The Christian Contentment Scale: An Emic Measure for Assessing Inner Satisfaction within the Christian Tradition

In the present study, the authors developed the Christian Contentment Scale (CCS), an emic measure for assessing both the experience (i.e., inner satisfaction) and source (i.e., God) of contentment among Christian adults. First, the authors reviewed key writings from secular psychology, Buddhism, and Christianity to operationalize a definition of Christian contentment and generate an initial pool of 25 items for further analysis. Second, the authors conducted an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with separate subsamples of online Christian adults (N = 475), identifying and confirming a one-factor solution for the final 10-item scale. Third, the authors examined the reliability and validity of the CCS, with results revealing the scale had adequate internal consistency, was positively correlated with mindful qualities, life contentment, state contentment, equanimity, and daily spiritual experiences, and predicted equanimity and daily spiritual experiences, after controlling for state contentment. The authors concluded by exploring the salient role that Christian contentment can play in a more holistic, culturally sensitive conceptualization of psychological and spiritual health.