A Content Analysis of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality Journal: The Initial Four Years

The authors conducted a content analysis of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (PRS) journal based on suggestions of McMinn, Hathaway, Woods, and Snow (2009), as well as the intentioned direction of the journal by Piedmont (2009). Content analyses capture the current state of affairs of a journal as well as highlighting directions in the field. Given the journal's short history, it is important to determine whether it is publishing articles that are of interest to individuals specifically interested in religion and spirituality (R/S) as well as a broad-based readership. A total of 86 articles were evaluated in 10 substantive content categories as well as nine areas specific to individual studies. These included a variety of descriptive categories as well as identifying authors, affiliations, and instruments most frequently published. Results indicated that the journal clearly appears to be moving toward its mission of becoming a premier journal for the study of R/S. Most articles fell within two overlapping categories, though others were represented. Approximately 20% of studies included model development, and whereas over half of the studies' samples included university students, other age samples were represented. Thirty-one percent of articles included exclusively Christian samples and an additional 66% included primarily Christian samples. The journal is establishing itself as an outlet for strong methodological and statistical research, as well as strong nonempirical articles. Recommendations to increase its diversity presence are included at both national and international levels and focus on incremental validity.