Religious attitude and practice: the relationship with obsessionality

The aim of the present paper was to replicate and extend previous work that has examined the relationship between obsessionality and religiosity. In study one, among two samples of U.K. adults, higher scores on the Sandler-Hazari Obsessionality Inventory trait scale were associated with higher scores on the Francis Scale of Attitude Towards Christianity in females. In study two, among a sample of Northern Irish adults, higher scores on the Sandler-Hazari Obsessionality Inventory trait scale were associated with greater frequency in religious practice (Church attendance, personal prayer and personal Bible reading) in females. In contrast to previous findings, it is suggested that obsessional personality traits are associated with both positive religious attitude and frequency of religious practice in females only.