Christian Sociomoral Values Index

 

Scale name: Christian Sociomoral Values Index

Scale overview: This 13-item rating scale aims to measure the importance of select moral values commonly held among conservative Christians.

 

Response Type: Items are rated on a scale of agreement as follows:

1 = strongly disagree

2 = disagree

3 =  Neither Agree nor Disagree

4 = Agree

5 = Strongly agree

Scale items = 13

1. All forms of birth control are sinful.

2. Birth control methods are acceptable if they do not cause an abortion.

3. Abortion is always sinful.

4. Premarital sex is always sinful.

5. Cohabitation is always sinful.

6. A biblical marriage is between one man and one woman.

7. Same-sex marriage is sinful.

8. Divorce is sinful.

9. Sexual orientation is a choice.

10. In a Christian marriage, a man and a woman submit to each other, but the man is always the head of the marriage.

11. Women have a vital role in Christian ministry, but they should not be priests or pastors.

12. Women have an important role in churches and Christian organizations, but they should not have authority over a man.

13. Women should seek counseling from women and men should seek counseling from men.

  

Psychometric data:  The scale mean was 40.32 (SD = 8.85), Skew = -.69, Kurtosis = .30 (Sutton et al., 2016).

Reliability: In a sample of 220 Christian counselors, Cronbach’sAlpha = .85 (Sutton et al., 2016).

Validity: Data from table 2 (Sutton et al., 2016) show significant positive correlations with the following related measures of conservative Christian spirituality. (Read about test validity)

Christian Beliefs Index (CBI)

Intratextual Fundamentalism Scale

Christian Service Scale

Personal Christian Practices Index

Healing Experiences Scale

Basic Spiritual Practices Index

Evidence Supported Christian Accommodative Treatments Index

Extra-Session Christian Assignments Index

Spiritual Assessment Index

Availability:

The items and detailed responses are included in Sutton (2021). The statistical data reported above can be found in Sutton et al. 2016.

The items are listed above and available for use in research and teaching.

Permission:

The index may be used in research, teaching, and clinical practice. Users should cite Sutton (2021) and Sutton et al. (2016) in all publications and presentations that use this index. There is no need to contact the authors for non-commercial use.

To include the index in books and commercial publications, request permission from suttong@evangel.edu.

References for the scale

Sutton, G. W. (2021). Counseling and psychotherapy with Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians: Culture & Research | Assessment & Practice. Springfield, MO: Sunflower.  ISBN-13 : 979-8681036524 AMAZON

Sutton, G. W., Arnzen, C., & Kelly, H. (2016). Christian counseling and psychotherapy: Components of clinician spirituality that predict type of Christian intervention. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 35, 204-214.  ResearchGate

                        Academia

 

Example of the details available in Counseling and Psychotherapy with Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians.

For item #2:   Birth control methods are acceptable if they do not cause an abortion.

The table values are percentages from a total of 208 responses.

The number of people Christians were:

  Evangelical 82

  Pentecostal/ Charismatic 48

  Nondenominational  43

  Other  35

 The "other" group includes respondents who identified as Catholics or a mainline Protestant Denomination

See the text for details on the other items.

Research source

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  Resource Link:  A – Z Test Index

  

NOTICE:

The information about scales and measures is provided for clinicians and researchers based on professional publications. The links to authors, materials, and references can change. You may be able to locate details by contacting the main author of the original article or another author on the article list.

 

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Sacred Marriage Scales

Two scales examine couples' perspectives on the role of God in their marriages. The Sacred Marriage scales are the work of Mahoney, Pargament, and DeMaris (2009).

The first scale looks at the role of God in their marriage. There are 10-items. Couples are advised that they substitute another word for God as may be applicable to their spirituality.

Examples and a reference are included below.

Revised Manifestation of God in Marriage

     Following are the instructions

Directions: Some of the following questions use the word "God." Different people use different terms for God, such as "Higher Power," "Divine Spirit," "Spiritual Force," "Holy Spirit," "Yahweh," "Allah,", "Buddha”, or “Goddess.” Please feel free to substitute your own word for God when answering any of the questions that follow. Also, some people do not believe in God. If this is the case for you, please feel free to choose the "strongly disagree" response when needed.

  Two sample items:
   
     1) God played a role in how I ended up being married to my spouse.


     2) I sense God’s presence in my relationship with my spouse.

Revised Sacred Qualities of Marriage

The Revised Sacred Qualities of Marriage also consists of 10-items rated on the 7-point scale of agreement mentioned above. The scale focuses on a person’s view of  marriage as having divine or sacred qualities. 

  Two sample items:

     1) My marriage is holy.


     2) Being with my spouse feels like a deeply spiritual experience.

Scoring

There are 10-items in the scales. 

Participants are asked to respond on a 1 to 7 scale where

 1 = Strongly Disagree, 4 = neutral, and 7 = Strongly Agree.

Psychometric properties

The article (Mahoney et al., 2009) includes information on the structure of the measures and evidence of adequate internal consistency. Both measures were also positively correlated with positive spiritual coping as measured on the RCOPE.

Availability

Here's the internet address for the scales:

https://www.bgsu.edu/content/dam/BGSU/college-of-arts-and-sciences/psychology/psy-spirit-fam-mahoney/Original_Revised_Sanctification_Scales.pdf 

The Mahoney et al. (2009) reference also contains scale items.

Reference

Mahoney, A., Pargament, K. I., & DeMaris, A. (2009). Couples viewing marriage and pregnancy through the lens of the Sacred: A descriptive study. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 20, 1-45.

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Holy Sex - Measuring Sanctification of Sexuality in Relationships

Two 10-item scales assess the degree to which couples view marital sexuality from a spiritual perspective.

Both scales published by Hernandez, Mahoney, and Pargament (2011) are rated on the same 7-point scale.

The wording is clearly aimed at married couples. Although they use the word God, note that in a similar scale focused on children from some of the same authors, participants are instructed to think of their own deity.



Revised Manifestation of God in Marital Sexuality

Two sample items:

     1) God played a role in my decision to have a sexual relationship with my spouse.

     2) Our sexual relationship speaks to the presence of God.

Revised Sacred Qualities of Marital Sexuality

Two sample items:

     1) Being sexually intimate with my spouse feels like a deeply spiritual experience.

     2) Our sexual relationship seems like a miracle to me.


Scoring

There are 10-items in the scale. Participants are asked to respond on a 1 to 7 scale where 1 = Strongly Disagree, 4 = neutral, and 7 = Strongly Disagree.

Psychometric properties

See Hernandez et al. (2011) for evidence of adequate internal consistency values and  concurrent validity.

Availability

Link to the scales online

https://www.bgsu.edu/content/dam/BGSU/college-of-arts-and-sciences/psychology/psy-spirit-fam-mahoney/Original_Revised_Sanctification_Scales.pdf

The items are also available in Hernandez et al. (2011).

Resource Link:  A – Z Test Index

Reference

Hernandez, K. M., Mahoney, A., & Pargament, K. I. (2011). Sanctification of sexuality: Implications for newlyweds' marital and sexual quality. Journal of Family Psychology, 25, 775-780.


Learn more about Creating Surveys in the book, Creating Surveys on AMAZON.

Links to Connections

Checkout My Page    www.suttong.com

  

My Books  AMAZON          and             GOOGLE STORE

 

FOLLOW me on   FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton

 

PINTEREST  www.pinterest.com/GeoffWSutton

 

Articles: Academia   Geoff W Sutton   ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton