Steven Pirutinsky
Biographic Data
| ID | 329887 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Steven Pirutinsky |
| GIVEN NAMES | Steven |
| FAMILY NAME | Pirutinsky |
| SIGNATURE | PIRUTINSKY S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Touro College |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2098-3684 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 33 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 33 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Intent vs. impact
Relatively little is known about Jewish students’ judgments of and emotional reactions to campus Israel-Gaza protest in comparison to their peers. We conducted a within-subjects comparative design study with 337 college/university students (M = 22.02, SD = 4.19, 53% cisgender women, 53% White/European American), across two groups (Jewish vs. non-Jewish), and two image types (exposure to Israel-Gaza campus protest images vs. images of other campus…
“G-d, in you I trusted, let me never be ashamed”
Results suggest that treatment of Orthodox survivors of sexual abuse requires particular attention to shame and that further research is warranted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
Clinical differences between outpatients with and without internet addiction and emotional disorders
our findings contribute to a better understanding of the discreteness of IA as a potential psychological disorder and inform more effective treatment strategies for IA and its comorbid conditions
Internet Addiction and the Treatment of Depression? A Prospective Naturalistic Outcome Study
The increasing prevalence of Internet addiction (IA) has been linked with a wide range of psychological disorders, including depression. We explored how IA was prospectively associated with effectiveness of treatment for adult patients with depressive symptoms (n = 241) in the context of a New York-based outpatient clinic. Although IA was not correlated with symptoms at intake, patients with higher IA attended fewer total sessions on average. Mul…
Religious affiliation protects against alcohol/substance use initiation
BACKGROUND: A substantial volume of the literature suggests that religious factors buffer against alcohol/substance use among adults, but research among adolescents is sparse. Further, few studies in this area have been prospective, and therefore it is unclear how religion may impact less alcohol/substance use among adolescents. METHOD: We prospectively evaluated effects of religious affiliation on initiation of alcohol/substance use in a sample …
Religious Beliefs, Trust In Public Figures, And Adherence to Covid-19 Health Guidelines among American Orthodox and Non-Orthodox Jews
The COVID-19 pandemic and resultant health crisis highlighted the lack of scholarly understanding of the effects of sociocultural factors and religious beliefs on compliance with public health guidelines. Orthodox Jews in particular were suspected of mistrusting medical experts and were singled out for alleged non-compliance with COVID-19 health guidelines. We surveyed American Jews ( N = 1,141) during the early stages of the pandemic about their…
A many-analysts approach to the relation between religiosity and well-being
The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N=10,535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-…
A comparative study of mental health diagnoses, symptoms, treatment, and medication use among Orthodox Jews
Historical clinical reports and media narratives suggest that Orthodox Jews are reticent to seek treatment for mental illness, present only with serious concerns, and hesitate to comply with treatment in general and psychopharmacology in particular. On the other hand, recent developments, and some limited research, suggest that Orthodox Jews may be likely to seek and comply with treatment. The current study compared the diagnostic, symptomatic, a…
Covid-19, Religious Coping, and Weight Change in the Orthodox Jewish Community
Does gender moderate effects of religion on anxiety among Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews
Studies examining religion's effects on mental health have insufficiently focused on basic moderators of observed effects. Given that Orthodox Jewish religious culture places greater ritual obligations on men than women, but is gender-equivalent regarding faith, we expected Orthodox Jewish men and women to experience different levels of anxiety in relation to religious practice but not intrinsic religiosity, and that no gender differences would e…
Assessing the Business Model in Social Work
Objective: Adopting a business model in human service agencies has led to service delivery challenges and problematic working conditions. This article reports the initial validation of the Organizational Commitment to Managerialism (OCTM) scale, a tool designed to measure how the business model is operationalized in human service agencies. Method: Data from a purposive nonprobability sample of 2,326 workers employed in New York City metropolitan …
Implicit and explicit attitudes towards God and life satisfaction
Covid-19, Mental Health, and Religious Coping Among American Orthodox Jews
My God, why have you abandoned me? Sexual abuse and attitudes towards God among Orthodox Jews
Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) correlates with disruptions in core beliefs, which within Orthodox Judaism may be linked to God. We hypothesise that CSA may negatively alter attitudes towards God for some, while remaining unchanged or even activating this domain for others. This was tested in a sample of 136 individuals and results indicated that positive explicit beliefs about God differed between those who remained Orthodox and those who disaffili…
Commentary on “Does Spirituality or Religion Positively Affect Mental Health?”
The meta-analysis in this issue of the IJPR assesses whether religiosity and spirituality (R/S) affects “mental health” and how large that effect is based on evidence provided by longitudinal studi
Religion and Compulsive Sexuality
"Religion and Compulsive Sexuality: A Response to Efrati’s (2019) God, I Can’t Stop Thinking about Sex!." The Journal of Sex Research, 56(2), pp. 142–143
Is Attachment to God a Unique Predictor of Mental Health? Test in a Jewish Sample
Research suggests that religion and spirituality generally correlate positively with various aspects of mental health, although mediators remain unclear. We explored whether attachment to God is a unique predictor above and beyond other key religious variables within a Jewish sample. Given the religion-as-culture perspective suggesting that Judaism can be characterized as primarily focused on behavior versus internal mental experiences, we expect…
Psychological predictors of eating pathology in older adult women
Eating pathology is generally considered to affect females during adolescence and early adulthood. However, in recent years, there has been an increased recognition that disordered eating occurs in middle-aged and elderly women and that the presentation is similar to that of eating disorders in younger women. In the research presented here, results of an Internet survey of older adult women (N = 245; aged 60-90 years) indicate that the factors si…
The Pios among the pious
The Penn Inventory of Scrupulosity (PIOS) is the most widely utilised measure of religious obsessive-compulsive disorder. While it has been studied in clinical and community samples, its psychometric properties have not been evaluated among highly religious Orthodox Jewish individuals. This is consequential, as scrupulosity is most likely to occur in religious contexts. In two studies, we examined its factorial structure, reliability, and concurr…
Religious coping across a spectrum of religious involvement among Jews
A Paradigm to Assess Implicit Attitudes towards God
Marital Outcomes and Consideration of Divorce Among Orthodox Jews After Signing a Religious Prenuptial Agreement to Facilitate Future Divorce
This study examined marital satisfaction, marital adjustment, and consideration of divorce among Orthodox Jews in North America (N = 2,652). These marital outcomes were compared for individuals who signed or did not sign a religious prenuptial agreement that facilitates a woman’s future ability to receive a religious divorce from her husband. Results indicated a higher level of marital satisfaction among those who signed the religious prenuptial …
Maintaining a grateful disposition in the face of distress
Despite a surge in psychological research on gratitude over the past several years, a number of important questions remain unanswered about this highly valued trait. It is largely unknown, for example, how gratitude is maintained in times of distress. This article supports and extends existing theory and research on the relevance of benefit detection (the perception of having received a gain rendered intentionally and voluntarily by another), by …
Family size and psychological functioning in the Orthodox Jewish community
Caring for children is a known psychosocial stressor; however, its effects on psychological functioning may have substantial cross-cultural variance. We explored relationships between family size and a variety of psychological outcomes among Orthodox Jews in four separate studies: (1) an international treatment-seeking sample (n = 82), (2) a community sample from Canada (n = 226), (3) an out-patient clinical sample from greater New York (n = 82),…
The impact of religious conflict within orthodox Jewish families in Israel
While prior research suggests that religion influences relationships positively, it may also be a source of conflict. This may be particularly relevant in religion-centric cultures and in families with individuating adolescent children. The current research analysed data from 789 orthodox Jewish couples residing throughout Israel and we hypothesised that religious conflict is related to lower family functioning and higher parenting stress, and th…
Commentary on “Does Spirituality or Religion Positively Affect Mental Health?”
The meta-analysis in this issue of the IJPR assesses whether religiosity and spirituality (R/S) affects “mental health” and how large that effect is based on evidence provided by longitudinal studi
Is Attachment to God a Unique Predictor of Mental Health? Test in a Jewish Sample
Research suggests that religion and spirituality generally correlate positively with various aspects of mental health, although mediators remain unclear. We explored whether attachment to God is a unique predictor above and beyond other key religious variables within a Jewish sample. Given the religion-as-culture perspective suggesting that Judaism can be characterized as primarily focused on behavior versus internal mental experiences, we expect…
Religion, Ethnicity, and Attitudes Toward Psychotherapy
Conversion and Attachment Insecurity Among Orthodox Jews
Radical conversion, which entails a sweeping transformation of existing meaning systems, is often precipitated by emotional distress. Nevertheless, although many individuals turn toward religion when distressed, few undertake total and radical conversions. Previous research suggests that insecurely attached individuals—who resemble James's disillusioned, doubting, and divided sick souls—may be particularly prone to radical conversions. Thus, the …
Community attitudes towards culture‐influenced mental illness
Culture may particularly influence community attitudes towards mental illness, when the illness itself is shaped by a cultural context. To explore the influence of culture‐specific, religious symptoms on Orthodox Jewish community attitudes, the authors compared the attitudes of 169 Orthodox Jews, who randomly viewed one of two vignettes describing either religious or nonreligious obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Results indicate that though p…
Are religious beliefs relevant to mental health among Jews
Although considerable evidence has linked religious beliefs to mental health among Protestant Christians, previous theory and research has emphasized that practices play a more important role than beliefs for Jews. Beliefs about God’s benevolence may be salient for Orthodox Jews, however, as such beliefs are central to traditional Jewish doctrine. Two studies were conducted to compare the extent to which religious beliefs predicted depression and…
The terror management function of Orthodox Jewish religiosity
Terror management theory proposes that humans, able to envision their inevitable death, develop worldviews opposing this debilitating fear. One TMT implication of considerable interest is its connection with the formation of religious belief. Taking a religious culture approach, this study measured the effect of death reminders on self-reported religiosity among 131 Orthodox Jews, and examined if Baal Teshuva—“returnees” differed from individuals…
Conversion and Attachment Insecurity Among Orthodox Jews
Radical conversion, which entails a sweeping transformation of existing meaning systems, is often precipitated by emotional distress. Nevertheless, although many individuals turn toward religion when distressed, few undertake total and radical conversions. Previous research suggests that insecurely attached individuals—who resemble James's disillusioned, doubting, and divided sick souls—may be particularly prone to radical conversions. Thus, the …
Community attitudes towards culture‐influenced mental illness
Culture may particularly influence community attitudes towards mental illness, when the illness itself is shaped by a cultural context. To explore the influence of culture‐specific, religious symptoms on Orthodox Jewish community attitudes, the authors compared the attitudes of 169 Orthodox Jews, who randomly viewed one of two vignettes describing either religious or nonreligious obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Results indicate that though p…
Does negative religious coping accompany, precede, or follow depression among Orthodox Jews?
Grateful to God or just plain grateful? A comparison of religious and general gratitude
Psychological science has consistently highlighted links between gratitude and religion, however mediating pathways by which religion relates to gratitude remain ambiguous. Further, it is unclear whether religious gratitude (e.g., gratitude to God) is more related to well-being than general gratitude. To address these gaps, we assessed for both religious and general dimensions of gratitude alongside measures of religious commitment and mental/phy…
Religion, Ethnicity, and Attitudes Toward Psychotherapy
Is the Connection Between Religiosity and Psychological Functioning Due to Religion’s Social Value? A Failure to Replicate
The impact of religious conflict within orthodox Jewish families in Israel
While prior research suggests that religion influences relationships positively, it may also be a source of conflict. This may be particularly relevant in religion-centric cultures and in families with individuating adolescent children. The current research analysed data from 789 orthodox Jewish couples residing throughout Israel and we hypothesised that religious conflict is related to lower family functioning and higher parenting stress, and th…
Family size and psychological functioning in the Orthodox Jewish community
Caring for children is a known psychosocial stressor; however, its effects on psychological functioning may have substantial cross-cultural variance. We explored relationships between family size and a variety of psychological outcomes among Orthodox Jews in four separate studies: (1) an international treatment-seeking sample (n = 82), (2) a community sample from Canada (n = 226), (3) an out-patient clinical sample from greater New York (n = 82),…
Maintaining a grateful disposition in the face of distress
Despite a surge in psychological research on gratitude over the past several years, a number of important questions remain unanswered about this highly valued trait. It is largely unknown, for example, how gratitude is maintained in times of distress. This article supports and extends existing theory and research on the relevance of benefit detection (the perception of having received a gain rendered intentionally and voluntarily by another), by …
Religious coping across a spectrum of religious involvement among Jews
A Paradigm to Assess Implicit Attitudes towards God
Marital Outcomes and Consideration of Divorce Among Orthodox Jews After Signing a Religious Prenuptial Agreement to Facilitate Future Divorce
This study examined marital satisfaction, marital adjustment, and consideration of divorce among Orthodox Jews in North America (N = 2,652). These marital outcomes were compared for individuals who signed or did not sign a religious prenuptial agreement that facilitates a woman’s future ability to receive a religious divorce from her husband. Results indicated a higher level of marital satisfaction among those who signed the religious prenuptial …
Psychological predictors of eating pathology in older adult women
Eating pathology is generally considered to affect females during adolescence and early adulthood. However, in recent years, there has been an increased recognition that disordered eating occurs in middle-aged and elderly women and that the presentation is similar to that of eating disorders in younger women. In the research presented here, results of an Internet survey of older adult women (N = 245; aged 60-90 years) indicate that the factors si…
The Pios among the pious
The Penn Inventory of Scrupulosity (PIOS) is the most widely utilised measure of religious obsessive-compulsive disorder. While it has been studied in clinical and community samples, its psychometric properties have not been evaluated among highly religious Orthodox Jewish individuals. This is consequential, as scrupulosity is most likely to occur in religious contexts. In two studies, we examined its factorial structure, reliability, and concurr…
Religion and Compulsive Sexuality
"Religion and Compulsive Sexuality: A Response to Efrati’s (2019) God, I Can’t Stop Thinking about Sex!." The Journal of Sex Research, 56(2), pp. 142–143
Is Attachment to God a Unique Predictor of Mental Health? Test in a Jewish Sample
Research suggests that religion and spirituality generally correlate positively with various aspects of mental health, although mediators remain unclear. We explored whether attachment to God is a unique predictor above and beyond other key religious variables within a Jewish sample. Given the religion-as-culture perspective suggesting that Judaism can be characterized as primarily focused on behavior versus internal mental experiences, we expect…
Implicit and explicit attitudes towards God and life satisfaction
Covid-19, Mental Health, and Religious Coping Among American Orthodox Jews
My God, why have you abandoned me? Sexual abuse and attitudes towards God among Orthodox Jews
Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) correlates with disruptions in core beliefs, which within Orthodox Judaism may be linked to God. We hypothesise that CSA may negatively alter attitudes towards God for some, while remaining unchanged or even activating this domain for others. This was tested in a sample of 136 individuals and results indicated that positive explicit beliefs about God differed between those who remained Orthodox and those who disaffili…
Commentary on “Does Spirituality or Religion Positively Affect Mental Health?”
The meta-analysis in this issue of the IJPR assesses whether religiosity and spirituality (R/S) affects “mental health” and how large that effect is based on evidence provided by longitudinal studi
Covid-19, Religious Coping, and Weight Change in the Orthodox Jewish Community
Does gender moderate effects of religion on anxiety among Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews
Studies examining religion's effects on mental health have insufficiently focused on basic moderators of observed effects. Given that Orthodox Jewish religious culture places greater ritual obligations on men than women, but is gender-equivalent regarding faith, we expected Orthodox Jewish men and women to experience different levels of anxiety in relation to religious practice but not intrinsic religiosity, and that no gender differences would e…
Assessing the Business Model in Social Work
Objective: Adopting a business model in human service agencies has led to service delivery challenges and problematic working conditions. This article reports the initial validation of the Organizational Commitment to Managerialism (OCTM) scale, a tool designed to measure how the business model is operationalized in human service agencies. Method: Data from a purposive nonprobability sample of 2,326 workers employed in New York City metropolitan …
Psychology (32 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (26 works) · Social Psychology (22 works) · Clinical Psychology (19 works) · Medicine (17 works) · Judaism (15 works) · Psychiatry (12 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Mental health (9 works) · Religiosity (9 works)