Wade C. Rowatt

This paper details psychometric analyses of religion and spirituality (R/S) measures in a diverse sample of U.S. adults in the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health (SSSH). Participants (n = 16,372) completed the SSSH Baseline Survey which assessed a broad range of R/S practices, beliefs, and experiences. The survey was administered in six NIH-funded cohort studies. Four cohorts were homogeneous regarding participant race/ethnicity: Black, South Asian, American Indian, or Hispanic/Latino. Two cohorts included predominantly White participants. Given our goal of identifying a robust, parsimonious set of R/S measures for common use in U.S. cohort studies, we analyzed the structure of individual R/S items in a combined sample and disregarded whether items were part of a pre-existing scale. An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) of 60 R/S items in a randomly selected half of the sample (n1=8,186) revealed nine R/S dimensions; four were robust to retention criteria. The four remaining R/S dimensions were Positive Religion/Spiritualty and Coping, Negative Religious Coping/Spiritual Struggle, Spirituality as Meaning-Purpose-Connection, and Non-Theistic Daily Spiritual Experiences. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of 41 retained items conducted in the second half of the sample (n2=8,186) demonstrated that a correlated 4-factor model fit better than a unidimensional model or orthogonal (uncorrelated) 4-factor model. Future work is needed to confirm this model in other datasets, to demonstrate the external validity of these core R/S constructs in relation to a range of outcomes, and to finalize a robust but efficient set of R/S measures for use in U.S. cohort studies.

Introduction: Art has been shown to evoke a range of emotions, yet the mechanisms underlying these responses remain underexplored. Across three studies using between- and within-subjects designs, we examined how viewing original photographic art in virtual reality (VR) influences self-transcendent emotions and related affective states. Method: In Study 1, participants viewed photographs in one of three VR contexts (museum, warehouse, church sanctuary). In Study 2, participants viewed the same photographs in a VR museum context where the photo scale varied (small vs. large scale). In Study 3, online participants viewed video recordings of the VR museum with or without computer-generated avatars. Results: Contrary to predictions, across all three studies, self-transcendent positive emotions decreased following the virtual art intervention, even after controlling for cybersickness. However, the virtual art intervention also consistently reduced state anxiety. Conclusion: Additional alternative explanations and implications are discussed for using VR to elicit self-transcendent emotional experiences to art.

UniversityResearch suggests retirement from competition to be a significant life transition, categorized by both positive and negative experiences. Ample studies have shown that psychological inflexibility (i.e., a person’s difficulty in coping with and accepting distress) is a negative experience that can lead to adverse mental health outcomes within competitive contexts. However, no studies to date have examined the link between psychological inflexibility, reactions to retirement, and mental health outcomes in retired competitors. The present study examines how inflexibility and reactions to retirement are associated with depression and anxiety symptoms in a sample of former competitors within Drum Corps International, an elite marching and performance organization with mandatory retirement at age 21. Results from 223 retired competitors (age range 20-29, Mage = 24.27) were analyzed. Consistent with hypotheses, psychological inflexibility predicted depression and anxiety symptoms, and reactions to retirement partially mediated the relation between inflexibility and symptoms of depression. Specifically, positive reappraisal and loss of control reactions to retirement partially mediated psychological inflexibility’s association with depressive symptoms (with loss of control as the stronger mediator). Clinical implications for competitors approaching retirement are discussed, with emphasis on the utility of acceptance and commitment-based interventions.

Using cross‐sectional data from N = 4274 young adults across 16 countries during the COVID‐19 pandemic, we examined the cross‐cultural measurement invariance of the perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) scale and tested the hypothesis that the association between PVD and fear of COVID‐19 is stronger under high disease threat [that is, absence of COVID‐19 vaccination, living in a country with lower Human Development Index (HDI) or higher COVID‐19 mortality]. Results supported a bi‐factor Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling model where items loaded on a global PVD factor, and on the sub‐factors of Perceived Infectability and Germ Aversion . However, cross‐national invariance could only be obtained on the configural level with a reduced version of the PVD scale (PVD‐r), suggesting that the concept of PVD may vary across nations. Moreover, higher PVD‐r was consistently associated with greater fear of COVID‐19 across all levels of disease threat, but this association was especially pronounced among individuals with a COVID‐19 vaccine, and in contexts where COVID‐19 mortality was high. The present research brought clarity into the dimensionality of the PVD measure, discussed its suitability and limitations for cross‐cultural research, and highlighted the pandemic‐related conditions under which higher PVD is most likely to go along with psychologically maladaptive outcomes, such as fear of COVID‐19.