Mother and Father God concepts in relation to psychological well-being

This study examined the relationship between masculine and feminine God images and psychological well-being. Based on the results of past research, it was hypothesized that people with more feminine images of God would have higher psychological well-being compared to those with more masculine images of God. Participants were 232 college students. A factor analysis indicated that God images did not fall into primarily masculine or feminine factors. Rather, three factors were found, which were labeled Loving Father, Controlling God, and Mother God. Although the God image factors were not found to be significant predictors of psychological well-being when intrinsic, extrinsic, and quest religiosity were controlled, the results suggested that the relationship between God images and psychological well-being may be mediated by intrinsic religiosity. It was concluded that development of more psychometrically sound measures of God images is needed to enhance future research on this topic.Department of Psychological ScienceThesis (M.A.