Major Life Changes, Spirituality, and Religion

This study aimed to scrutinize the relationship between life changes and spirituality. We examined religiousness and spirituality in 77 adult volunteers aged 39.45 (SD=11.97) who answered demographic questions and completed five subscales of the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality. Respondents were grouped based on whether they experienced a major life-changing spiritual event (72.7%) or not (27.3%). The former group scored higher (p<.05) on all measures than the latter group. Among this group, the proportion of religious (p=.04) and spiritual (p<.001) identity was also higher. The groups did not differ in age, gender, education, and living area. Among those who experienced a significant life change, 42.9% had such experiences at or under 18 years. Most (83.4%) of these participants were committed spiritually and attended religious services once or more weekly. The age at which a life change occurred correlated strongly (r=.70) with strengthening religious/spiritual practices. The results indicate that life-changing spiritual events fuel religious and/or spiritual attitudes and behaviors, and their impact might be more substantial if experienced at a younger age.