Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality

Abstract

Despite its early focus on religious development and faith maturation, the psychology of religion and spirituality field underutilizes longitudinal designs; work is needed to reduce barriers to the longitudinal study of the processes by which faith matures. As a first step, the present study examines the invariance structure of the Faith Maturity Scale across three time points to assess the reliability and structure of the scale over time. The confirmatory factor analytic method was used to examine data from 572 college students. Configural, metric, scalar, and residual/strict models were tested. Findings support the full strict residual longitudinal invariance model, providing evidence of longitudinal invariance in factor structure, item loadings, intercepts, and residuals. These findings suggest that longitudinal changes in vertical and horizontal faith maturity reflect changes in the constructs themselves rather than artifacts of measurement, providing evidence for continued use of the Faith Maturity Scale longitudinally. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

First Page

300

Last Page

304

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000563

Publication Date

8-2025

Comments

This is the accepted version of this article.

©American Psychological Association, 2025. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. The final article is available, upon publication, at:

https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Frel0000563

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