The Psychometric Study of the Attachment to God Inventory and the Brief Religious Coping Scale in the Taiwanese Christian Sample

The present study investigates the psychometric properties and factor structures of two religious instruments, the Attachment to God Inventory (AGI) and the Brief Religious Coping Scale (Brief RCOPE), when applied to a sample of Christians living in the collectivist culture of Taiwan, and the usefulness of these two instruments for this sample. Translation, back-translation, and a pilot study were conducted on the two instruments, and needed adaptations were made. Three hundred and thirty-five subjects were recruited from eleven Protestant and Catholic churches in Taipei and a series of statistical analyses was conducted on the collected data. The results were compared with data from the American samples. Correlations between the results of these two instruments and measures of depression and quality of life were also examined. Findings of the study support the usage of the Brief RCOPE (with modification) for Taiwanese Christians while results for the AGI question its factor structure and hence its utility. The findings indicated the possibility of a four-subscale AGI for the Taiwanese Christians. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to examine outcomes of this study