This dissertation reports about the construction and validation of the Apperception Test God Representations. First, results of a meta-analysis demonstrated that for adherents of monotheistic... Show moreThis dissertation reports about the construction and validation of the Apperception Test God Representations. First, results of a meta-analysis demonstrated that for adherents of monotheistic religions, their perceived and experienced relationship with the personal god they believe in, was associated with well-being and distress. Also, as was expected based on object-relations and attachment theory, God representations were associated with views of self and others and with neuroticism/optimism. However, these results were mostly based on self-report measures of God representations, which are thought to be susceptible to social desirability and doctrine effects. Many scholars believe that God representations are for an important part implicit. Because well-validated implicit God representation measures did not exist, this thesis project examined the validity of a newly developed measure. In a group of 74 Christian patients with personality disorders and a group of 71 Christian nonpatients, associations of implicitly measured God representations with implicitly and explicitly measured distress and object-relational and explicitly measured personality functioning were compared with associations of explicitly measured God representations with these variables. For patients, associations between changes in God representations and changes in distress and explicit object-relational functioning after psychotherapy were examined. Results predominantly corroborated the construct validity of the ATGR. Show less
Context: Results of meta-analyses show weak associations between religiosity and well-being, but are based on divergent definitions of religiosity. Objective: The aim of this meta-analysis was to... Show moreContext: Results of meta-analyses show weak associations between religiosity and well-being, but are based on divergent definitions of religiosity. Objective: The aim of this meta-analysis was to examine the magnitude of the associations between God representations and aspects of psychological functioning. Based on object-relations and attachment theory, the study discerns six dimensions of God representations: Two positive affective God representations, three negative affective God representations, and God control. Associations with well-being and distress and with self-concept, relationships with others and neuroticism were examined. Methods: The meta-analysis was based on 123 samples out of 112 primary studies with 348 effect sizes from in total 29,963 adolescent and adult participants, with a vast majority adherent of a theistic religion. Results: The analyses, based on the random-effects model, yielded mostly medium effect sizes (r = .25 to r = .30) for the associations of positive God representations with well-being, and for the associations of two out of three negative God representations with distress. Associations of God representations with self-concept, relationships with others and neuroticism were of the same magnitude. Various moderator variables could not explain the relatively high amount of heterogeneity. The authors found no indications of publication bias. Conclusion: The observed effect sizes are significantly stronger than those generally found in meta-analyses of associations between religiousness and well-being/mental health. Results demonstrate the importance of focusing on God representations instead of on behavioral or rather global aspects of religiosity. Several implications with respect to assessment, clinical practice, and future research are discussed. Show less
For adherents of theistic religions, God representations are an important factor in explaining associations between religion/spirituality and well-being/mental health. Because of limitations of... Show moreFor adherents of theistic religions, God representations are an important factor in explaining associations between religion/spirituality and well-being/mental health. Because of limitations of self-report measures of God representations, we developed an implicit God representation instrument, the Apperception Test God Representations (ATGR) and examined its reliability and validity. Its scales could be scored reliably and were within a clinical sample associated more strongly than explicit God representation scales with the Global Assessment of Functioning scale. Compared to the ATGR scores of a nonclinical sample, the clinical sample had less complex, positive, and mature God representations, indicating discriminant validity. Show less
