Construction and Validation of a Muslim Religious Trauma Scale

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop a scale to measure the traumatic religious experiences among Muslims and assess its validity, reliability, and factor structure. Data were collected from 452 (25.9% men and 74.01% women) Muslim participants in Turkey aged 18-60 or over (the average age group was 30-33) on an online platform. Measures included an original Muslim Religious Trauma Scale comprising newly constructed religious trauma items, Religiosity Scales, the Subjective Happiness Scale, the Brief Trauma Questionnaire, the Post-Traumatic Symptom Scale, and the Dissociation Scale. The results of exploratory factor analysis revealed six factors: spiritual incongruence, spiritual disappointment, social or peer pressure, feelings of sin and guilt, sexual abuse, and corporal punishment. It was found that the association of religious trauma with general trauma, post-traumatic symptoms, and dissociation supported the assumption of concurrent validity of the newly developed Muslim Religious Trauma Scale. Additionally, it also confirmed the idea that some of the adverse religious experiences could be traumatic.