Religiosity, Adult Attachment, and Why "Singles" are More Religious

The purpose of this cross-sectional, questionnaire study was to investigate the links of adult attachment style and relationship status to various indexes of religiosity. The sample consisted of 156 students at Uppsala University, Sweden. In line with a hypothesis of concurrent correspondence between adult attachment style and religiosity, results showed a modest positive association between adult attachment security and those religiosity variables that tapped features of the individual's relationship with God. In support of a compensation hypothesis, singles, as compared to lovers, were found to be more religiously active, perceive a personal relationship with God, have experienced changes implying increased importance of religious beliefs, and have experienced a religiosity that is based on affect regulation to a larger extent. It was argued that an attachment framework focusing on other aspects of attachment than individual differences in attachment quality may be equally fruitfully implemented within the psychology of religion as the individual differences perspective, and that the former is a necessary complement to the sociologically invoked concept of social deprivation.