Attachment to God and Quest as Moderators of the Relationship between Religious Doubt and Mental Health

The present study examined attachment to God and quest as potential moderators of the relationship between religious doubt and mental health. A sample of Christian participants (N = 235) completed a survey which included measures of attachment to God, quest, religious doubt, and mental health. As hypothesized, attachment to God and quest significantly moderated an individual’s experience of religious doubt. Low avoidant attachment to God (i.e., a more secure attachment) was associated with a more negative relationship between cognitive religious doubt and positive mental health than high avoidant attachment. In contrast, low avoidant attachment to God also ameliorated the positive relationship between affective religious doubt and mental health problems. Low anxious attachment was associated with a stronger negative relationship between both measures of religious doubt (i.e., cognitive and affective) and positive mental health. In addition, high soft quest weakened all four of the relationships between measures of religious doubt and mental health. High hard quest ameliorated the positive relationship between both measures of religious doubt and mental health problems. These results indicate that an individual’s attachment to God and the way an individual is oriented toward religion each play a role in the mental health outcomes associated with religious doubt.