Relationship between Self-Esteem and Religious Faith

Previous data have evinced a positive relationship between subjects' scores on Bahr and Martin's (1983) Scale of Religious Faith and their self-esteem scores. This study attempted to examine the relationship by correlating religious faith with subjects' scores on Coopersmith's (1967) Self-esteem Scale. Both scales of Religious Faith and Self-esteem were completed by 204 subjects at a midwestern university during January of 1990. Alpha reliabilities for both scales were ostensibly adequate (.85 for the self-esteem questionnaire and .94 for the Religious Faith scale). Based on univariate correlations, two multiple regressions indicated that several religious faith items are significantly correlated to two factors of self-esteem. Model one (F= 10.96, MS = 42.38, MSe = 3.88, p< .0001) involving the self-esteem factor of accounted for 18% of the model's variance, with the items of often ask God to forgive my sins, often read religious books, enjoy doing good deeds for others, and accept ideas from church authorities without questions supplying the components of the model. The second model (F = 6.15, MS = 59.20, MSe = 9.63, p< ,0001) involving the factor of accounted for approximately 11% of the model's variance, with the following items representing components of the model: 1. Church authorities represent God, 2. To serve God is most important, 3. Just to lead a moral life is enough, 4. I often ask God to forgive my sins. Findings are congruent with the idea that having fun and participating in church activities are instrumental in elevating a person's self-esteem. Also, analysis shows that a belief in God, a practice of asking for forgiveness, and an acceptance of church authorities are associated with having a positive relationship with parents. In turn, an ardent relationship with parents may be expected to provide children with stronger self-esteem. These data suggest directions for researchers interested in the relationship between religious faith and self-esteem