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Abstract

The Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWB) has been used to examine the various levels of well-being with a variety of groups. However, the scale has not been examined in terms of the impact of ethnicity on scale results specifically comparing Caucasians and African-Americans. This study, which was a follow-up to previous quantitative/qualitative studies, examined the impact of ethnicity in terms of Caucasians and African-Americans. The SWB Scale was administered to 119 Caucasians and 97 African-Americans. Factor analysis was used to determine the validity of the scale with regard to ethnicity. The results showed three scale factors for the Caucasians (religious well being, life satisfaction/purpose, future) and five scale factors for the African-Americans (connection with God, satisfaction with God and day-to-day living, future /life contentment, personalized relationship with God, meaningfulness). Ethnic differences in the SWB Scale are addressed with recommendations for further research.

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Spiritual Well-Being Scale Ethnic Differences between Caucasians and African-Americans

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