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African American Women’s Definitions of Spirituality and Religiosity

University of Michigan, jmattis{at}umich.edu

These two qualitative studies explore the meanings of spirituality for African American women and the distinctions that women make between spirituality and religiosity. In Study 1, content analyses of women’s (N = 128) written narratives reveal 13 categories of meaning that are assigned to spirituality. In Study 2, indepth interviews with a subsample of women (N = 21) reveal three key differences between religiosity and spirituality. First, whereas religiosity is associated with organized worship, spirituality is defined as the internalization of positive values. Second, religion is conceptualized as a path and spirituality as an outcome. Finally, whereas religion is tied to worship, spirituality is associated with relationships.

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