Factorial structure of the four basic dimensions of religiousness (4-BDRS) among Muslim and Christian college students in Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia is a highly religious country, and is therefore a fertile ground for studies on religiousness. There are six religions that are endorsed by the government. Therefore, a well validated scale that can be used on those six religions are a necessity. Unfortunately, only a few studies have verified the factorial structure of such scale. The Four Basic Dimensions of Religiousness (4-BDRS), a new multidimensional scale, shows a factorial structure that has been confirmed in several countries across different religions. The current study aimed to confirm the factorial structure of 4-BDRS and its measurement invariance across genders among Muslim and Christian college students in Indonesia (two major religions in Indonesia). Data were collected from 949 college students from nine universities in the Jakarta Metropolitan area. A confirmatory factor analysis supported the four factors model of the 4-BDRS in the Indonesian context. The result of measurement invariance shows that there are configural, metric, and scalar invariances. Gender comparison showed that Muslim males had higher scores on all four dimensions of religiousness compared with females, while for Christians, there were no gender differences. The 4BDRS appears to be a valid scale to measure religiousness among Muslims and Christians in Indonesia.

Keywords

• religiousness
• four basic dimensions of religiousness (4-bdrs)
• multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (cfa)
• gender
• indonesia