Spiritual Transcendence and Psychological Time Perspective Drive Religious Non-Affiliation More than the Big 5 Personality Domains

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of psychological time perspective and spiritual transcendence as predictors of one’s belief status (e.g., religious believer vs. non-believer). The underlying assumption was that individual differences in engaging with broad existential issues would determine whether or not religious belief would be of value. Using a sample of 373 believers and 316 non-believers (411 women and 293 mean, mean age = 35.49), information on spiritual transcendence, Big Five Personality dimensions, and psychological time perspective was collected and the correlational and underlying structural relationships were evaluated. The results indicated that belief status was related to levels of spiritual transcendence (particularly Prayer Fulfillment), time perspective (particularly Present Fatalistic), and both measures of existential orientation, but not personality. SEM analyses indicated that time perspective was the root cause of both subjects’ numinous orientations, which in turn impacted belief status. The theoretical implications of these findings were discussed.