instrinsic/extrinsic religious motivation

The depression and Mormon women study I mentioned previously used a specific scale, a set of questions, each of which is scored, then added up to reach a final number indicating strength of intrinsic versus extrinsic religiosity. This is the Intrinsic Religious Motivation scale, based on an earlier study.*

Intrinsic religiosity refers to internal motivation for being religious, such as belief in God, inner peace and happiness, connection with the divine, etc.

Extrinsic religiosity refers to external motivation for being religious, such as meeting people, community conformity, family pressure, heritage, etc.

A person can, of course, be religious both intrinsically and extrinsically. Hence the scale, which allows someone to fall anywhere on a range.

The questions asked in the women and depression study were as follows.**

-My faith involves all my life.
strongly agree; agree; disagree; strongly disagree

-One should seek God's guidance when making every important decision.
strongly agree; agree; disagree; strongly disagree

-In my life I experience the presence of the Divine.
strongly agree; agree; disagree; strongly disagree

-My faith sometimes restricts my actions.
strongly agree; agree; disagree; strongly disagree

-Nothing is as important to me as serving God as best I know how.
strongly agree; agree; disagree; strongly disagree

-I try hard to carry my religion over into all my other dealings.
strongly agree; agree; disagree; strongly disagree

-My religious beliefs are what really lie behind my whole approach to life.
strongly agree; agree; disagree; strongly disagree

-It doesn't matter so much what I believe as long as I lead a moral life.
strongly disagree; disagree; agree; strongly agree

-Although I am a religious person, I refuse to let religious considerations influence my everyday affairs.
strongly disagree; disagree; agree; strongly agree

-Although I believe in my religion, I feel there are many more important things in life.
strongly disagree; disagree; agree; strongly agree

Add it up as follows:
For items 1-7: strongly agree (1); agree (2); disagree (3); strongly disagree (4).
For items 8-10, it reverses: strongly disagree (1); disagree (2); agree (3); strongly agree (4).

The higher the score, the higher the extrinsic religiosity. Remember, in the Mormon/depression study, those with higher extrinsic religiosity had slightly more depression.

My question about this is how well this works for Mormons. The types of Mormons I see as having more extrinsic religiosity would be NOMs, liberal Mormons, fringe Mormons, cultural Mormons, social Mormons, etc. Would this scale tease out these types of people from the rest of Mormons? And would it differentiate them from each other? And how particular is it to Mormons?

For example, Mormons do not generally speak in terms of the "the Divine." Questions that use "Heavenly Father" our "the Lord" might be more appropriate. Also, this question, "My faith sometimes restricts my actions" might be misinterpreted by Mormons in the same way that "I can't...I'm Mormon" T-shirts were. That is, some Mormons may let religion restrict their actions, but don't see it as restriction. They might, therefore, misinterpret this question negatively. On the other hand, this question is ambiguous all around. I can see some with intrinsic religiosity saying, "strongly agree," and feel happy about it, but also someone with extrinsic religiosity saying, "strongly agree," but feelings very unhappy about it. For example, a faithful non-believer might want to drink alcohol, but doesn't in order to keep up appearances, and keep the faithful spouse happy.

Before I came across this study, I hashed together some questions of my own, which would attempt to find NOMs (those who attend/practice, usually but not always, for extrinsic reasons, but don't believe, ). The questions are rather crude, but it was interesting to try to figure out how to measure such things in a simple survey.

1. Of the following, which best reflects how often you attend LDS church services, including other church activities (Enrichment, Primary, YW/YM, meetings, etc.)?

1) a few times a year

2) once a month

3) two to three times a month

4) every week, or nearly every week

5) more than once a week

2. Of the following, which best reflects the reason you attend LDS church services?

1) I attend to keep my marriage together.

2) I attend to please my spouse or parents.

3) I attend for social reasons, or because it is community and/or heritage.

4) I attend because I believe it will bring the greatest happiness in this life and the next.

5) I attend because I know it will bring the greatest happiness in this life and the next.

3. Of the following, which best reflects your current testimony of the LDS church and teachings?

1) I believe the church is not true and not led by God.

2) I have serious questions or doubts, but ultimately I believe it’s true and led by God.

3) I believe the church is true and led by God, even though I may have some questions about certain issues.

4) I believe the church is true and led by God.

5) I know the church is true and led by God.

4. Of the following, which best reflects how well you think your beliefs would be approved of by the rest of your ward or the church at large?

1) Not at all. If I expressed my true thoughts about the church during church, most people would disapprove of what I say and I could be disciplined and/or ostracized.

2) Very little. If I expressed my true thoughts about the church during church, most people would disapprove of what I say and counter my statements with mainstream teachings or testimony-bearing.

3) Somewhat. If I expressed my true thoughts about the church during church, some people would verbally approve and some would verbally disapprove of what I say.

4) Quite a lot. If I expressed my true thoughts about the church during church, almost everybody would verbally approve of what I say.

I included the last question to get at people who may be NOM, but are more comfortable in that role, possibly because their ward is more liberal in general anyway. For example, someone who doesn't believe at all could still answer "quite a lot" on the last question.

It would be interesting to do a study on Mormons and depression, really teasing out differences of religiosity that simply asking "What is your religious affiliation?" would not allow.

*Hoge, D. A Validated Intrinsic Religious Motivation Scale. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 11, No. 4. (Dec., 1972), pp. 369-376.
**As far as I could tell. The Spendlove study simply referenced the Hoge study, but the latter study has 30 questions, and recommends use of 10 of them. It is unclear whether the Mormon/depression study used all 30 or just the 10.