Maureen Miner
Biographic Data
| ID | 379878 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Maureen Miner |
| GIVEN NAMES | Maureen |
| FAMILY NAME | Miner |
| SIGNATURE | MINER M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Western Sydney University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7696-1516 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 12 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1991 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Faith and Stigmatized Sexual Identities
Strategic disruptions
Since 2016, governments in 77 countries have implemented 1,118 internet shutdowns, revealing a growing trend in the use of ‘digital repression’. Governments often justify these shutdowns as necessary for public safety and applied impartially in response to security threats. Focusing on India, the country that has enacted the most shutdowns globally, this article explores whether shutdowns instead follow a logic of targeting political opponents, a…
Conservation of resources theory and spirituality at work
The interrelationships between spiritual resources and work engagement
A New Model of Christian Leadership
Much secular research into leadership examines the traits and behaviors of leaders towards valued organizational goals. Similarly, biblical approaches to Christian leadership examine the traits and activities of biblical figures towards God’s kingdom ends. However, these and relational theories of Christian leadership such as the incarnational approach of servant leadership and the motivational approach of transformational leadership have been cr…
Adaptation of a Muslim Spiritual Attachment Scale (God attachment) for Turkish Muslims
Despite the importance of a believer’s attachment relationship with God for mental health, there are few measures relevant to Muslims, and little work on cross-cultural validation of such measures. The objective of the present study was to examine the validity and reliability of the Muslim Spiritual Attachment Scale (M-SAS) in Turkish Muslim samples. In analyzing the data, three different samples of college students (N = 525, N = 341, and N = 47 …
Development of a Measure of Attachment to God for Muslims
Attachment to God has received theoretical and theological warrant for its applicability to Christian and Muslim populations. However, existing measures of attachment to God have been developed within Christian contexts and do not necessarily constitute the best instruments for measuring attachment to God amongst Muslims. This paper addresses the lack of a religiously sensitive measure of attachment to God amongst Muslims by describing the develo…
Incremental validity of spiritual resources in the job demands-resources model
Spirituality and work engagement among church leaders
Much research attention has been given to the mental health problems of church leaders, but relatively few studies have investigated positive indicators of clergy mental health at work, such as work engagement. This paper examines spiritual resources and job resources as key antecedents of work engagement. In contrast, job demands were examined as a moderator of the relationship between resources and work engagement. Hypotheses were framed within…
Interacting religious orientations and personal well-being among Australian Church leaders
This study examines the relationship between religious orientation and personal well-being (PWB) among 1289 Australian church leaders. The study is of interest because although religion and religiousness in general have been found to be positive contributors to important variables (such as well-being and satisfaction with life), particular orientations towards religion, and their interaction, may moderate the positive effects of religion on these…
Attachment to God, Psychological Need Satisfaction, and Psychological Well-Being among Christians
Human attachment relationships are considered to be foundational to psychological well-being (Fonagy, 1999; Warren, Huston, Egeland, & Sroufe, 1997) and, by extension, attachment to God is often considered foundational to psychological well-being amongst Christian believers (Kirkpatrick, 1999; Miner, 2009). However, studies of psychological need satisfaction by different attachment figures (La Guardia, Ryan, Couchman, & Deci, 2000) suggest that e…
Spiritual attachment in Islam and Christianity
Theory and measurement of attachment to God have largely been developed from a western Christian perspective. However, the relevance of the attachment construct for Muslims should be examined if it is to contribute to a greater understanding of Islamic spirituality and psychological health. In this paper, we explore similarities and differences between Islamic and Christian understandings of human-divine relationships. We consider evidence of a c…
Spiritual Satisfaction of Basic Psychological Needs and Psychological Health
According to Self Determination Theory, psychological health and well-being depend on the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Significant others differentially contribute to the perceived satisfaction of basic psychological needs. God is a significant Other for Christians, but there is no published research investigating perceptions of God meeting basic psychological needs. This paper considers psy…
Spiritual Experiences Reconsidered
Attempts to develop a conceptual integration of psychology and theology typically encounter difficulties at the level of ontological and epistemological presuppositions. Our proposal to overcome some of these difficulties is to begin an attempt at integration with spiritual experiences-particularly experiences of being in an attachment relationship with God. Accounts of experiences of relationship with God are analyzed using the method of relatio…
The Impact of Child-parent Attachment, Attachment to God and Religious Orientation on Psychological Adjustment
The impact of religion and spirituality on psychological adjustment is a continuing area of concern. This preliminary study attempted to examine the effects of religious orientation, retrospective accounts of child-parent attachment and current accounts of attachment to God on trait anxiety and existential well being, based on questionnaire responses of a sample of 116 adults from Sydney, Australia. Small, significant effects of attachment to God…
Exploring Christians’ Explicit Attachment to God Representations
Assessment of attachment to God (ATG) has generally focused on tapping the construct via self-report measures. Little, if any attention has been paid to assessing ATG via independent ratings of Christians’ relationship with God narratives, obtained at interview. The current study addressed this deficit. It documents the development of a template for assessing Christians’ relationship with God narratives for specific ATG experiences. Three theoret…
Healthy Questing and Mature Religious Reflection
Gordon Allport (1950) suggested that a willingness to reflect upon and question one's beliefs was a component of mature religiosity. Subsequently, the construct and measurement of quest was developed by Batson and colleagues. There has been much helpful research based on the Batson Quest Scale but also debate surrounding the psychometric properties of the scale, and attempts to develop other questing measures. However, there has been little attem…
Back to the basics in attachment to God
This article argues that contemporary theories of attachment to God lack a clear and coherent theological basis. The absence of theological argument weakens attachment theory as applied to relationships with God on three main grounds. First, cognitive social models easily slip into reductionism. Second, these models fail to consider fully the attributes of God to whom the individual attaches. Third, these models overlook that relationships with G…
Burnout in the first year of ministry
Although cross-sectional research has found that personality dimensions and religious styles are associated with distress and burnout in clergy, there is little longitudinal research that considers predictors of psychological health, particularly over the initial twelve months of ministry. The author's study measured demographic and personality characteristics, openness to change in beliefs, and orientation to the demands of ministry in 60 gradua…
Changes in burnout over the first 12 months in ministry
Working in Christian ministry is stressful because it is focused on the intangible spirituality of people within a secularized society. Consequently, clergy are at risk of burnout. An internal orientation to the demands of ministry (where ministers depend on internal sources of authority and coping, such as spirituality and competence) is associated with low burnout in cross-sectional studies of ministers. However, little is known about stressors…
The Nature and Structure of Muslim Religious Reflection
Muslims are often stereotyped as having rigid, fundamentalist attitudes. To date, studies have not examined the degree to which Muslims endorse a questing approach to religion, thus displaying openness to the exploration of religious practices and beliefs. A sample of 123 Australian Muslims and 74 Malaysian Muslims completed questionnaires including measures of: questing, as measured by Batson and Schoenrade's 12-item Quest scale (1991b) Batson, …
Ethics education
Davidson, Garton, and Joyce (Australian Psychologist 2003; 38: 216 - 222) report a recent survey of ethics education for psychologists and recommend changes in ethics curricula at universities in order to meet Australian Psychological Society (APS) guidelines. Although they outline some of the benefits of ethics education, their advocacy of formal ethics training can be supported more powerfully by arguments based on the nature of ethical thinkin…
Quest Religion and the Problem of Limited Compassion
Is the religious questing orientation an unprejudiced orientation that shows tolerance for people to a degree that suggests universal, rather than circumscribed, compassion? To answer this question, 90 undergraduates were given the opportunity to help either of two peers win a monetary prize. The identity of one of the peers was manipulated across two conditions: he or she was presented as holding a religious fundamentalist belief style or belief…
Religious Attributions
The religious attributions of 363 Presbyterian Congregational members were examined to see how they affected coping responses across a range of situations. We compared the multiple sufficient schemata (attributions to God or secular causes) and two proximal-distal models (distant God and secular causes; distant God plus God's direct control in some situations). Results failed to support the first two models but were consistent with direct and ind…
The Adjustment of Long Term Homeless Youth
This study investigated self image, depression, hopelessness and locus of control in 30 adolescents who had lived away from home for at least six months, together with relationships between maladjustment and poor experiences at home and at school prior to leaving home. Comparisons were made with 120 adolescents living at home who were employed, unemployed, at school or at tertiary institutions. It was found that the homeless youth were more depre…
Quest Religion and the Problem of Limited Compassion
Is the religious questing orientation an unprejudiced orientation that shows tolerance for people to a degree that suggests universal, rather than circumscribed, compassion? To answer this question, 90 undergraduates were given the opportunity to help either of two peers win a monetary prize. The identity of one of the peers was manipulated across two conditions: he or she was presented as holding a religious fundamentalist belief style or belief…
Development of a Measure of Attachment to God for Muslims
Attachment to God has received theoretical and theological warrant for its applicability to Christian and Muslim populations. However, existing measures of attachment to God have been developed within Christian contexts and do not necessarily constitute the best instruments for measuring attachment to God amongst Muslims. This paper addresses the lack of a religiously sensitive measure of attachment to God amongst Muslims by describing the develo…
Religious Attributions
The religious attributions of 363 Presbyterian Congregational members were examined to see how they affected coping responses across a range of situations. We compared the multiple sufficient schemata (attributions to God or secular causes) and two proximal-distal models (distant God and secular causes; distant God plus God's direct control in some situations). Results failed to support the first two models but were consistent with direct and ind…
Ethics education
Davidson, Garton, and Joyce (Australian Psychologist 2003; 38: 216 - 222) report a recent survey of ethics education for psychologists and recommend changes in ethics curricula at universities in order to meet Australian Psychological Society (APS) guidelines. Although they outline some of the benefits of ethics education, their advocacy of formal ethics training can be supported more powerfully by arguments based on the nature of ethical thinkin…
The Adjustment of Long Term Homeless Youth
This study investigated self image, depression, hopelessness and locus of control in 30 adolescents who had lived away from home for at least six months, together with relationships between maladjustment and poor experiences at home and at school prior to leaving home. Comparisons were made with 120 adolescents living at home who were employed, unemployed, at school or at tertiary institutions. It was found that the homeless youth were more depre…
The Adjustment of Long Term Homeless Youth
This study investigated self image, depression, hopelessness and locus of control in 30 adolescents who had lived away from home for at least six months, together with relationships between maladjustment and poor experiences at home and at school prior to leaving home. Comparisons were made with 120 adolescents living at home who were employed, unemployed, at school or at tertiary institutions. It was found that the homeless youth were more depre…
Religious Attributions
The religious attributions of 363 Presbyterian Congregational members were examined to see how they affected coping responses across a range of situations. We compared the multiple sufficient schemata (attributions to God or secular causes) and two proximal-distal models (distant God and secular causes; distant God plus God's direct control in some situations). Results failed to support the first two models but were consistent with direct and ind…
Quest Religion and the Problem of Limited Compassion
Is the religious questing orientation an unprejudiced orientation that shows tolerance for people to a degree that suggests universal, rather than circumscribed, compassion? To answer this question, 90 undergraduates were given the opportunity to help either of two peers win a monetary prize. The identity of one of the peers was manipulated across two conditions: he or she was presented as holding a religious fundamentalist belief style or belief…
Ethics education
Davidson, Garton, and Joyce (Australian Psychologist 2003; 38: 216 - 222) report a recent survey of ethics education for psychologists and recommend changes in ethics curricula at universities in order to meet Australian Psychological Society (APS) guidelines. Although they outline some of the benefits of ethics education, their advocacy of formal ethics training can be supported more powerfully by arguments based on the nature of ethical thinkin…
Back to the basics in attachment to God
This article argues that contemporary theories of attachment to God lack a clear and coherent theological basis. The absence of theological argument weakens attachment theory as applied to relationships with God on three main grounds. First, cognitive social models easily slip into reductionism. Second, these models fail to consider fully the attributes of God to whom the individual attaches. Third, these models overlook that relationships with G…
Burnout in the first year of ministry
Although cross-sectional research has found that personality dimensions and religious styles are associated with distress and burnout in clergy, there is little longitudinal research that considers predictors of psychological health, particularly over the initial twelve months of ministry. The author's study measured demographic and personality characteristics, openness to change in beliefs, and orientation to the demands of ministry in 60 gradua…
Changes in burnout over the first 12 months in ministry
Working in Christian ministry is stressful because it is focused on the intangible spirituality of people within a secularized society. Consequently, clergy are at risk of burnout. An internal orientation to the demands of ministry (where ministers depend on internal sources of authority and coping, such as spirituality and competence) is associated with low burnout in cross-sectional studies of ministers. However, little is known about stressors…
The Nature and Structure of Muslim Religious Reflection
Muslims are often stereotyped as having rigid, fundamentalist attitudes. To date, studies have not examined the degree to which Muslims endorse a questing approach to religion, thus displaying openness to the exploration of religious practices and beliefs. A sample of 123 Australian Muslims and 74 Malaysian Muslims completed questionnaires including measures of: questing, as measured by Batson and Schoenrade's 12-item Quest scale (1991b) Batson, …
Healthy Questing and Mature Religious Reflection
Gordon Allport (1950) suggested that a willingness to reflect upon and question one's beliefs was a component of mature religiosity. Subsequently, the construct and measurement of quest was developed by Batson and colleagues. There has been much helpful research based on the Batson Quest Scale but also debate surrounding the psychometric properties of the scale, and attempts to develop other questing measures. However, there has been little attem…
The Impact of Child-parent Attachment, Attachment to God and Religious Orientation on Psychological Adjustment
The impact of religion and spirituality on psychological adjustment is a continuing area of concern. This preliminary study attempted to examine the effects of religious orientation, retrospective accounts of child-parent attachment and current accounts of attachment to God on trait anxiety and existential well being, based on questionnaire responses of a sample of 116 adults from Sydney, Australia. Small, significant effects of attachment to God…
Exploring Christians’ Explicit Attachment to God Representations
Assessment of attachment to God (ATG) has generally focused on tapping the construct via self-report measures. Little, if any attention has been paid to assessing ATG via independent ratings of Christians’ relationship with God narratives, obtained at interview. The current study addressed this deficit. It documents the development of a template for assessing Christians’ relationship with God narratives for specific ATG experiences. Three theoret…
Spiritual Experiences Reconsidered
Attempts to develop a conceptual integration of psychology and theology typically encounter difficulties at the level of ontological and epistemological presuppositions. Our proposal to overcome some of these difficulties is to begin an attempt at integration with spiritual experiences-particularly experiences of being in an attachment relationship with God. Accounts of experiences of relationship with God are analyzed using the method of relatio…
Spiritual Satisfaction of Basic Psychological Needs and Psychological Health
According to Self Determination Theory, psychological health and well-being depend on the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Significant others differentially contribute to the perceived satisfaction of basic psychological needs. God is a significant Other for Christians, but there is no published research investigating perceptions of God meeting basic psychological needs. This paper considers psy…
Attachment to God, Psychological Need Satisfaction, and Psychological Well-Being among Christians
Human attachment relationships are considered to be foundational to psychological well-being (Fonagy, 1999; Warren, Huston, Egeland, & Sroufe, 1997) and, by extension, attachment to God is often considered foundational to psychological well-being amongst Christian believers (Kirkpatrick, 1999; Miner, 2009). However, studies of psychological need satisfaction by different attachment figures (La Guardia, Ryan, Couchman, & Deci, 2000) suggest that e…
Spiritual attachment in Islam and Christianity
Theory and measurement of attachment to God have largely been developed from a western Christian perspective. However, the relevance of the attachment construct for Muslims should be examined if it is to contribute to a greater understanding of Islamic spirituality and psychological health. In this paper, we explore similarities and differences between Islamic and Christian understandings of human-divine relationships. We consider evidence of a c…
Incremental validity of spiritual resources in the job demands-resources model
Spirituality and work engagement among church leaders
Much research attention has been given to the mental health problems of church leaders, but relatively few studies have investigated positive indicators of clergy mental health at work, such as work engagement. This paper examines spiritual resources and job resources as key antecedents of work engagement. In contrast, job demands were examined as a moderator of the relationship between resources and work engagement. Hypotheses were framed within…
Interacting religious orientations and personal well-being among Australian Church leaders
This study examines the relationship between religious orientation and personal well-being (PWB) among 1289 Australian church leaders. The study is of interest because although religion and religiousness in general have been found to be positive contributors to important variables (such as well-being and satisfaction with life), particular orientations towards religion, and their interaction, may moderate the positive effects of religion on these…
Development of a Measure of Attachment to God for Muslims
Attachment to God has received theoretical and theological warrant for its applicability to Christian and Muslim populations. However, existing measures of attachment to God have been developed within Christian contexts and do not necessarily constitute the best instruments for measuring attachment to God amongst Muslims. This paper addresses the lack of a religiously sensitive measure of attachment to God amongst Muslims by describing the develo…
Adaptation of a Muslim Spiritual Attachment Scale (God attachment) for Turkish Muslims
Despite the importance of a believer’s attachment relationship with God for mental health, there are few measures relevant to Muslims, and little work on cross-cultural validation of such measures. The objective of the present study was to examine the validity and reliability of the Muslim Spiritual Attachment Scale (M-SAS) in Turkish Muslim samples. In analyzing the data, three different samples of college students (N = 525, N = 341, and N = 47 …
A New Model of Christian Leadership
Much secular research into leadership examines the traits and behaviors of leaders towards valued organizational goals. Similarly, biblical approaches to Christian leadership examine the traits and activities of biblical figures towards God’s kingdom ends. However, these and relational theories of Christian leadership such as the incarnational approach of servant leadership and the motivational approach of transformational leadership have been cr…
The interrelationships between spiritual resources and work engagement
Conservation of resources theory and spirituality at work
Faith and Stigmatized Sexual Identities
Strategic disruptions
Since 2016, governments in 77 countries have implemented 1,118 internet shutdowns, revealing a growing trend in the use of ‘digital repression’. Governments often justify these shutdowns as necessary for public safety and applied impartially in response to security threats. Focusing on India, the country that has enacted the most shutdowns globally, this article explores whether shutdowns instead follow a logic of targeting political opponents, a…
Psychology (24 works) · Social Psychology (21 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (20 works) · Philosophy (11 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (7 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (7 works) · Clinical Psychology (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Spirituality (6 works)