Sectarianism is perceived as a serious issue in Scotland despite a lack of concrete evidence, according to the Advisory Group on Tackling Sectarianism. This paper addresses one of the gaps in knowledge, the attitudes of Catholic school pupils. Our research was designed to profile sectarian attitudes among a sample of Catholic school pupils in…

This study examines the connection between the balanced-affect model of work-related psychological health and psychological type among a sample of 260 primary school teachers in Wales. This sample of teachers comprised more extraverts (59%) than introverts (41%), more sensing types (77%) than intuitive types (23%), more feeling types (60%) than…

Drawing on data provided by 5,811 students from schools in England, Wales, and London who self-identified as either 'no religion' or as Christian, this study explored the effect of the contact hypothesis (having friends who are Muslims) on scores recorded on the seven-item Scale of Anti-Muslim Attitude (SAMA), after controlling for type of school…

This study set out to explore levels of religious affect (measured by the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity) and personal affect (measured by the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire) among samples of Catholic students in the Republic of Ireland attending fifth- and sixth-year classes (N = 3015) and Catholic students in Northern Ireland…

A recent study of the psychological type profile of Christian youth workers in the UK drew attention to differences between the profiles of youth workers and clergy, and highlighted distinctive strengths and weaknesses that may be experienced by youth workers in Christian ministry. The present study, employing the Francis Psychological Type Scales…

This study draws on one of the four components of psychological type theory (the distinction between judging and perceiving attitudes toward the outside world) to examine the implications of these two contrasting psychological perspectives for shaping approaches to Christian ministry within an educational setting. Qualitative data were generated…

A sample of 168 bishops, serving or retired, in the Church of England completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales. The psychological type profile of these bishops was compared with that of 626 Anglican clergymen. The bishops differed significantly from the clergymen on three of the four aspects of psychological type. The bishops were more…

A sample of 221 female primary school teachers in Anglican state-maintained schools in England and Wales completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales (FPTS). The data demonstrated clear preferences for Extraversion (E) over Introversion (I), for Sensing (S) over Intuition (N), for Feeling (F) over Thinking (T) and for Judging (J) over…

The association between conventional religiosity and suicide inhibition has been well explored and documented since the pioneering work of Durkheim. Commentators like Heelas and Woodhead point to ways in which conventional religiosity is giving way in England and Wales to a range of alternative spiritualities, including renewed interest in…

A sample of 10,851 pupils (5493 males and 5358 females) attending Year 9 classes (13- to 14-year-olds) and a sample of 9494 pupils (4787 males and 4707 females) attending Year 10 classes (14- to 15-year-olds) in non-denominational state-maintained secondary schools in England and Wales completed questions concerned with conventional Christian…

A sample of 122 female students attending a Pentecostal Bible College in England completed Form G (Anglicised) of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The data demonstrated preferences for extraversion over introversion, for sensing over intuition, for feeling over thinking, and for judging over perceiving. The predominant type was ISFJ (16%),…

In a Christian adult study program, 29 men and 32 women completed personality questionnaires. Extraverts were more likely to enjoy group learning and discussion. Because much Christian spirituality emphasizes introversion, group adult education is a way of ministering to extraverts. However, teaching styles and methods to suit other personality…

Administered Francis scale of attitude towards Christianity and the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire to 3,228 11- to 16-year-olds. Found positive relationship between religiosity and lie scale scores. Examined relationship in light of three theories that religious people are less mature, more socially conforming, or simply bigger liars.…

Self-esteem (SE) is widely regarded as an indicator of positive psychological functioning. The empirical evidence for an association between SE and religiosity, although extensive, is ambiguous; some studies have reported a positive association, yet others have failed to detect any significant relationship. The aim of the present paper was to…

A sample of 135 female and 164 male church leaders of mixed denominations completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales. The female church leaders demonstrated clear preferences for extraversion over introversion, for sensing over intuition, for feeling over thinking, and for judging over perceiving. The male church leaders demonstrated clear…