Citation

Takahashi M, Remus E. Japanese journal for the psychology of religion and spirituality 2023; 1(1): 33-40.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023)

DOI

10.60238/jjprs.1.1_33

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Although the number of studies related to the psychology of religion and spirituality has increased dramatically around the world since the late 20th century, there appears to be less enthusiasm for this sub-field among Japanese empirical researchers. One possible reason is the lack of a relatively comprehensive yet convenient Japanese-language research database that can be used to retrieve psychological assessment instruments; such a database is essential to the initial phase of empirical investigation. Here, we introduce four distinct English-language databases relevant to psychological testing and measurement with a particular focus on APA PsycTests, one of the largest and most readily available databases in the U.S. for identifying psychological assessment instruments relevant to the study of religion and spirituality. Although it is a complex database, it is relatively manageable even for non-English-speaking users. By consulting the subject index within APA PsycTests, we created a list of American Psychological Association (APA) "subject headings" related to religion and spirituality that, taken together, yield a total of 1,444 tests within APA PsycTests. We categorized these subject headings according to six meaningful topic areas: General, Beliefs and Denominations, Organizational, Practical/Experiential, Conceptual, and Therapeutic. Instead of the hit-and-miss approach that many scholars often employ when using existing Japanese-language databases, this list of subject headings provides researchers with a clear and comprehensive overview of the topics covered by tests and measurements in the field of the psychology of religion and spirituality.

Language: en