The Impact of Child - Parent Attachment , Attachment to God and Religious Orientation on Psychological Adjustment

114 A n ongoing issue for the psychology of religion is the complex relationship between religion and psychological adjustment. Psychological adjustment has been described as an umbrella construct with various cognitive and affective dimensions such as life satisfaction, positive affect, happiness, congruence between expected and achieved life goals, absence of symptoms, a positive sense of well being; appropriate social behaviour; freedom from worry and guilt; personal competence and control; personality unification; open-mindedness and flexibility (Batson & Ventis, 1982; Levin & Chatters, 1998). From these, the absence of symptoms such as anxiety and a positive sense of well-being are often used for economical assessment of objective and subjective aspects of adjustment. One well-researched line of inquiry has been the relationship between religious orientation (exemplifying the facet of religious importance, or commitment) and adjustment.