The Dimensions of Spirituality

The purpose of the study was to identify the major dimensions of spirituality by asking 147 participants to rate 122 adjectives for how spiritual each seemed. Participants were 70% female, 30% male, with an average age of 24 yr. 66% were college undergraduates, and their ethnicities were 44% Euro-American, 20% African American, 14% Asian or Asian American, and 14% Latino. A principal components factor analysis was performed on the responses, and seven interpretable factors emerged. Four represented various dimensions of spirituality. One indicated what is not spiritual. One reflected the positive tone of many of the items. And the last represented adventurousness. The four spiritual factors were named Loving Connection to others, Self-effacing Altruism, Blissful Transcendence, and Religiosity/Sacredness. The one factor that garnered very low ratings for spirituality was named Lonely/Angry and consisted of items related to anger, pointlessness, selfishness, abandonment, and loneliness.