Faith Maturity Scale (FMS)

Abstract

The Faith Maturity Scale (FMS) is a widely recognized psychological scale developed to measure the multidimensional construct of faith maturity, primarily within Christian contexts, though applicable to broader spiritual development studies. Developed by Benson, Donahue, and Erickson in 1993, the FMS moves beyond simple measures of religious practice or belief orthodoxy to assess how faith impacts an individual’s worldview, personal growth, and commitment to action in the world. The scale consists of 38 items and is structured around two primary dimensions: Vertical Faith and Horizontal Faith.

The FMS has been instrumental in research on adolescent and adult spiritual development, offering a robust measure that captures both the internal, transcendent aspects of faith (Vertical) and the external, behavioral manifestations (Horizontal), such as commitment to social justice and compassion. A shorter, 12-item version was later validated by Ji (2004) for efficient use in large-scale studies, maintaining strong psychometric properties.

Keywords

Faith Maturity Scale, FMS, religious studies, spiritual development, vertical faith, horizontal faith, Benson, Donahue, Erickson, social justice, Christian psychology

Authors

Peter L. Benson, Michael J. Donahue, Joseph A. Erickson

Purpose

The primary purpose of the FMS is to provide a comprehensive and psychometrically sound measure of faith maturity that integrates both intrinsic piety and extrinsic social responsibility. Prior scales often focused narrowly on doctrine or ritual observance. The FMS was designed to capture a more holistic understanding of mature faith, defining it as a dynamic, life-encompassing orientation that motivates both personal spiritual growth and tangible engagement with the world.

Specifically, the authors sought to operationalize faith maturity across various domains—cognitive, affective, and behavioral—allowing researchers to study the relationship between deeply held religious beliefs and ethical action, community engagement, and psychological well-being. The scale is frequently used in religious education, sociology of religion, and counseling research.

Construct

The FMS measures the construct of Faith Maturity, which is conceptualized as a two-dimensional structure:

• Vertical Faith (FMS-V): This dimension focuses on the individual’s relationship with the transcendent, typically God or a higher power. It encompasses aspects such as doctrinal knowledge, personal devotion (prayer and meditation), reliance on scripture, and a felt sense of divine presence or guidance. Items related to theological certainty, spiritual practices, and commitment to Jesus Christ fall into this category.
• Horizontal Faith (FMS-H): This dimension measures the behavioral and ethical outcomes of faith, focusing on the individual’s relationship with others and the world. It includes actions related to compassion, social justice, service to the poor, environmental care, and acceptance of diverse beliefs. This dimension emphasizes the practical application of faith in daily life and in addressing societal concerns.

The original 38-item scale covers these dimensions extensively, ensuring that a high score reflects maturity across both personal piety and social ethics. The short form (Ji, 2004) also maintains this critical distinction, with specific items identified as belonging to the horizontal dimension.

Validity

Empirical validation studies, including the original work by Benson, Donahue, and Erickson (1993), demonstrated robust construct validity for the FMS. The two-factor structure (Vertical and Horizontal) has been repeatedly confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis, showing that the FMS successfully captures distinct but correlated dimensions of faith maturity.

Subsequent research, such as the study by Ji (2004) on doctrinal orthodoxy, supported the FMS’s concurrent and discriminant validity, confirming that while the Vertical dimension correlates with traditional religious concepts, the Horizontal dimension captures unique variance related to social engagement. Furthermore, cross-cultural validation efforts, such as the revision for Chinese populations (Hui et al., 2011), have affirmed the stability of the FMS structure, suggesting its conceptual relevance extends beyond its initial Western, Christian context.

Reliability

The FMS exhibits strong internal consistency, confirming its reliability across both the full and short forms. For the original 38-item scale, internal reliability estimates using Cronbach’s alpha ranged consistently from .84 to .90, indicating that the items reliably measure the same underlying construct.

The short form of the FMS (Ji, 2004) also maintained high reliability, although the Horizontal dimension showed slightly lower, but acceptable, internal consistency. Specific alpha estimates for the short form were reported as: Vertical (.89), Horizontal (.77), and Total score (.87). These figures demonstrate that the FMS is a dependable instrument for measuring faith maturity in research settings.

Factor Analysis

The foundational factor analysis conducted by Benson, Donahue, and Erickson (1993) established a clear two-factor solution for the FMS, corresponding to Vertical and Horizontal faith. This dual structure is crucial as it prevents the maturity construct from being reduced solely to either personal piety (Vertical) or social ethics (Horizontal).

Items loading onto the Vertical dimension typically reflect personal theological conviction and spiritual discipline, while items loading onto the Horizontal dimension emphasize commitment to justice, service, and ethical relationships. Researchers often utilize the subscale scores (FMS-V and FMS-H) rather than just the total score to gain nuanced insights into an individual’s development, especially when studying populations where spiritual growth may progress unevenly across these two domains. The short form also confirms the separability of these two factors in its structure.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report Psychological scale

Format: 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (Never true) to 7 (Always true).

Language Available: English (Original), Chinese (Revised version by Hui et al., 2011), likely translated into other languages for specific research purposes.

Population Group: General population interested in religious and spiritual development; originally validated on Christian adolescents and adults.

Age Group: Adolescents and Adults.

Population Details: The FMS was initially developed using data from a large sample of young people affiliated with mainline Protestant denominations in the United States.

Test Methodology: Respondents rate the extent to which 38 statements reflect their beliefs and behaviors. Several items are reverse-scored (R) to mitigate response bias. The instrument can be administered individually or in group settings.

The original PDF detailing the scale’s use in a paper on spiritual maturity can be downloaded here: http://www.imolin.cbfa.org/LYNN_2001_Paper_spiritual_maturity.pdf

Keywords

Faith, spirituality, religious measurement, psychometrics, Likert scale, social ethics, vertical relationship, horizontal relationship, psychological assessment

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source material.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source material.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Test Year for the original Faith Maturity Scale (FMS) is 1993, developed by Benson, Donahue, and Erickson. The short form was introduced by Ji in 2004.

Information regarding specific Permissions & Fee structure for commercial use should be sought directly from the original authors or the publishing entity (Search Institute or academic journals where it was published). However, it is widely utilized in academic research, often requiring standard permissions or citation.

Reference’s

• Benson, P. L., Donahue, M. J., & Erickson, J. A. (1993). The Faith Maturity Scale: Conceptualization, measurement, and empirical validation. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 5, 1-26.

• Benson, Peter L., Donahue, Michael J., & Erickson, Joseph A. (1993). “The Faith Maturity Scale: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Empirical Validation.” In Lynn, Monty L., & Moberg, David O. (eds.), Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion (vol. 5), Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1-26.

• Tisdale, T. C. (1999). Faith Maturity Scale (Benson, Donahue, & Erickson, 1993). In P. C. Hill & R. W. Hood (Eds.), Measures of religiosity (pp. 171-174). Birmingham, AL: Religious Education Press.

• Ji, C.-H. C. (2004). Faith maturity and doctrinal orthodoxy: A validity study of the faith maturity scale. Psychological Reports, 95, 993-998.

• HUI, C. Harry., Eddie Chi Wai NG., Doris Shui Ying MOK., Esther Yuet Ying LAU., and Shu-Fai CHEUNG. (2011).“Faith Maturity Scale” for Chinese: A Revision and Construct Validation. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 21(4): 308-322.

Items of the Faith Maturity Scale (FMS)

(R) = Indicates item is reverse scored.

1. I am concerned that our country is not doing enough to help the poor
2. I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died on a cross and rose again
3. My faith shapes how I think and act every day
4. I help others with their religious questions and struggles
5. I tend to be critical of other people (R)
6. In my free time, I help people who have problems or needs
7. My faith helps me know right from wrong
8. I do things to help protect the environment
9. I devote time to reading and studying the Bible
10. I have a hard time accepting myself (R)
11. Every day I see evidence that God is active in the world
12. I take excellent care of my physical health
13. I am active in efforts to promote social justice
14. I seek out opportunities to help me grow spiritually
15. I take time for periods of prayer or meditation
16. I am active in efforts to promote world peace
17. I accept people whose religious beliefs are different from mine
18. I feel a deep sense of responsibility for reducing pain and suffering in the world
19. As I grow older, my understanding of God changes
20. I feel overwhelmed by all the responsibilities and obligations I have
21. I give significant portions of time and money to help other people
22. I speak out for equality for women and minorities
23. I feel God’s presence in my relationships with other people
24. My life is filled with meaning and purpose
25. I do not understand how a loving God can allow so much pain and suffering in the world (R)
26. I believe that I must obey God’s rules and commandments in order to be saved (R)
27. I am confident that I can overcome any problem or crisis no matter how serious
28. I care a great deal about reducing poverty in the United States and throughout the world
29. I try to apply my faith to political and social issues
30. My life is committed to Jesus Christ
31. I talk with other people about my faith
32. My life is filled with stress and anxiety
33. I go out of my way to show love to people I meet
34. I have a real sense that God is guiding me
35. I do not want the churches of this nation getting involved in political issues (R)
36. I like to worship and pray with others
37. I think Christians must be about the business of creating international understanding and harmony
38. I am spiritually moved by the beauty of God’s creation enough to help the poor

The Short Form of FMS (Ji, 2004)

* Items for horizontal dimension, as suggested in Ji (2004).

1. I help others with their religious questions and struggles.*
2. I seek opportunities to help me spiritually
3. I feel a sense of responsibility for reducing pain and suffering in the world.*
4. I give significant portions of time and money to help other people.*
5. I feel God’s presence in my relationships with other people.
6. I feel my life is filled with meaning and purpose.
7. I care a great deal about reducing poverty in my country and throughout the world.*
8. I apply my faith to political and social issues.*
9. The things I do reflect a commitment to Jesus Christ.
10. I talk with other people about my faith.
11. I have a real sense that God is guiding me.
12. I am spiritually moved by the beauty of God’s creation.