Evidence for the Brief Mysticism Scale: Psychometric Properties, and Moderation and Mediation Effects in Predicting Spiritual Self-identification

Mystical experiences, as measured by an 8-item version of the Mysticism Scale, are closely tied to how people rate their own spirituality. In large American and German samples studied over several years, this short scale proved reliable and stable over time. It also helped explain the link between self-rated religiosity and spirituality: the scale moderated how religiosity affected spirituality and mediated the way religiosity predicted spirituality across time. The findings support using the brief scale as an efficient tool for assessing self-attributed spirituality when questionnaire length is a concern.

Study at a glance

Abstract

How are mystical experiences related to self-rated spirituality? Is the recently developed short 8-item version of Hood’s (1975) Mysticism Scale an efficient measurement? The current study expands evidence for both questions using N = 1,582 American and N = 1,492 German samples measured in three waves, average 4 to 5 years apart. Results show that the 8-item brief M-Scale has good psychometric property evidenced by 1) measurement invariance across time, and 2) good test-retest reliability. Results further demonstrate that the 8-item brief M-Scale 3) moderates the effect of self-rated religiosity on self-rated spirituality, and 4) mediates the prediction of self-rated religiosity on self-rated spirituality over time. We conclude that the M-Scale can be used as a measure for self-attributed spirituality and that the 8-item brief version of the M-Scale can be used, when questionnaire length is an issue.