The Nature of Power: Elaborating the Association between Divine Control and Mental Health

Abstract

Over the last decade, we have witnessed a resurgence of research on religious cognitions and mental health, including, most notably, perceptions of divine control. Although prior work on divine control tends to assume a loving or benevolent image of God, this is only one potential representation. Using nationwide data from the 2017 Baylor Religion Survey (n = 999), we test whether the mental health benefits of perceived divine control vary according to various images of God (authoritative, benevolent, critical, and distant) and educational attainment. Results suggest that individuals with a college degree tend to report worse mental health if they also exhibit high levels of divine control beliefs and authoritative or critical God images. For those without a college degree, mental health was optimal when perceived divine control beliefs were low and their images of God were either authoritative or critical. For those with a college degree, the best mental health profiles were observed among those who reported high levels of divine control and a benevolent God image. By exploring the intersection of perceived divine control and God imagery, we may gain greater insight into novel processes related to religious cognitions and mental health.