Is There a General Factor of Spiritual Intelligence? Factorial Validity of the Polish Adaptation of Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory.

In recent years, spirituality and the meaning of life are becoming increasingly important variables in the study of well-being, health, and happiness. The concept of spiritual intelligence (SI) was suggested as a potentially significant construct expanding our understanding of psychological determinants of human functioning. The aim of this paper was to investigate the factorial validity of the Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory (SISRI; King, 2008) in the context of research on a general factor of spiritual intelligence as a psychological construct. The SISRI was administered to 833 adults in Poland. A four-factor solution with one second-order factor of spiritual intelligence provided an inadequate solution. A four-factor solution with correlated factors and a reduced number of items provided an adequate fit to the data. It is concluded that so far, no data are supporting a single factor of SI measured by SISRI-24, and previous studies, including the original study, show that the measurement with this scale is highly problematic. Without a strong theory and proper measurement, the development of this highly promising area of research may be hindered.

Does Spiritual Intelligence (SI) Exist? A Theoretical Investigation of a Tool Useful for Finding the Meaning of Life.

For years, spirituality and finding the meaning of life have been considered essential phenomena in the context of human existence. Zohar introduced the term spiritual intelligence (SI) in 1997, and since that time researchers have been seeking to clarify the concept. Emmons (The psychology of ultimate concerns. Guilford Press, New York, 1999) suggested that SI serves as a potentially significant construct to expand our understanding of the psychological determinants of human functioning. In recent years, several efforts to conceptualize and measure this construct have joined the body of related literature, of which King (Brighter paths to wellbeing: an integrative model of human intelligence and health. Trent University Centre for Health Studies Showcase, pp 12-13, 2008) serves as one notable example. Following, evaluating, and summarizing the theoretical debate regarding the validity of a concept, as it is presented in the literature, has long been understood as a helpful way of extending scholarly dialogue. In this project, I review psychological literature relevant to the debate on the validity of SI as a psychological construct. The literature offers many examples that demonstrate a relation between SI and other phenomena that are important for human functioning-well-being in this. Results of the analysis support theoretical considerations for viewing SI as facilitating the ability to search for the meaning of life and provide directions for future study.

The Boundaries of Woman's Spirituality in the Beliefs-Spirituality-Religiousness (B-S-R) Model: A Third Perspective-Beliefs as a Cognitive Basis.

The real nature of the phenomenon of woman's Spirituality is the main contemporary challenge for empirical research. The literature needs many more examples of the cognitive genesis of worldviews, Spirituality and Religiousness. The first aim of this article is to present the central tenet of the Threefold Nature of Spirituality model which theoretically explains the nature of Spirituality and the theoretical relationship between beliefs (worldviews), Spirituality and Religiousness (B-S-R model). The second aim is the empirical verification of this relationship through the application of an analysis of mediation. The 308 participants were women aged 18-50 years (M = 25.25, SD = 9.42). The results obtained indicate that is a good mediator between an individual's worldview and Religiousness. Presented analysis of mediation allows us to describe the basic functioning mechanism of the spiritual sphere and the relationship between the three elements: worldview, Spirituality and Religiousness.

Walls and Barriers. Polish Achievements and the Challenges of Transformation: Building a Hospice Movement in Poland.

In this review, the authors discuss the creation and development of hospice-palliative care in Poland and present attempts to move from religious care into spiritual companionship, using examples of concrete activities and challenges, which-like subsequent walls and barriers-have appeared inside and around us.

Spiritual but not religious? Evidence for two independent dispositions.

Some psychologists treat religious/spiritual beliefs as a unitary aspect of individual differences. But a distinction between mysticism and orthodox religion has been recognized by scholars as well as laypersons, and empirical studies of "ism" variables and of "spirituality" measures have yielded factors reflecting this distinction. Using a large sample of American adults, analyses demonstrate that subjective spirituality and tradition-oriented religiousness are empirically highly independent and have distinctly different correlates in the personality domain, suggesting that individuals with different dispositions tend toward different styles of religious/spiritual beliefs. These dimensions have low correlations with the lexical Big Five but high correlations with scales (e.g., Absorption, Traditionalism) on some omnibus personality inventories, indicating their relevance for studies of personality.