Psychological type profile of Protestant church leaders in Australia: are clergymen and clergywomen different?

Abstract

A sample of 120 clergywomen and 436 clergymen from Protestant denominations in Australia participated in the 2011 National Church Life Survey completing form LS2 that included the Francis Psychological Type Scales, an operationalisation of psychological type theory. The type profiles of the clergymen and clergywomen are compared, and demonstrate only one difference, clergywomen are significantly more likely to report a feeling preference than clergymen but the difference is not strong. The type profiles of the clergy are compared to the Australian population norms and, in the case of both men and women, found to be different. The personality profiles of clergymen and clergywomen have more in common based on being clergy, rather than being either male or female. The implications of these findings for the ministry and mission of Protestant denominations in Australia are discussed.

Keywords:

• clergymen
• clergywomen
• personality
• psychological type
• religion

Acknowledgement

The authors wish to thank the Australian Catholic University for the award of Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow for the first author which enabled this collaboration.