Assessing the Usefulness of the God Questionnaire

The purpose of the present study was to assess the usefulness of Froese and Bader's (2010) God Questionnaire (GQ) as it relates to various styles of coping, affect, and self-reported levels of anxiety, depression, and stress. Developed from items in the 2005 Baylor Religion Survey, the GQ can be completed by adherents of many religious traditions, including those who report being agnostic or atheistic. In the present study, Qualtrics' crowdsourcing services were used to obtain a sample of U.S. adults (N = 1,048) who completed the GQ as well as measures of religiosity/spirituality, positive/ negative affect, depression, anxiety, and stress. Analysis of the data found the psychometric properties of the GQ Judgment and Engagement scales to be somewhat mixed. While the Engagement scale was strongly correlated with positive religious coping, religious activities, and intrinsic religiosity, the Judgment scale correlated only with negative religious coping. Comparison of age, gender, and religious preference among the 4 God image groups of the GQ showed the expected differences. The present results suggest that the 4 God image groups are sensitive to positive and negative affect as well as symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. The brevity of the GQ (15 items) and its sensitivity to various psychological symptoms may make it feasible as an intake measure to assess clients' religion and spirituality.