Childhood Frequency of Church Attendance Effects on Adulthood Scrupulosity Scores

Sabrina Siegan*, Kelsey Evey, M.S., and Shari Steinman, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26505

Presentation Category: Social & Behavioral Sciences (Poster presentation)

Student’s Major: Immunology and Medical Microbiology

Approximately 2.2 million adults and half a million children suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in the United States. OCD is a heterogenous disorder with many types of obsessions and compulsions. Religious OCD, also known as scrupulosity, is a subtype of OCD in which individuals are preoccupied with religious or moral issues like going to Hell, committing a sin, purity, and behaving morally. Current research suggests a positive correlation between symptoms of scrupulosity and negative views of God (e.g. viewing God as punishing, wrathful, fearsome, etc.). However, limited research exists on how early church attendance impacts adult symptoms of scrupulosity. The aim of the current study is to explore how differing frequencies of childhood church attendance impacts symptoms of scrupulosity in adulthood. Individuals for this study were recruited from Turkprime and were part of a larger study seeking to determine how thought-action fusion and scrupulosity symptoms were impacted by differing beliefs about God. We will be running linear regressions and exploratory moderated regression analyses to determine any correlation between the frequency of childhood church attendance and pious scores. Implications of the results will be discussed.

Funding: Psychology Department of WVU

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course