Papers by Josefa Torralba Albaladejo
Perceptions of science, religion and spirituality in high school students: an empirical approach
British journal of religious education, Nov 21, 2023
Many questions arise regarding the compatibility between scientific and religious education. Whil... more Many questions arise regarding the compatibility between scientific and religious education. While some voices have pointed to issues that stem from a traditional model in which science becomes a factor or religious crisis and doubt, other views reveal surprising forms of collaboration and complementarity between both dimensions in the educational curriculum. To better understand how those directly involved – the students – perceive that possible conflict, an international team has launched an extensive survey in three Catholic countries – Italy, Poland and Spain – to assess to what extent that relationship is viewed in a more or less problematic way. The results point to an overcoming of the conflictive model by those with more religious formation and practice, and point towards a possible arrangement between both science and religion in regular education.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , 2022
(1) Background: The war in Ukraine has triggered a huge humanitarian crisis: millions of refugees... more (1) Background: The war in Ukraine has triggered a huge humanitarian crisis: millions of refugees have escaped from their homes looking for shelter beyond Ukraine’s borders. This emergency offers a unique opportunity to investigate and to document those characteristics of the human condition that emerge in exceptional circumstances provoked by war. Based on considerations derived from recent studies on resilience, the research at the base of this paper was conducted to better understand the circumstances, states of mind, and coping mechanisms of the refugees leaving their homes looking for security. (2) Methods: A qualitative approach was applied, resorting to semi-structured interviews (n = 94) to closely explore the traumatic experiences lived by refugees and to identify their coping strategies. (3) Results: The data obtained pointed to a plurality of coping and resilience strategies. Maintaining communication with separated loved ones as well as experiencing accompaniment by helpers and hosts emerged as principal elements for coping and resilience. It was found that a prior development of interior life or practice of prayer served as psychological “capital” that increased their resilience. (4) Conclusion: The results point to the need to care for social networking, attention by hosts, and cultivating interior life as keys for resilience.
Religions, 2021
Recent studies in the field of cognitive science of religion have proposed a connection between r... more Recent studies in the field of cognitive science of religion have proposed a connection between religious beliefs, theory of mind, and prosocial behaviour. Theory of mind appears to be related to empathy and compassion, and both to a special sensitivity towards unjust suffering, which could trigger a religious crisis, as has often happened and is revealed in the “theodicy question”. To test such relationships, adolescents were surveyed by an exploratory questionnaire. The collected data point to a more complex, less linear interaction, which depends more on cultural factors and reflexive elaboration than cognitive structures. In general, compassion and outrage before unjust suffering appear to be quite related; compassion is related to religious practice and even more to spiritual perception.
Diakonian tutkimus, 2021
Tämä artikkeli perehtyy siihen, miten kokemus elämän merkityksellisyydestä näyttäytyi ensimmäisen... more Tämä artikkeli perehtyy siihen, miten kokemus elämän merkityksellisyydestä näyttäytyi ensimmäisen korona-aallon aikana. Määrällinen tutkimusaineisto kerättiin keväällä 2020. Pääosa kyselyyn vastanneista (N = 1162) oli suomalaisia, puolalaisia, italialaisia ja espanjalaisia. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että kokemus elämän merkityksellisyydestä säilyi varsin vahvana koronapandemian alkupuolella. Uskonnollisuus näyttäytyi vastaajien keskuudessa merkityksellisyyttä vahvistavana tekijänä. Myös vastaajien korkea koulutustaso ja ikääntyminen vaikuttivat tukevan merkityksellisyyden kokemusta. Pandemian leviämisen ja merkityksen kokemuksen välillä löytyi myös yhteys. Tulokset osoittavat, että vaikka ihminen kokee merkityksellisyyden kokemusta, voi hän tulla haastetuksi muilla elämän alueilla. Pandemian pitkittyessä onkin oletettavaa, että ihmisten henkisen ja hengellisen tuen tarpeet moninaistuvat.
Religion, Brain & Behavior, 2022
The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most
researched topics in the psych... more The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most
researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality
and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a
many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based
on a new cross-cultural dataset (N = 10, 535 participants from 24
countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether
religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the
relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on
perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered
normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage
procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3
teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals
excluding zero (median reported b = 0.120). For the second research
question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported
b = 0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression
models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to
construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the
included covariates.
El principal objetivo del presente trabajo de investigacion es medir el alcance de la religiosida... more El principal objetivo del presente trabajo de investigacion es medir el alcance de la religiosidad en epoca de secularizacion, y su vinculacion con el ajuste psicosocial del adolescente. Nuestro enfoque centrado en la persona identifica al adolescente en un contexto historico /cultural determinado con un proceso de desarrollo en el que las exigencias academicas y sociales, expectativas de los padres, presiones del grupo de iguales incrementan los problemas derivados del estres y la depresion. Por este motivo, estructurado en cuatro capitulos la presente investigacion fundamentada en el desarrollo de "afrontamiento religioso" o tambien denominado Religious coping esgrimido por Kenneth I. Pargament examina el papel que pueden desempenar las creencias religiosas en la etapa adolescente y propone el Religious coping como posible sistema de orientacion o respuesta a las problematicas derivadas del periodo adolescente. El primer capitulo presenta un diagnostico sobre la situacio...
espanolEl articulo se propone presentar la contribucion de los estudios sobre Religious coping a ... more espanolEl articulo se propone presentar la contribucion de los estudios sobre Religious coping a la teologia empirica y a la teologia en general. A traves de la via de induccion analitica ofrece tres lecturas teologicas de los datos obtenidos en una investigacion previa sobre Religious coping en adolescentes espanoles: antropologica, soteriologica y de teologia practica. Su objetivo es mostrar como la teologia puede obtener de los procedimientos de analisis empirico un conocimiento que ayude a comprender mejor la dinamica de las creencias/experiencia religiosa de los adolescentes/jovenes actuales. El resultado es un balance sobre la dinamica/funciones del afrontamiento religioso en su vertiente psicoterapeutica con aportaciones a la teologia pastoral. EnglishThis article aims to present the contribution of the studies on Religious coping to empirical theology and general theology. By means of analytic induction, it offers three theological readings of the data obtained in a previous...
Religious coping in adolescents: New evidence and relevance
Adolescence is frequently seen as a troubled age and, in many societies, as a time of sharp relig... more Adolescence is frequently seen as a troubled age and, in many societies, as a time of sharp religious decline. The question arises to what extent religious faith and practice could still help teenagers to cope with their distress, especially when religion fades away in secularized environments and stops being a common coping resource. A new survey has been conducted in South-East Spain (N=531) to assess coping styles – religious and secular – and how they are related to other variables. The outcomes confirm that religious coping becomes a minority choice; it is related to age – for those older in the sample – and is mixed with secular coping strategies. Secularization implies a confidence lost in religious means to tackle distress and life crisis and the search for alternative coping strategies. The study explores the practical implications of those outcomes.
Religious coping, or strategies resorting to religion and spirituality to cope with
distress and ... more Religious coping, or strategies resorting to religion and spirituality to cope with
distress and crisis, is a broad research field producing a considerable number of
empirical studies. The present article offers just a chapter from a broad research
field developing in the last 20 years, giving rise to an interesting interface where
scientific methods and theological interests clearly interact. Since adolescents
experience specific forms of stress and suffering and must cope with particular
risks and failures, their case requires distinct treatment. The present paper reviews
a wide set of studies into five big topics: stress and depression; toxic substance
abuse; eating disorders; risky sexual behaviours; and the role played by
family and education. In all cases the data point to moderate positive correlations
of religious coping strategies for that critical age.
Religious or spiritual capital has been described in terms of resources provided by religious org... more Religious or spiritual capital has been described in terms of resources provided by religious organizations, and which individuals „purchase‟ through attendance, learning and commitment. The recent COVID-19 pandemic and its related experience of lockdown, loneliness and high uncertainty has offered a unique context in which the extent and effects of religious or spiritual capital could be tested against alternative attitudes or resources. An extensive survey undertaken by an international research team at the height of the pandemic in four European countries has provided data that allows for a better assessment of the extent to which the factor might be related to the way people cope and project meaning in critical times. The aim of the paper is to find out to what extent religious capital still holds among Europeans in their struggles to cope with harsh circumstances. The results point to the effective impact of religious capital and at the same time introduce nuances that help to better understand its complex dynamics.
Grzegorz Jaskot (1952-2020), succumbed to it on 5 th May after a brief intensive treatment in the... more Grzegorz Jaskot (1952-2020), succumbed to it on 5 th May after a brief intensive treatment in the hospital. 9 With the view to elaborating a synthetic, coherent and contextual framework, we refer particularly to two fundamental publications in the Italian context with an international outlook: Dizionario di teologia pastorale
Recent studies in the field of cognitive science of religion have proposed a connection between r... more Recent studies in the field of cognitive science of religion have proposed a connection between religious beliefs, theory of mind, and prosocial behaviour. Theory of mind appears as related to empathy and compassion, and both to a special sensitivity towards unjust suffering, which could trigger a religious crisis, as has often happened and is revealed in the “theodicy question”. To test such relationships, an exploratory survey based on questionnaire has being designed and applied to a teenagers sample. The collected data point to a more complex interaction, less linear, and depending more on cultural factors than to cognitive structures. In general, compassion and scandal before unjust suffering appear as quite related, but both features are less related to religious or spiritual perception.
This article aims to present the contribution of the studies on Religious
coping to empirical the... more This article aims to present the contribution of the studies on Religious
coping to empirical theology and general theology. By means of analytic induction,
it offers three theological readings of the data obtained in a previous research on Religious coping in Spanish adolescents: anthropological, soteriological and practical
theology. Its purpose is to show how theology can obtain, from a procedure based
in empirical analysis, a knowledge which helps to better understand the dynamic
of the current adolescents/young people’s beliefs/religious experience. The result is
an assessment of the religious coping dynamic/functions in its psychotherapeutic
aspect with contributions to the pastoral theology.
Keywords: Adolescence, Empirical Theology, Religious coping.
Adolescence is frequently seen as a troubled age. In many Western societies this is also a time o... more Adolescence is frequently seen as a troubled age. In many Western societies this is also a time of sharp religious decline. The question arises as to what extent religious faith and
practice could help teenagers cope with their distress, especially when religion fades away in secularized environments and stops being a common coping resource. A study was conducted in South-East Spain (N = 531) to assess coping styles—religious and secular—and how they are related to other variables. The outcomes suggest that religious coping has become a minor choice. It correlates positively with age and is mixed with secular coping strategies. Secularization implies a confidence lost in religious means and the search for alternative coping strategies. This study reveals that religious coping works best when linked to religious communities and in combination with other non-religious strategies.
Some uneasy and dissatisfaction with the current research on perceptions of supernatural in certa... more Some uneasy and dissatisfaction with the current research on perceptions of supernatural in certain stages of children and youth development has motivated a search for an alternative approach that could be built on new empirical data and a method that could help to better assess how pre- and adolescents relate with extraordinary and supernatural phenomena. An exploratory survey has been designed on an ad hoc instrument fitted for that age span and the research goals. The outcomes point to the persistence of these perceptions and interests in that age, their close relatedness with indicators of religiosity, and their slowly vanishing when growing up. More research is needed to better ascertain the role this factor still plays in religious and spiritual development despite the very secular context in which often those beliefs are held.
Uploads
Papers by Josefa Torralba Albaladejo
researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality
and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a
many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based
on a new cross-cultural dataset (N = 10, 535 participants from 24
countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether
religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the
relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on
perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered
normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage
procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3
teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals
excluding zero (median reported b = 0.120). For the second research
question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported
b = 0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression
models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to
construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the
included covariates.
distress and crisis, is a broad research field producing a considerable number of
empirical studies. The present article offers just a chapter from a broad research
field developing in the last 20 years, giving rise to an interesting interface where
scientific methods and theological interests clearly interact. Since adolescents
experience specific forms of stress and suffering and must cope with particular
risks and failures, their case requires distinct treatment. The present paper reviews
a wide set of studies into five big topics: stress and depression; toxic substance
abuse; eating disorders; risky sexual behaviours; and the role played by
family and education. In all cases the data point to moderate positive correlations
of religious coping strategies for that critical age.
coping to empirical theology and general theology. By means of analytic induction,
it offers three theological readings of the data obtained in a previous research on Religious coping in Spanish adolescents: anthropological, soteriological and practical
theology. Its purpose is to show how theology can obtain, from a procedure based
in empirical analysis, a knowledge which helps to better understand the dynamic
of the current adolescents/young people’s beliefs/religious experience. The result is
an assessment of the religious coping dynamic/functions in its psychotherapeutic
aspect with contributions to the pastoral theology.
Keywords: Adolescence, Empirical Theology, Religious coping.
practice could help teenagers cope with their distress, especially when religion fades away in secularized environments and stops being a common coping resource. A study was conducted in South-East Spain (N = 531) to assess coping styles—religious and secular—and how they are related to other variables. The outcomes suggest that religious coping has become a minor choice. It correlates positively with age and is mixed with secular coping strategies. Secularization implies a confidence lost in religious means and the search for alternative coping strategies. This study reveals that religious coping works best when linked to religious communities and in combination with other non-religious strategies.
researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality
and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a
many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based
on a new cross-cultural dataset (N = 10, 535 participants from 24
countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether
religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the
relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on
perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered
normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage
procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3
teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals
excluding zero (median reported b = 0.120). For the second research
question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported
b = 0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression
models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to
construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the
included covariates.
distress and crisis, is a broad research field producing a considerable number of
empirical studies. The present article offers just a chapter from a broad research
field developing in the last 20 years, giving rise to an interesting interface where
scientific methods and theological interests clearly interact. Since adolescents
experience specific forms of stress and suffering and must cope with particular
risks and failures, their case requires distinct treatment. The present paper reviews
a wide set of studies into five big topics: stress and depression; toxic substance
abuse; eating disorders; risky sexual behaviours; and the role played by
family and education. In all cases the data point to moderate positive correlations
of religious coping strategies for that critical age.
coping to empirical theology and general theology. By means of analytic induction,
it offers three theological readings of the data obtained in a previous research on Religious coping in Spanish adolescents: anthropological, soteriological and practical
theology. Its purpose is to show how theology can obtain, from a procedure based
in empirical analysis, a knowledge which helps to better understand the dynamic
of the current adolescents/young people’s beliefs/religious experience. The result is
an assessment of the religious coping dynamic/functions in its psychotherapeutic
aspect with contributions to the pastoral theology.
Keywords: Adolescence, Empirical Theology, Religious coping.
practice could help teenagers cope with their distress, especially when religion fades away in secularized environments and stops being a common coping resource. A study was conducted in South-East Spain (N = 531) to assess coping styles—religious and secular—and how they are related to other variables. The outcomes suggest that religious coping has become a minor choice. It correlates positively with age and is mixed with secular coping strategies. Secularization implies a confidence lost in religious means and the search for alternative coping strategies. This study reveals that religious coping works best when linked to religious communities and in combination with other non-religious strategies.