negative subscale (especially) has been associated with both mental and physical health outcomes, including mor-
tality and immune function.
BRIEF RCOPE
Positive religious coping
1.I looked for a stronger connection with God.
2.I sought God’s love and care.
3.I sought help from God in letting go of my anger.
4.I tried to put my plans into action together with God.
5.I tried to see how God might be trying to strengthen
me in the situation.
6.I asked forgiveness for my sins.
7.I focused on religion to stop worrying about my
problems.Negative religious coping
8.I wondered whether God had abandoned me.
9.I felt punished by God for my lack of devotion.
10.I wondered what I did for God to punish.
11.I questioned God’s love for me.
12.I wondered whether my church had abandoned me.
13.I decided the Devil made this happen.
14.I questioned the power of God.
Note: Reproduced with permission.
Faith Maturity Scale (FMS)
(Benson et al., 1993 ).
Variable
Religious maturity is the degree to which individuals have achieved a life that exemplifies the teachings of
their religious faith ( Benson et al., 1993 ).
Description
The FMS seeks to assess the ‘priorities, commitments, and perspectives characteristic of a vibrant and life trans-
forming faith’ ( Benson et al., 1993 , p. 3). This measure is grounded within mainline Protestant Christianity. The
scale contains 38 statements, which produces a global faith maturity score (FMS-T) and two subscale scores (vertical
and horizontal dimensions) (FMS-V and FMS-H). Many items focus on altruistic attitudes and behaviors, consistent
with mainline Christianity, although several include statements that reflect the mental and physical health conse-
quences of a mature faith (rather than assessing exactly what a mature faith is). Response options range from 1
‘never true’ to 7 ‘always true.’ Scores on each subscale are summed separately or combined together (after reverse
scoring several items); score range is 38 /C0266 if combined, with higher scores indicating greater faith maturity.
Sample
The FMS was examined in members of a nationally representative sample of U.S. congregations, involving
adolescents, adults, Christian education teachers and coordinators, and pastors, with samples ranging in size
from 404 Christian education coordinators to 3582 adults (Southern Baptists were excluded). Psychometric char-
acteristics were also examined in a sample of 251 young adults at the University of Kentucky ( Salsman &
Carlson, 2005 ).
Reliability
Internal Consistency
Cronbach alpha coefficients ranged from 0.84 to 0.90 in the original study ( Benson et al., 1993 ).
Test/C0Retest
To our knowledge, no test /C0retest reliability coefficients have been reported to date.
Validity
Convergent/Concurrent
FMS-V is strongly correlated with measures of intrinsic religiosity (0.80), whereas FMS-H is less strongly corre-
lated with intrinsic religiosity (0.39) ( Salsman & Carlson, 2005 ).541 SINGLE DIMENSIONAL SCALES
V. VICES AND VIRTUES