12.I try hard to carry my religion over into all my other
dealings in life.
1.Definitely not true of me
2.Tends not to be true
3.Unsure
4.Tends to be true
5.Definitely true of me
13.One should seek God’s guidance when making
every important decision.
1.Definitely disagree
2.Tend to disagree
3.Unsure
4.Tend to agree
5.Definitely agree
14.Although I believe in religion, I feel there are many
more important things in life.
1.Definitely disagree
2.Tend to disagree
3.Unsure
4.Tend to agree
5.Definitely agree15.It doesn’t matter so much what I believe as long as I
lead a moral life.
1.Definitely disagree
2.Tend to disagree
3.Unsure
4.Tend to agree
5.Definitely agree
Scoring : First, reverse score items 1, 2, 4, 8, 14, and
15. Then add up score for each subscale: Score range
for ORA (items 1 /C02) is 2 /C012, NORA (items 3 /C05) is
3/C018, and IR (items 6 /C015) is 10 /C050; total score range
15/C077 (but should analyze each of these three
dimensions separately, not combine them into a
single score).
Note: The full 34-item SRS measure is published in
the original source ( Koenig et al., 1988a ) or can be
obtained directly from the author (contact Harold
Koenig at the following email address: Harold.
Koenig@duke.edu ).
Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality (MMRS)
(Fetzer Institute, 1999 ).
Variables
The MMRS measures multiple dimensions, besides religious affiliation, including daily spiritual experiences
(DSE), beliefs/values (BV), organizational activity (ORA), non-organizational activity (NORA), religious coping
(RC), religious support (RS), religious history (RH), religious commitment (RCM), and religious/spiritual self-
ratings (SR) ( Fetzer Institute, 1999 ). Also measured are health outcomes that are not aspects of religiosity or spiri-
tuality, per se , including meaning (M), human values (HV), and forgiveness (F).
Description
There is both a long version (MMRS) and a brief version (BMMRS). The BMMRS was administered to a large U.S.
national random sample of adults during the 1998 General Social Survey (GSS) ( N51445) ( Idler et al., 2003 ). As a
result, there are excellent national norms available for 33 items contained in 10 of the subscales ( Fetzer Institute, 1999 ).
Sample
The GSS sample ( Idler et al., 2003 ) consisted of 1445 community-dwelling adults. Characteristics of the sample
were the following. Religious affiliation was 54% Protestant, 26% Catholic, 2% Jewish, and 14% no religious affili-
ation; age range 18 to 65 years; 52% women; 14% African-American; and 55% currently married. The BMMRS
was also administered to an adolescent sample in Boston ( N5305; aged 12 /C018 years; 34% Catholic, 29%
Christian/Protestant, 11% none; 67% female; 34% Black, 40% Hispanic, 15% Caucasian) ( Harris et al., 2008 ).
Finally, the BMMRS was administered to college students at Syracuse University in New York ( N5374; aged 18
to 40 years; 34% Catholic, 20% Protestant, 15% Jewish) ( Masters et al., 2009 ).
Reliability
Internal Consistency
For the GSS sample, Cronbach alpha coefficients were reported for the BMMRS subscales as follows: ORA (0.82),
NORA (0.72), RS (0.64 /C00.86), RC (0.54 /C00.81), SR (0.77), DSE (0.91), BV (0.64), and F (0.66) ( Idler et al., 2003 ). For the548 19. MEASURES OF RELIGIOSITY
V. VICES AND VIRTUES