Initial development and factor structure for a scale to assess the aspects of Fowler’s model of faith development

Mallery, P., & Mallery, S. (2015, August 18). Initial development and factor structure for a scale to assess the aspects of Fowler’s model of faith development. International Association for the Psychology of Religion, Istanbul, Turkey.Fowler’s model of faith development (Fowler, 1981) has been used extensively in the fields of phenomenology of religion and, to a lesser extent, psychology. The standard tool used to assess faith development is the Faith Development Interview (Fowler, Streib, & Keller, 2004), but has had limited use within psychology. Paper-and-pencil scales have been developed, but they are fairly short (the most popular scale, Leak, Loucks, & Bowlin, 1999, uses nine yes-or-no questions) and do not assess the breadth of faith present in the seven aspects of development incorporated in the Faith Development Interview. An initial scale and factor structure of a more detailed paper-and-pencil (or online) measure of all of the aspects of Fowler’s model for stages 2 or 3 through 5 is described (each aspect was assessed in one of two samples, N = 394 and N = 344), along with initial validation results for subscales assessing two of the aspects of the model (Social Perspective Taking and Bounds of Social Awareness) as they relate to other psychological constructs such as social desirability, empathy, and identification with all humanity and the psychology of religion constructs of instrinsic and extrinsic religiosity, quest orientation, and religious schemas.