The "Moonies": a psychological study of conversion and membership in a contemporary religious sect

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
To enhance psychiatric understanding of contemporary charismatic religious sects, a representative sample of members of the Unification Church (237) completed a 216-item structured questionnaire. Respondents were below the mean for an age- and sex-matched group on a psychological general well-being scale, and they reported significantly greater neurotic distress before conversion. Correlates of an improved emotional state following conversion were discussed. Attribution theory was employed, drawn from social psychology, to put the conversion process into a psychiatric perspective.

This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit: