God and Family Questionnaires

Abstract

The God and Family Questionnaires constitute a psychological instrument rooted in Psychoanalytic theory, Object relations, and Self psychological theories of development. These parallel questionnaires are designed to elicit and reveal the complex nature of an individual’s internalized images of self, others, and God. The instrument employs a parallel format consisting of sentence stems, one focusing on God and the other on the family, which the respondent completes to express their personal beliefs and their specific God representation.

Unlike conventional psychometric scales, these questionnaires are not scored quantitatively but are interpreted qualitatively through the lens of developmental and psychodynamic theory, serving primarily as a tool for clinical and in-depth research into religious development.

Keywords

God representation, Family relations, Psychoanalytic assessment, Object relations theory, Religious psychology, Sentence completion, Clinical study, Ana-Maria Rizzuto

Authors

Ana-Maria Rizzuto

Purpose

The primary purpose of the God and Family Questionnaires, developed by Rizzuto (1979), was to serve as a core component of a clinical study investigating the formation and evolution of an individual’s internalized God representation. The instrument aims to provide an in-depth, qualitative understanding of how early life experiences, particularly interactions with significant others (parents), contribute to theological understanding.

Rizzuto specifically sought to move beyond the classic Freudian psychoanalytic position that God is merely an idealized or exalted father figure. Instead, the questionnaires facilitate the exploration of how a complex amalgam of actual interactions, memories, wishes, needs, fears, and defenses shapes the individual’s spiritual image throughout the lifespan.

Construct

The central construct measured is the **God representation**, defined not as a static image or purely cognitive concept, but as a dynamic, complex mental process that evolves throughout an individual’s life. This process is profoundly influenced by past, present, and anticipated experiences with others.

Rizzuto contends that this representation is formed within what D. W. Winnicott (1971) termed the transitional space—the psychological area between reality and fantasy. Crucially, the formation process involves contributions from actual parents, other significant persons, and the child’s imagined, internalized figures (both wished-for and feared parents). Unlike transitional objects, the God representation persists in the individual’s internal world indefinitely, providing a continuous psychological framework.

Validity

The God and Family Questionnaires demonstrate high **face validity**, meaning the items clearly and directly relate to the respondent’s experiences and beliefs concerning God and family relationships.

Although not subjected to conventional statistical validation procedures typical of quantitative scales, the qualitative data derived from the questionnaires showed strong corroboration with extensive external clinical information. This external data included information provided by the patient’s families, detailed medical and psychiatric records, a thorough psychodynamic evaluation, and a comprehensive formulation of the patient’s religious development history, thus suggesting substantial clinical utility and construct coherence.

Reliability

No formal statistical reliability coefficients (such as test-retest reliability or internal consistency measures) were reported for the God and Family Questionnaires in Rizzuto’s original 1979 publication.

Reliability is instead suggested by the instrument’s grounding in robust psychoanalytic, object relations, and self psychological theories. The consistent theoretical framework used for the development and subsequent interpretation of the items implies a measure of internal reliability based on the conceptual coherence of the responses sought.

Factor Analysis

Given that the God and Family Questionnaires are an interpretive, qualitative, sentence-completion instrument designed for clinical depth rather than quantitative scoring or dimensional analysis, no factor analysis was reported in the original study. The focus is on the rich narrative content and its interpretation through established psychodynamic models, not on identifying latent statistical factors.

Instrument

Test Type: Qualitative, Clinical Assessment, Projective Sentence Completion Technique

Format: Parallel Sentence Stems (God Questionnaire and Family Questionnaire)

Language Available: English (Original publication language)

Population Group: Clinical and Non-clinical subjects

Age Group: Not explicitly specified, but suitable for individuals (likely adolescents and adults) capable of complex introspection and narrative production.

Population Details: The scale was initially applied to a clinical sample. Rizzuto conducted a comparative pilot project with 20 non-clinical subjects and found no clinically significant differences in how the two groups related to God.

Test Methodology: Administration is straightforward, requiring the respondent to complete open-ended sentence stems. Interpretation is highly specialized, relying on the application of developmental and psychodynamic theory rather than standardized scoring criteria, which were not detailed in the original study.

Keywords

God image, Rizzuto, Psychoanalytic assessment, Clinical study, Developmental psychology, Religious experience, Internalized objects, Sentence completion

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not reported

Affiliation Email addresses: Not reported

Correspondence Address: Not reported

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions and Fee: Information regarding current permissions or usage fees is not reported in the source material. Researchers should consult the University of Chicago Press regarding Rizzuto (1979).

Test Year: 1979

Reference’s

Beit-Hallahmi, B., & Argyle, M. (1975). God as father projection: The theory and evidence. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 48, 71-75.

Fay, M.A. (1983). An object relations analysis at the conscious symbolic and memory content levels of the maternal and paternal components of the representation of God in five Christian women. Dissertation Abstracts International, 43,(12-B), 4125.

Freud, S. (1959). Obsessive actions and religious practices. In J. Strachey (Ed. and Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 9, pp. 115-127). London: Hogarth Press (Original work published 1907).

Godin, A., & Hallez, M. (1965). Parental images and divine paternity. In A. Godin (Ed.), From religious experience to a religious attitude (pp. 65-96). Chicago: Loyola University Press.

Justice, W. G., & Lambert, W. (1986). A comparative study of the language people use to describe the personalities of God and their earthly parents. Journal of Pastoral Care, 40, 166-172.

Lawrence, R. T. (1991). The God Image Inventory: The development, validation and standardization of a psychometric instrument for research, pastoral and clinical use in measuring the image of God (Rizzuto, Ana-Maria). Dissertation Abstracts International, 52,(o3A), 0952.

Nelson, M. 0. (1971). The concept of God and feelings toward parents. Journal of Individual Psychology, 27, 46-49.

Rizzuto, A. M. (1979). The birth of living God: A psychoanalytic study. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Stephens, L. D. (1991). A path analysis of a God image model among hospital psychiatric patients. Dissertation Abstracts International, 52,(10A), 3534.

Stevens, B. A. (1987). Religious responses to the Rorschach test: An application of the Urist (1977) “Mutuality of Autonomy in Portrayed Relationships” scale. Dissertation Abstracts International, 48(05B), 1547.

Strunk, 0. (1959). Perceived relationships between parental and deity concepts. Psychology Newsletter, 10, 222-226.

Tamayo, A., & Desjardins, L. (1976). Belief systems and conceptual images of parents and God. Journal of Psychology, 92, 131-140.

Tamayo, A., & Dugas, A. (1977). Conceptual representation of mother, father, and God according to sex and field of study. Journal of Psychology, 97, 9-84.

Vergote, A., & Aubert, C. (1972). Parental images and representations of God. Social Compass, 19, 431-444.

Vergote, A., Tamayo, A., Pasquali, L., Bonami, M., Pattyn, M., & Custers, A. (1969). Concept of God and parental images. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 8, 79-87.

Winnicott, D. W. (1971). Playing and reality. London: Tavistock.

Items of the God and Family Question­naires

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

God Questionnaire

I

• I feel/do not feel close to God because
• The time of my life when I felt the closest to God was when and I was old because
• I think that in general, as a person I have pleased/dissatisfied God because
• I think that God wants/does not want me to be good because
• I believe/do not believe in a personal God because years

II

• The time in my life when I felt the most distant from God was when I was because
• My most important duties toward God are

III

• For me, the love of God towards me is/is not important because
• For me, my love for God is/is not important because
• The feeling I get/used to get from my relationship with God is one of because

IV

• I feel that the fear of God is/is not important because
• What I like the most about God is because
• What I resent the most about God is because
• What I dislike the most about religion is because

V

• Emotionally, I would like to have the because that God has

VI

• Among all the religious characters I know, I would like to be like because

VII

17. My favorite saint or Bible character is because

VIII

• I believe/do not believe in the devil because
• I think that he wants to because
• Sometimes I have/have not felt that I hated God because

IX

• I feel that what God expects from me is because
• I feel that to obey the Commandments is/is not important because
• I pray/do not pray because I feel God will

X

• I feel that God punishes/does not punish you if you because
• I think that God considers my sins as because
• I think that the way God has to punish people is because
• I believe that the way God rewards people is because

XI

• I think that God provides/does not provide for my needs because
• The most important thing I expect from God is because

XII

• In my way of feeling, for me to fully please God I would have to because

• If I could change my past, I would like to change my because

• If I can change myself now, I would like to be because

• If I can change myself now, I would like to change my because

• If I can change myself now, I would like to improve my because

• If I can change myself now, I would like to increase my because

XIII

• If I am in distress, I resort/do not resort to God because

• If I am happy, I thank/do not thank God because

• Religion has/has not helped me to live because

• If I receive an absolute proof that God does not exist, I will because

• Prayer is/is not important to me because
• I wish/don’t wish to be with God after death because

XIV

• I think that God is closest to those who because

XV

• I consider God as my because
• I think that God sees me as because

XVI

• If I have to describe God according to my experiences with him, I would say that he is because

XVII

• The day I changed my way of thinking about God was because

XVIII

• Religion was always/never/at one time important to me (during the years from to ) because
• For me, the world has/has not an explanation without God because

Family Questionnaire

Please read carefully the following questions and answer them, giving as long an explanation as you need for us to understand your real feelings.

If the answer does not need an explanation, just write the proper answer.

1. The member of my family whom I felt the closest to was my because

2. The member of my family whom I felt the most distant from was my because

3. The member of the family whom I loved the most was my I loved her/him this much because

4. The member of my family whom I disliked the most was my because she/he

5. Physically I resemble my because

6. Emotionally I resemble my because

7. The favorite member of my family was my because

8. The member of my family whom I admired the most is my because

9. Please write down the names of the members of your family in order of preference according to how much you like them because

10. The member of my family whom I despised the most is because

11. The boss in my family was my

12. The disciplinarian in my family was my

13. The provider in my family was my because

14. If I could change myself, I would like to be like my because

15. In my family we were close/very close/not close at all because I6. My father was closest to me/to my because

16. My mother was closest to me/to my

17. The most important person in my family was I 9. In my family the children were considered as

18. My family was/was not divided into groups The groups were my and my

    my and my and my etc.

19. If I described myself as I feel I actually am, I would say I am

20. When I drew the picture of the family I felt and drew myself as being because

21. When I drew the picture of my family, I thought the family was living in year was years old and the