Summary
Bridge over troubled water. Results of research on receptivity
In this paper, we describe research on our Receptivity Scale, developedin response to some of the problems we met, when using Kenneth Pargament’s religious coping scales in the Netherlands (cf. Alma, Pieper, & Van Uden, 2003). The main problem with Pargament’s threefold conceptualisation of religious coping (self-directing, deferring, and collaborative) is theunderlying view of an active, personal God. The Receptivity Scale does justice to the idea of a more impersonal God, which is probably more common in the secularised Netherlands. Furthermore, the scale takes into account that people are not always directly focused on the solution of problems, either with or without God. The scale was administered to two samples in Belgium and two samples in The Netherlands. We compare (i) the scores of the respondents on the scale with their scores on other measures of religiosity and other psychological measures, and (ii) the scores of theology students with the scores of psychology students. We come to the conclusion that between the attitudes of basic trust on the one hand, and trust in a personal God, on the other hand, there are different degrees of relating to the transcendent in times of trouble.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literatuur
Alferi, S.M., Culver, J.L., Carver, C.S., Arena, P.L., & Antoni, M.H. (1999). Religiosity, religious coping, and distress. A prospective study of Catholic and Evangelical Hispanic women in treatment for early-stage breast cancer. Journal of Health Psychology, 4,343–356.
Alma, H.A., Pieper, J.Z.T., & Uden, M.H.F. van (2003). When I find myself in times of trouble: Pargament’s religious coping scales in the Netherlands. Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 24, 64–74.
Carver, C.S., Scheier, M.F., & Weintraub, J.K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56,267–283.
Folkman, S., Lazarus, R.S., Dunkel-Schetter, C., Delongis, A., & Gruen, R.J. (1986). Dynamics of a stressful encounter: Cognitive appraisal, coping, and encounter outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50,992–1003.
Hutsebaut, D. (1996). Post-critical belief: A new approach to the religious attitude problem. Journal of Empirical Theology, 9,48–66.
Koenig, H.G., Cohen, H.J., Blazer, D.G., Pieper, C., Meador, K.G., Shelp, F., Goli, V., & DiPasquale, B. (1992). Religious coping and depression among elderly, hospitalized medically ill men. American Journal of Psychiatry, 149,1693–1700.
Luchtmeijer, G., Verbiest, K., & Wouters, I. (2001). Spiritualiteit, een bepaling van het concept: Een zoektocht naar eenheid in de veelheid.Ongepubliceerd manuscript. Leuven: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
Pargament, K.I., Kennell, J., Hathaway, W., Grevengoed, N., Newman, J., & Jones, W. (1988). Religion and the problem-solving process: Three styles of coping. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 27,90–104.
Pargament, K.I., Koenig, H.G. & Perez, L.M. (2000). The many methods of religious coping: Development and initial validation of the RCOPE. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 56,519–543.
Pargament, K.I., Smith, B.W., Koenig, H.G., & Perez, L.M. (1998). Patterns of positive and negative religious coping with major life stressors. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 37,710–724.
Parker, G.B., & Brown, L.B. (1982). Coping behaviors that mediate between life events and depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39,1386–1391.
Ploeg, H.M. van der, Defares, P.B. & Spielberger, C.D. (1980). Handleiding bij de Zelf-Beoordelingsvragenlijst. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger.
Suls, J., David, J.P., & Harvey J.H. (1996). Personality and coping. Three generations of research. Journal of Personality, 64,711–735.
Wong-McDonald, A. (2000). Surrender to God: An additional coping style. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 28,149–162.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Prof. Dr. Marinus H.F. van Uden is verbonden aan de Radboud Universiteit te Nijmegen en aan de Universiteit van Tilburg. Correspondentie-adres: Theologische Faculteit, Departement Godsdienst- en Pastoraalpsychologie van de Universiteit van Tilburg, Postbus 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg; of Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, Postbus 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen.
Dr. Jos Z.T. Pieper is als universitair docent verbonden aan de Katholieke Theologische Universiteit te Utrecht en de Theologische Faculteit van de Universiteit Utrecht. Mevr. Prof. Dr. Hans A. Alma is hoogleraar Psychologie en Zingeving aan de Universiteit voor Humanistiek, Capaciteitsgroep Zingeving, te Utrecht. Dit artikel is bewerkt vanuit een eerder verschenen Engelstalige versie: Marinus van Uden, Jos Pieper en Hans Alma (2004). ‘Bridge over troubled water’. Further results regarding the receptive coping scale. Journal of Empirical Theology, 17,(1), 101–114.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
van Uden, R., Pieper, J. & Alma, H. Bridge over Troubled Water. GEGE 33, 117–124 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03087897
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03087897