Religious Commitment Scale

Abstract

The Religious Commitment Scale (RCS) is a specialized 15-item subscale derived from the larger 51-item Questionnaire on Religious Orientation and General Coping with Life. Developed primarily by Pfeifer and Waelty (1995), the scale is designed to quantify an individual’s level of religious commitment, specifically for comparative studies involving clinical and non-clinical populations. The 15 items of the RCS are strategically scattered throughout the main questionnaire and include modified elements from the Religious Orientation Scale (Allport & Ross, 1967) and items from pre-existing German scales focused on religiosity in relation to neurosis (Hark, 1984) and depression (Doerr, 1987). The scoring system differentiates between broad social conventions (1 point per item) and specific religious practices (2 points per item), resulting in a total score ranging from 0 to 20 points, used to categorize subjects into low (≤ 11) or high (> 11) commitment groups.

Keywords

Religious commitment, religiosity, psychopathology, Allport and Ross, coping, intrinsic orientation, extrinsic orientation, clinical assessment, psychiatric diagnosis.

Authors

S. Pfeifer, U. Waelty

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Religious Commitment Scale (RCS) was established to systematically examine and quantify religious commitment within clinical settings, specifically comparing scores between a sample of psychiatric patients and a healthy control group. This quantification allowed researchers to correlate the level of religious commitment with various established indicators of psychopathology, including diagnoses of depression, anxiety disorders, and personality disorders. The scale was intended to serve as a reliable, quantitative measure for exploring the relationship between religious adherence and mental health status.

Construct

The RCS measures the psychological construct of religious commitment, defined as the degree of adherence to and engagement with religious beliefs, practices, and attitudes. This commitment is operationalized through 15 dichotomous (Yes/No) items that capture two distinct dimensions of religious life. Ten items focus on broad social conventions and attitudes (e.g., subjective feelings of security in faith, self-identification as a religious person), reflecting general religious presence and self-perception.

The remaining five items focus on specific, observable religious practices (e.g., prayer frequency, attendance at worship services), emphasizing behavioral demonstration of commitment. By assigning different weights to these two item types (1 point for conventions, 2 points for practices), the scale aims to provide a nuanced score that reflects both internalized belief structure and external religious behavior.

Validity

Validity evidence for the RCS was primarily established through correlational analysis with established measures of religiosity. The scale demonstrated strong convergent and discriminant validity by correlating its scores with the factors of the Religious Orientation Scale (Allport & Ross, 1967).

• A high positive correlation was observed between the RCS scores and the intrinsic factor of the Religious Orientation Scale (r = .88, p < .0001). This suggests that high commitment measured by the RCS aligns strongly with an internalized, genuine religious motivation.
• Conversely, a significant negative correlation was found between the RCS scores and the extrinsic factor (r = -.48, p < .0001). This indicates that the RCS effectively distinguishes genuine commitment from religious participation used merely for social or personal gain.

No other specific tests of validity, such as predictive validity or factor structure confirmation, were reported in the primary study.

Reliability

The original publication detailing the use of the Religious Commitment Scale (Pfeifer & Waelty, 1995) did not report specific psychometric tests of reliability. Standard measures such as internal consistency (e.g., Cronbach’s alpha) or test-retest reliability were absent from the foundational documentation of the scale.

Factor Analysis

The source content does not provide information regarding a specific factor analysis performed on the 15 items that comprise the RCS subscale. While the items are conceptually divided into two groups (social conventions and specific practices), the dimensional structure of the scale was not empirically confirmed via factor analysis in the original study.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychometric subscale.

Format: The RCS consists of 15 items embedded within a larger 51-item questionnaire (The Questionnaire on Religious Orientation and General Coping with Life). Responses are dichotomous (Yes/No).

Language Available: Primarily German (as the source material integrates German scales and was utilized in a German/Swiss context).

Population Group: Adult clinical and non-clinical populations.

Age Group: Adults (Mean age of psychiatric patients was 34.4 years; controls 36.6 years).

Population Details: The standardization sample included 44 psychiatric patients (diagnosed via DSM-III-R criteria) and 45 non-hospitalized healthy controls. The clinical sample excluded individuals with organic disorders, schizophrenia, or major depression with psychotic features. The sample was recruited from a specific region of Switzerland, with efforts made to match subjects on social, economic, and educational status.

Test Methodology: The questionnaire is self-administered and easy to score. For the 15 RCS items, a “Yes” response is scored: 1 point for items reflecting broad social conventions (10 items); 2 points for items reflecting specific religious practices (5 items). The resulting total score ranges from 0 to 20 points. Scores of 11 or below indicate low religious commitment, while scores above 11 indicate high religious commitment. The 36 items not belonging to the RCS are not used in determining the commitment score.

Keywords

Commitment measurement, Swiss context, DSM-III-R, clinical psychology, religiosity scales, attitude measurement, behavioral practices, anxiety disorders, religious coping.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in the source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in the source material.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in the source material.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1995 (Year of publication detailing the scale’s use).

Permissions and Fees: Information regarding current usage permissions, copyright holders, or associated fees is not available in the original source documentation. Use is generally governed by academic citation guidelines related to the publishing journal, Psychopathology.

Reference’s

Pfeifer, S., & Waelty, U. (1995). Psychopathology and religious commitment: A controlled study. Psychopathology, 28, 70-77.

Allport, G. W., & Ross, J. M. (1967). Personal religious orientation and prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 5, 432-443.

Doerr, A. (1987). Religiosities and depression [Religious commitment and depression]. Weinheim, Germany: Deutscher Studien Verlag.

Hark, H. (1984). Religios neurosen: Ursachen und heilung [Religious neuroses: Causes and healing]. Stuttgart, Germany: Kreuz.

Items of the RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT SCALE

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

• Do you feel secure in your faith?
• Do you regard yourself as a religious person?
• Do you pray before eating?
• Do you regularly attend a worship service?