter regarding beliefs and individual commitment.

2. According to Saliba (1993, p. 106) more than 75% of empirical studies with current members of NRMs tended “to show that the psychological profiles of individuals tested fall well within ‘normal’ bounds.” Nonetheless, frequently an overrepresentation of certain characteristics in specific groups is observed–e.g., compulsive (Klosinski, 1985; Weiss & Comrey, 1987a, b) or schizotypical personality traits (Day & Peters, 1999; Farias, Claridge, & Lalljee, 2005). As there is not much evidence that membership in an NRM brings about radical alterations in basic personality, although other aspects of personality like world view, self-identity and personal adaptation may change, most authors conclude that the distinctive characteristics of members of a certain group are motives for joining an NRM which offers a culture that suits a person well, rather than a consequence of involvement (cf. also Paloutzian, Richardson, & Rambo, 1999).

3. Although meditation is a common religious practice that is applied in many NRMs and which can be considered a pathway to mental health and well-being, it is not included here, since the depth of the subject matter would merit its own study. A great deal of literature which focuses on the effects of meditation is available (for a review see e.g., Ivanovski & Malhi, 2007; Murphy & Donovan, 1997; Perez-de-Albeniz & Holmes, 2000).

4. Although American readers may doubt the classification of these groups as NRMs, it is justified in the German context in which this study was conducted. Following the German religious historian Flasche (1996) all three groups can be considered to be “new” religious movements as they have arisen since the mid-nineteenth century, which–compared to the two major churches in Germany, the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church–is quite “new.” Apart from this historical argumentation, the groups share some other characteristics with NRMs that have arisen in recent decades, for example, the relatively small size of the groups and the public's hostility towards them. In Germany, Jehovah's Witnesses and the New Apostolic Church are generally considered to be classical Sekten and, thus, assumed to manipulate and harm their members.

5. The Holy Sealing is a specific New Apostolic sacrament in which living apostles dispense the Holy Spirit through prayers and the laying on of hands.

6. The finding that all leavers were from the Pentecostal group can be ascribed to the shorter mean time of contact (in comparison to stayers) which in part results from the fact that we could include individuals with a more recent interest in the Pentecostal group than in the two other groups. Moreover, the religious groups differently conceptualise becoming a Pentecostal, a member of the New Apostolic Church or a member of Jehovah's Witnesses, respectively. Becoming a Pentecostal is closely linked to the (often spontaneous) decision to accept Jesus as personal saviour and often quickly followed by baptism, which is a prerequisite to becoming a member of the parish. It can be assumed that the quickness of the decision results in a higher probability that it will be discarded later on.

7. No studies on mental health or well-being of members of the New Apostolic Church exist.