“All the Different Pieces of Me Being Integrated”: Religion/Spirituality and Identity in Working Christian Mothers

Abstract

The current qualitative study explored experiences of religion/spirituality and their impact on women’s identities among Christian working mothers in academia. Thirty semi-structured interviews were conducted and the data analyzed using the grounded theory method. The resultant themes reflected the roles and functions of religion/spirituality in women’s lives and in their identities, primarily by establishing a core sense of self that unified all of their roles and “selves.” Religion/spirituality also served as meaning-making frameworks that provided purpose both to the self and to each of the women’s roles, while religion/spirituality also pervaded every aspect of the self, coloring women’s experience and driving their decisions. Further, women discussed religion/spirituality providing a sense of purpose by which they could pursue actualization and transcendence through generative means in each of their roles. The results indicate that spiritual identity may be a broader and more fundamental element of identity than previously considered. Implications of the current data and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Keywords

gender issues God concepts/God image marriage and family systems

The study of religion and spirituality’s role in identity has been gaining interest across a wide audience in recent years. The literature has examined spirituality in relation to ethnic identity (Juang & Syed, 2008; Markstrom, 2010; Singh et al., 2013; Thomas, 2001), LGBTQ identity (Hattie & Beagan, 2013; Kirkman, 2001; Murr, 2013), and adolescent identity (Cait, 2004; Engebretson, 2006; King, 2003). Furthermore, much debate has engaged the theoretical interaction of religion/spirituality and female identity (see Cole & Ochshorn, 1995; Hurcombe, 2015; Warwick, 2002 for a sampling) with a particularly robust focus within theology on evangelical conceptions of female identity and the concept of “Biblical womanhood” (see Bessey, 2012; Bessey & Evans, 2013; Demoss, 2010; Hunt et al., 2003; Irons & Mock, 2015; Piper & Grudem, 2006; “Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood,” “Mutuality Blog + Magazine,” and “Eikon: A Journal for Biblical Anthropology” for examples). And while much study has been devoted to outcomes of religion/spirituality for women and families (Mahoney, 2010), relatively little scientific study has been devoted to understanding the influence of religion/spirituality on women’s identities. Despite long-standing interest in and theorizing about female identities, research is growing and is as yet limited. Research on women’s identity formation has suggested that it may differ from men’s identity formation in the prominent role played by interpersonal relationships and intimacy in identity formation (Chodorow, 1978; Gilligan, 1982; Josselson, 1987); this difference may also influence the role of religion/spirituality in identity between genders. In light of the fact that motherhood can be identity transforming for women (McMahon, 1995), with conservative groups having a significant stake in religious/spiritual women’s identities, conservative working mothers are a particularly salient group for investigating the influence of religion/spirituality on identity given the various roles these women adopt. Furthermore, because conservative Christian religions often emphasize the importance of “relationship with” or “attachment to” the Sacred, and because attachment is an essential component of lifespan development (Franz & White, 1985), understanding the influence of various attachments on identity—both through mothering and in religion/spirituality—is particularly salient.

A qualitative method of inquiry was chosen for this study due to its preeminence in examining the internal and interpersonal dynamics inherent in phenomena such as identity, as it places fewer restrictions on data than does quantitative research and allows the nuances of individual experience to surface (Rubin & Rubin, 1995). Given the complexity of and subtle distinctions in qualitative data surrounding identity and related roles, along with the intention of understanding the underlying process of how religion/spirituality influenced women’s identities, grounded theory was chosen as the best method of data analysis because of its potential to uncover nuances and complicated psychological processes through flexible but systematic analysis (Rubin & Rubin, 1995). Thus, this study fills the gap left in the literature surrounding Christian women’s adult identity negotiation in the context of their relationships to the Sacred (“God”). In particular, it sought to examine how religion/spirituality influences women’s identity development in adulthood, with an emphasis on two role domains—mothering and career. In the following paragraphs, we provide a brief summary of existing research on the role of religion/spirituality in identity processes, followed by an exploration of identity processes in women.

Religion/Spirituality and Identity

Erikson (1950, 1968) viewed spirituality as a means of organizing experiences and creating meaning during the identity formation process in adolescence, given the capacity for complex and abstract thought that emerges during this time. Erikson (1968) conceived of identity as an individual’s experience of oneself that coheres previous, current, and future perceptions of the self. Furthermore, Erikson’s theory assumes that individuals and their environments mutually influence one another; and the reciprocal exchange between the two is a key factor in the facilitation of identity development (Bourne, 1978). Because identity development is a method of defining meaning for oneself within the broader framework of finding meaning about life and the world (Bourne, 1978), identity may also be viewed as an underlying motivator for one’s commitments, such as vocational, relational, spiritual, religious, and ideological commitments.

In this vein, Kroger and Marcia (2011) made the point that early research and theory surrounding Erikson’s model of identity development viewed commitments—vocational, relational, religious, and so on—as signifiers of an underlying identity structure, rather than identities in and of themselves. In other words, more visible commitments are indicators of an unseen but broadly encompassing identity that motivates commitments across different domains. And because of its ideological, social, and spiritual contexts, religion is a significant domain, if not the most significant for some, that can deeply influence the development and outcome of an identity development process (King, 2003). In fact, King (2003) argued that

identity development that emerges out of the ideological, social, and spiritual context embedded within religion is an identity that transcends the self and can promote a sense of commitment that not only fosters individual well-being but promotes the good of society as well. (p. 197)

Because of their universal and transcendent natures, religious ideology and spirituality typically provide a method of arranging experiences into a structured whole. Thus it follows, given a psychosocial basis of identity development as placing oneself within a broader world, that religious ideologies and spirituality would become an integral part of linking an individual’s experiences of the self to a greater, abstracted sense of the “whole” (either ideologically or experientially). In fact, religions have been identified as the most comprehensive meaning systems available (Hood et al., 2005; Newton & McIntosh, 2013), and the often concurrent or consequent personal spirituality that may accompany religiosity is an important area of study when considering identity changes through the lifespan, as a person’s spirituality may be a more visible indicator of the underlying terrain of one’s broader identity than other aspects of identity.

Religion/Spirituality, Identity, and Sense of Self

When religion is viewed as a comprehensive meaning making system, it is unsurprising that religion or spirituality can be particularly salient when coping with life stressors and changes across the lifespan (Park, 2005). It can be argued that women’s lives involve a series of transitions through aging, family development, and other unexpected life events (R. L. Harris et al., 1986; Reinke et al., 1985). Exploring the meaning of religion and spirituality among older adult women (aged 55 and above), Moremen (2005) found that women used their spirituality as a venue for connection to the self, others, and the world, as well as a method of placing themselves in the greater context of the world. Among menopausal women, Steffen (2011) identified spiritual strength as a correlate of lower menopausal symptoms and higher adaptive coping. Tuck and Thinganjana (2007) found that among older, healthy adults, spirituality was considered an integral part of their lives. These studies support the idea that spiritual identities are constructed and changed throughout adulthood (Kiesling et al., 2008), and that spirituality can be utilized throughout the lifespan to cope with and enrich life experiences. It follows, then, that religion/spirituality can offer a context for women to understand their own sense of identity amid the multitude of life changes they encounter throughout adulthood.

Religion/Spirituality, Identity, and Relationships

Of course, the usefulness of any theory is limited, and critics have argued that Erikson’s theory of identity development falls short in adequately explaining the influence of interpersonal attachments and intimacy on evolving personal identities (Franz & White, 1985)—a deficit that has been particularly detrimental in understanding female identities. Consequently, research on female identities has emphasized relationships: maneuvering the meaning and consequences of identity within the context of relationships (Josselson, 1987), retaining a sense of connectedness to others as an integral part of identity (Chodorow, 1978), and seeing themselves within a web of relationships and communities that helps define for themselves who they are (Gilligan, 1982). Further research implies that women may have slightly different developmental patterns than men across the lifespan, with women being more interpersonally “achieved” at earlier ages (Fadjukoff et al., 2005).

The centrality of relationships to identity provides a link to religion/spirituality. Many religions stress relationships and community; Christianity, in particular, stresses a personal relationship with the Sacred. Therefore, it is particularly relevant to view Christian women’s spirituality through a relational lens, given that women’s identities are often interconnected with their relationships, and that their Christian religion promotes relationship with others and the Sacred as part of a personal spirituality. In this qualitative study of women’s identity, we look at the influence of one particular relationship—the relationship with the Sacred (“God”)—as a relational context influencing women’s identity.

Religion/Spirituality, Identity, and Salient Roles

We would be remiss, however, to confine women’s spiritual experiences to their intrapsychic processes and intimate interpersonal relationships without exploring ways that spirituality also affects women’s salient roles. Recently, postmodern perspectives on identity have focused on having multiple identities, arguing that identity is more accurately understood as a compilation of various roles and social situations that one functions within and is defined by, given one’s historical and social placement. Proponents of this view posit that without considering such factors, researchers cannot accurately understand identity formation (Rattansi & Phoenix, 2005). Similarly, Kiesling et al. (2008) note the importance of studying multiple aspects of identity in conjunction with one another. Such a model of understanding identity was outlined by Jones & McEwan, (2000), highlighting a “core” of identity and different aspects of the self that orbit around this core, some more closely and others more distantly.

Whichever model is used, it is clear that identity manifests itself in various roles or domains and each of these has a relative salience for an individual that allows for intersectionality and individuality in a person’s identity. Thus, salient roles and the ways they interact with one another are an important area of study when investigators hope to have a clear understanding of identity and development.

Research has shown that individuals whose daily lives integrate a sense of meaning within each of their various roles experience higher subjective well-being (see, for example, Lips-Wiersma & Mcmorland, 2006; Oates et al., 2005; Vondracek, 1992). And individuals who sanctify their work roles demonstrate higher levels of satisfaction within these roles (Walker et al., 2008), even when faced with interrole conflict, such as between working and mothering (Oates et al., 2005). Women who pursue careers while raising children tend to experience tension between their roles, as each of the roles of motherhood and employment calls for high levels of devotion (Oates et al., 2005; Phanco, 2003). Even more, women in academia must adapt to the academic structure, which is modeled after traditional male life cycles (Bickel, 1995). The external and internal pressures of performing the multiple roles that career mothers adopt, and experiencing what women perceive as failures may lead to a sense of guilt (Elvin-Nowak, 1999; Polasky & Holahan, 1998); and if the interrole tension creates family or work conflict, or is not successfully maneuvered, it may negatively affect women’s subjective and psychological well-being (Coverman, 1989; Greenglass, 1985; Krause & Geyer-Pestello, 1985; Reifman et al., 1991).

However, while balancing multiple roles may cause high amounts of stress for women, studies have shown that women view their work-related roles very highly. For example, Baruch et al. (1983) found that women’s work-related roles were some of the most meaningful activities in their daily lives. In addition, Oates et al. (2005) noted that while balancing multiple roles was challenging for their sample, the women still viewed their work-related roles as stimulating and fulfilling, particularly among those who imbued their daily activities with meaning, such as by viewing each of their roles as spiritually relevant. Furthermore, women who steadily worked during their initial primiparous years demonstrated greater physical health at age 40 compared to women who reduced work hours, and showed greater physical and mental health than women who interrupted their work after a first birth (Frech & Damaske, 2012). Even with the tensions that mothering and working creates, working generally appears to enhance women’s well-being, and this seems especially true for women who view their paid employment as a calling or as an integrated part of their identities (Lips-Wiersma & Mcmorland, 2006; Vondracek, 1992). In addition, motherhood has been conceptualized as “self-transforming” (Laney et al., 2014; McMahon, 1995); a transition in which women’s spirituality is intimately involved. For professional women who also identify as mothers, both of these roles can be considered salient, and are consequently important to be given some voice when exploring spirituality and identity.

This Study

In this study, we sought to understand how women experience their religion/spirituality in relationship to their identity. Data for this study were gathered as part of a larger project examining identity and institutional and spousal support of evangelical Christian mothers in higher education; once the data were gathered, it became clear that the women experienced a dynamic richness surrounding identity and faith, prompting the analysis reported here. For the purposes of this article, we adopt the definitions of spirituality and religion provided by K. A. Harris et al. (2018) wherein spirituality refers to “a search for or relationship with the sacred,” and religion is a “ritual, institutional, or codified spirituality which is culturally sanctioned” (p. 14). Given that the original project was designed to more broadly investigate identity, questions about religion/spirituality focused on “faith” and “beliefs”; thus, participants shared about both their spirituality and religiousness in their responses. While the authors recognize these are separate concepts, the two often overlap in this discussion given the initial study design and participants’ responses.

Method

Participants

As previously mentioned, the qualitative method of inquiry was utilized because of the complex individual and interpersonal qualities of identity and the other relevant topics in the study; grounded theory was chosen as the method of data analysis because it is one of the most useful methods of understanding the underlying dynamics of phenomenon pertinent to the study (Tie et al., 2019), namely of how religion and spirituality influenced identities of women. Given the original focus of the project, all participants met the twofold requirements of holding faculty status at a Christian college/university and having at least one child below 18 years of age living in their homes. To ensure a variety of backgrounds among the women, participants were culled from universities of varying Protestant denominations across the United States, including but not limited to Baptist, Christian Reformed, Lutheran, Methodist, and Non-denominational. They were recruited as part of a larger research project through an email describing the project and its intended population that was sent to administrators of schools within the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU).

Participants in this study held positions within a variety of different academic disciplines and associated themselves with various denominations within the Christian Protestant religion. Of the 30 women interviewed, 23 held doctorates in their respective fields, and the remaining seven held master’s degrees. The disciplines represented by the participants spanned several areas, including but not limited to biology, economics, English, history, and social work.

The majority of the participants were European American, though three were African American, one Chinese American, and one Korean American. Twenty-seven were married, two divorced, and one was single, and the average length of marriage was 16 years (SD = 6.52). The women ranged in age from 34–54 with a mean age of 43. The women had between one and five children, and their children living at home ranged from less than 1 year to 17 years of age. Some participants had additional children with ages ranging up to 37 years of age.

Procedure

Data were gathered by conducting individual face-to-face, guided interviews with open-ended questions and the opportunity for interviewers to ask follow-up questions. Prior to each interview, the participants received, reviewed, and signed an informed consent. The interviews each lasted 1–2 hours, allowing time for probing if necessary. This is typical for qualitative inquiry, as the flexibility allows for greater breadth and quality of data gathered (Creswell, 1998; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Each of the interviews was audio taped and transcribed for analysis purposes. Permission to conduct the study was acquired from the university’s board for the protection of human rights (Institutional Review Board) prior to conducting the study, and all ethical and legal guidelines were followed during the study and in maintaining the data. Given that the study’s primary inquiry was not about religion and spirituality’s impact on identity, but rather, that the data provided a rich context for investigating this, the majority of the 29 interview questions focused on the impact of and tensions between family and career, the influence of career and parenting on identity, as well as institutional support for women within their work. Twelve questions related to faith and religious beliefs and their impact on identity; these questions (included in Appendix 1) are the focus of this research and the other questions were not explored in connection with these data.

Researchers

The first author was the principal investigator of the study, and she was primarily responsible for data analysis. The other investigators, a group of seven licensed psychologists and psychologists-in-training, participated in designing the basic parameters of the study, completed recruitment, conducted the interviews, and served as auditors of the analyses. Qualitative work requires that researchers acknowledge their biases and the positioning of the researchers in relation to the data (Matthews, 2005). The primary researcher was of similar background to multiple participants in that she was female, culturally identified primarily with majority American culture, and also identified as Christian; divergently, the primary researcher was not a mother nor an academician at the time of the study. Given the similarities and differences, the author made every attempt to take both an emic and etic approach with the data by identifying participants’ ideological assumptions while simultaneously viewing women’s faith from a more objective position. Finally, the data were analyzed from a postpositivist perspective (Ponterotto, 2005). Such a perspective assumes that there is an objective reality that can be accessed, but only imperfectly known. As such, it becomes the researcher’s job to understand each person’s individual constructions of meaning and to differentiate between the similarities and differences for each participant, allowing general themes to emerge.

The research group that contributed to the “cross-checking” of analysis comprised seven women of varying ages, denominations, career status, and motherhood status. Each of the women had an opportunity to analyze the data and provide feedback regarding the emerging and identified themes. All of the women, though of different denominations, identified as Christian.

Analysis

The interviews were analyzed based on Strauss and Corbin’s (1998) four-stage method of grounded theory analysis. All of the interviews were read to gain an understanding of the general experience of the women who participated in the study and to tentatively identify common themes among the data. Microanalysis, or line-by-line analysis, was first performed on the data to more solidly establish themes. Line-by-line analysis is vital in the qualitative process as it provides an opportunity for the researcher to suspend one’s biases and magnify the data, to determine more clearly what the data may contain. A multitude of themes emerged in this stage, such as being available to others, cooperation with others, having multiple selves or using the self in different ways, among others. After identifying more clearly possible themes in the data, the remainder of the data were then subject to open coding according to identified themes, so that initial themes could be solidified and to allow subthemes to emerge. After thorough examination and coding of the data, interviews were coded axially, by exploring how themes and subthemes related to one another within the contexts and conditions of each category. In this stage, themes were organized into greater themes and subthemes. Selective coding then followed, as themes were organized into an overarching category that incorporated and subsumed the other categories and subcategories, taking into account their relationships with one another. The initial steps in coding, microanalysis and open coding, were done with HyperRESEARCH software. Further steps, axial and selective coding, were completed without the use of software.

Because of the potential for biases to impact the outcome of qualitative data analysis as explored earlier, the researchers exercised caution in analysis to ensure trustworthiness of the data. Eliciting participants from varying backgrounds and locations ensured data triangulation. Throughout the interviewing process, a group of no less than five researchers consistently met to discuss the interview process and transcripts. To ensure trustworthiness during the process of analysis, a research group of seven members met bi-weekly to discuss the emerging themes and subthemes in the data and their apparent relationships. In each progressive stage of coding, categories and themes were compared to previous themes and categories to further ensure data and researcher triangulation (Denzin, 1978). Cross-checking also enhanced the rigor of the analysis, in that, several themes were reinforced, eliminated, and honed through the use of supportive, contradictory, and contrasting information and viewpoints.

Results

Religion/spirituality emerged as a central, stabilizing framework for the women’s identities within which they shaped their careers and mothering. The degree to which religion/spirituality defined career and mothering varied from woman to woman depending on both the degree of commitment to their religion, spirituality, and worldview as each woman understood it, as well as the degree of integration of religion/spirituality into the various areas of each woman’s life. However, it appeared that religion and spirituality, regardless of the level of commitment, had a formative impact on the women’s identities within the roles of their careers and mothering, and was embedded into their experience. Therefore, religion/spirituality is considered to play a unifying role within the women’s identities.

Women in the sample described their religion/spirituality as a central, emanating aspect of them, which provided a framework for the interplay of the various intrapsychic, interpersonal/relational, and role-related aspects of their identities. Religion/spirituality was viewed as inseparable from the self and defined the shapes that the women’s identities took in a variety of ways. Four will be illustrated here. In the first place, the women viewed their religion/spirituality as being the core of their selves. Religion/spirituality provided the central support for how they saw themselves and their continued identity development. Second, religion/spirituality provided a framework for how the women chose to live their lives, and for how they chose to participate in and utilize themselves in their various roles. In the third place, religion/spirituality permeated all parts of who they were; as religion/spirituality contributed to the decisions women made in each one of their roles, their religion/spirituality was continually being realized in their daily lives and incorporated into all parts of the self. And finally, the women described their religion/spirituality as an empowering and fulfilling venue for the self. In these four ways, religion/spirituality provided elements of both continuity and change in the women’s identities. Each of these will be illustrated below, supplemented with quotes followed by the participant’s discipline and number of children.

Spirituality as the core of the self

Despite differing levels of religious activity and commitment, the women in the sample often described their religion/spirituality as the very core of who they saw themselves to be. It was described as the central axis around which the other parts of themselves were able to be shaped. When asked what came to mind when another person says, “Who are you?” one woman stated, “What comes to mind is that I like to define myself first and foremost as a Christian, as a child of God, and then I range into my family life and then I talk about my career” (P11, English, 1). Similarly, another woman discussed her religion/spirituality in relational terms, stating that her spirituality served as a relationship that gave her meaning and defined how she viewed herself:

There would never be anytime that I can say anything about myself that wouldn’t say I’m a child of God, or I am a seeker of God, or who am I—I’m God’s. All the rest of the world can just know little pieces of me. But, the depth is I am His. (P12, Education, 3)

The centrality of the women’s religion/spirituality, provided a stabilizing force that allowed them to further shape themselves around this core part of themselves. The women described this in multiple ways. For example, one woman described her religion/spirituality as being central by saying, “My faith is everything. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t have that . . . So, my faith has definitely structured how I became a mother . . . so my faith is everything to me, definitely” (P8, Education, 2). Another stated,

I think I’m who I am because of my faith. So I can’t tell you about me without telling you about my faith. And I think it’s like wearing glasses in that . . .when people see me they have to wear the faith glasses to see me and know me better . . . (P22, Biology, 2)

And finally,

I would say first, I’m a child of God, and I’m a wife, and a mother, I guess that’s what I would say. . . . I don’t want to spiritualize everything, but it’s who I am so everything revolves around who I am in Christ. Everything I do, hopefully, is reflective of what the Bible says, so everything is affected by that. (P26, Languages, 2)

These women described their religion/spirituality as determining, or shaping, who they were. They also described their religion/spirituality as an avenue of being known more deeply by others. When one woman was asked, “Who are you?” she further elaborated on the interactive process of her spirituality influencing her identity as it facilitated change in her:

I am a woman of multiple selves . . . those selves are equal because the Christian self informs all the other selves, and all the other selves inform the Christian self . . . I think the way my faith has changed those other selves is that it has made me open to move [when] encountering difference. It’s given me a model in the person of Christ for how one can make space in a life for people who don’t fit the way you think they ought to fit. And as soon as you make that move, then it changes who you are. (P13, Education, 2)

These women experienced their religion/spirituality as central to their selves. Other researchers (Tuck & Thinganjana, 2007) have found similar results, in that spirituality was experienced as the “essence of the self” and an integral part of the self for adults. It appears that among many adults who incorporate their spirituality into their identity, it becomes a central, irreplaceable part of the self. Woven throughout the elements of religion/spirituality being core to the self was evidence that women defined their personhood within the relational context of their religion/spirituality; they then transferred these relational values into their relationships with others. In this way, women’s religion/spirituality helped them transcend themselves and determined how they related with others.

Spirituality as a framework for the self

In addition to being a central part of the self, religion/spirituality also provided a meaningful framework within which women were grounded and found purpose. The framework of religion/spirituality appeared to ground the women on several levels, including stabilizing them in both their immediate and extended communities, in their families and in society at large. Being grounded in concentric communities influenced how the women viewed themselves and provided existential contexts within which to place themselves (and their families).

For example, many of the women felt that their families served as a context for their identities within which they incarnated their beliefs about the world and were simultaneously challenged to grow. Several women echoed the sentiments of one woman who stated, “I think my faith has had a great deal to do with who I am as a person. I feel that my family is a ministry” (P6, Psychology, 2). Another woman similarly described the importance of her religion/spirituality within the immediate context of her family:

. . . A family needs a mission outside of themselves and that is sort of something we as a family and my husband and I are beginning to talk about. I mean what is our mission as a family? Why has God called us to be a family at this time and in this place? . . . For some reason, we are together in this covenant community relationship and God would have us have a mission in a sense greater than ourselves. (P10, Theology, 2)

Another woman viewed her spirituality as part of the dynamic system of her family—it defined the visage of her family members’ emerging identities, as well as provided a framework within which each of her family members’ identities might be shaped through life:

. . . [My husband and I] both have pretty strong faith and that we just know that no matter how the day gets, there is always tomorrow and God is working to shape not only the kids but to shape each one of us as we go through our lives. (P11, English, 1)

This woman saw her spirituality as something that “held” her and her family while playing an active role in each person’s growth.

In some instances, the women’s religion/spirituality also provided a framework that grounded their families, insofar as it provided safety and security where the women were limited in providing for and protecting their children. One participant reflected this when she said, “You’ve done your job and you prayed as a family that it will be okay. Regardless of what I may see in the natural light, I just know that in the spirit realm, I’ve covered the family with prayer” (P6, Psychology, 2). This woman described a sense of comfort in knowing that what she could not control, such as the safety of her children, was not disorganized chaos, but was directed and purposeful within the greater context of existence.

Many of the women described some sense of having a place within this greater context because of their religion/spirituality. Participants often discussed their religion/spirituality as a framework for placing themselves in a greater universal community and having a transcendent position within that:

I just know that I’m only here [at my job] because God allowed me to be here and that if this job wasn’t available, I know He’d find another place for me. . . . There will be something else out there for me to do. That’s kind of the exciting part; it’s also kind of the safe part. The hard part is to know, “Is this where God wants me?” Because I have not only this ability to teach and to be a mentor to all these students, but how does this really fit into the bigger picture of what’s really important for God and His kingdom? And that’s really a big issue. (P9, Computer Sciences, 3)

This woman’s spirituality provided a sense of safety that would ensure an outlet for her unique capacities; but even more, it imbued her career and daily life with transcendental meaning within a community larger than herself alone. She appeared to view her own work as something fitting into a greater body of meaning in which she participated through her career. Although she expressed some doubts about knowing if she was in the “right” place within the framework provided by her religion/spirituality, it also invited introspection about where she might fit within what she saw as a transcendental framework.

Another woman expressed her experience similarly when asked how her religion/spirituality influenced her overall experience:

It changes the way I make meaning out of life. It establishes the absolute that this is not all [random]. And even if I spend myself, literally, spend myself in working here, I’m doing it largely because I believe that what is represented here is in some way a very poor reflection of what is represented elsewhere. . . . The reason why I work in those endeavors is because I have some notion there is a transcendent . . . It’s the core value, it’s the core meaning; it’s why I care about women. (P13, Education, 2)

It is clear that the women found existential meaning and purpose through their religion/spirituality as it provided a context for who they were and for their families within the greater whole. For example, one woman when asked how her faith or religious beliefs have impacted who she is, stated, “It feels very central to me. Part of my spirituality . . . is this relationship and feeling like God is a relation[ship] of meaning and wanting to maintain that connection consciously” (P25, Psychology, 1). Thus, women saw their faith as not only central, but meaningful, and as positioning them in relationship to the sacred within a metaphysical sphere. One woman summarized this by saying,

I believe I am a created being from God. I believe that I have a relationship with God. But, I also don’t see myself as only a child of God. But at the very core, when things are going really rotten, or even when they are going really well, when I think about it long enough, that’s the only way my life really has true purpose. (P29, English, 3)

Given the pervasive nature of women’s religion/spirituality, it becomes evident that their religion/spirituality gave them a sense of connection to humanity on a macro- and micro-level. In other words, it provided for women an understanding of their place in the world and their place in relation to other individuals in their lives, ultimately giving them meaning and purpose. In so doing, spirituality moved the women outside of themselves to extend good to others in existentially meaningful ways.

Spirituality permeates the self

Religion/spirituality contributed to the women’s identities by creating both a central core for the self and an organizing, grounding framework as a context for the self. At the same time, the women also talked about their religion/spirituality coloring their entire experience, by impacting all parts of their experience, and as an integrative feature of the self. As one woman put it, “. . . all through my life, being a Christian drove everything, what I did, the choices that I made. The choices that we make with our children . . . ” (P17, Education, 3). Following similar perspectives, the women in the sample experienced their religion/spirituality as being embedded into their lives and themselves. As one woman stated when asked how her beliefs impact who she is and her decisions within her various roles:

It’s just a foundation . . . I think that the belief that there is a part of Christ in all of us and that we are all unique and special has really helped me . . . respect everyone despite their choices or to recognize that it’s not even despite anything. We all have our flaws and everybody has a different brand of them. I think it has been important to my ability to have a successful career, not that it was consciously chosen, but that faith foundation just impacts all of it. (P15, Social Work, 2)

Another woman stated her experience of spirituality similarly in relationship to her career:

I understand it more as a ministry than a job. I understand that I have to do it for God . . . when I started, I just figured I’m going to do this because of the convenience for parenting, and the teaching part, I will just do it because it’s a requirement of being a professor. It’s the difference between punching a time clock and realizing that I’m dealing with real human beings and I’m doing spiritual care as part of teaching, which is not something I had anticipated. (P24, Languages, 1)

This woman’s career held more value because it was influenced by her religion/spirituality. Although this was unexpected to her, it appeared to happen naturally, as though her religion/spirituality could not be separated from the meaning she found within her career.

While the preceding statements seem to limit spirituality to the domain of careers, the women often spoke of the ways that their religion/spirituality impacted their identities within the context of their various roles. This illustrates the intimate influence of the women’s religion/spirituality on their identity, and how it played out in their commitments. For example, when talking about the impact of her religion/spirituality on her marriage, one woman related,

It is not something to be put on the side to think about on Sunday. It’s not that separate. It’s everything, everywhere, all the time and so our conversations often float back and forth between the spiritual and the intellectual, the emotional; [with] a kind of fluidity that I never had before of all of the different pieces of me being integrated. And, that’s because God can be a piece of all those pieces. God can be in the emotional life and can be in the spiritual life, and can be in the intellectual and the physical life. All those lives, God can play a part and so it’s a much richer life than if you just live it intellectually or emotionally or physically. (P12, Education, 3)

This woman’s religion/spirituality enabled all parts of herself to be integrated, and thus be harmoniously unified within the various components of her marriage relationship (intellectual, emotional, physical). Based on the ways that the women reported experiencing their religion/spirituality within their various roles, religion/spirituality not only influenced the various components of the self, but it also unified those components by drawing them together, allowing those components to interact and integrate with one another.

Spirituality fulfilling and empowering the self

Women further described their religion/spirituality as providing for them a sense of ontological assurance: that because of their religion/spirituality, the women had a sense of who they were, and that who they were becoming was a valuable and directed endeavor, thus providing the self stability and meaning within each of their roles. When asked how others would know the importance of work to who she is, one woman stated,

People who know you more superficially, it’s just what you have accomplished that they look at. But the people who know you more deeply say that “she wouldn’t be the same person if she gave this up.” This is how I was made to be. (P12, Education, 3)

Thus, this woman had a sense that she was who and how she was for a reason and did not have to construct a self; rather, her religion/spirituality gave her a sense that she possessed a self that was being partially actualized through her career. In addition, many of the women described their religion/spirituality as giving them motivation and endurance to continue to practice within each of their roles. As one woman put it, “If it weren’t for my faith, I wouldn’t be able to do this. And I mean all of this, parenting, being a wife, being a faculty member . . . how can you get through this life without it?” (P5, Education, 4). When asked how her religious beliefs impacted her identity and her choices within each of her roles, another woman similarly responded that it meant “that I’m not being deprived or asked to not be who I am but rather I’m being empowered to be more who I really am” (P27, Psychology, 2). Religion/spirituality allowed women to have an internal self-assurance that they were able to be who they were “meant to be.” In short, it provided a method of relating to themselves in self-accepting ways.

Discussion

Clinical relevance

That religion/spirituality emerged as such a central aspect of the self to the women in the sample is not surprising considering that spirituality has been found to play an important part in the subjective experience of religious adults. If, as Bourne (1978) suggests, identity is a process of self-organizing and a method of creating meaning for the self within a broader understanding of the world, then it intuitively follows that spirituality has the potential to deeply influence the self. Thus, it is not surprising that religion/spirituality emerged as an important part of these subjects’ lives in many of the same ways it did among those in Kiesling et al.’s (2008) study wherein spirituality provided a sense of community and a valuable connection to self and a Deity, all the while serving as a catalyst for growth. The results also further support the concept that spirituality can be experienced as a central, essential aspect of the self (Tuck & Thinganjana, 2007) that plays a significant role in adult identity negotiation and continuing development. Religion/spirituality appeared to influence many, if not all parts of women’s lives, and provided a sense of unification for the women across their multiple roles and across time. This is different than religion/spirituality just providing a sense of community, or of continuity through change. As this sample indicated, religion/spirituality played a central, driving role in the women’s identity negotiation across adult life. Thus, religion/spirituality influenced not only what they did, but who they were and who they were continually becoming as it was intimately tied to the women’s identities.

There are broad clinical implications to this, though only a few will be discussed here. This sample makes it clear that for some people, to be known implies having another comprehend and engage with their religious/spiritual belief system; by failing to do so in a clinical setting, a clinician may fundamentally invalidate a client, or at a minimum, neglect a central aspect of one’s experience. This is true with regard to understanding how religion/spirituality impact an individual, the individual’s relationships with others, and the individual’s interpretations of life circumstances. Thus, thorough assessment of one’s religion/spirituality should be considered standard procedure in all new intakes and should be addressed as part of treatment (as relevant) lest clinical efficacy be stunted by failing to fully grasp an understanding of the individual and by possibly failing to capitalize on a major impetus for change within adult personality. However, if religion/spirituality are maladaptively applied, clinicians may miss a critical area for intervention or interpretation that has the potential to cascade change into other aspects of the self and relationships given how permeating and grounding religion/spirituality were in this sample. In addition, individuals suffering from identity diffusion do not have a coherent sense of themselves across time (past, present, and future), and without this cannot adequately establish goals for the future (Akhtar, 1992). Given the integrative function that religion/spirituality serves for some individuals’ identities and the framework it provides for the self, it may be that the transcendent elements of religion/spirituality can serve to protect against some aspects of identity diffusion. This is particularly relevant during times of major life transitions or traumas as religion/spirituality may be utilized as a highly effective means of coping with and transitioning through such events (Hall et al., 2018). But, religion/spirituality can also be an area of significant struggle—for some individuals who become disillusioned by religion/spirituality, moving away from such a comprehensive paradigm could instill a crisis of the self by which an individual must rebuild an identity and reform lost pieces of the self or find a new way to integrate various identities. Thus, the value of a comprehensive religious/spiritual system is found in the psychological protection that it provides for those who apply it adaptively, which may also provide some clues as to why religion/spirituality improve some individuals’ mental health outcomes above and beyond pragmatics (i.e., social support).

Contributions

Based on these data, we agree with Russo-Netzer and Mayseless (2014) in saying that modern conceptualizations of identity, including identity categories, statuses (Erikson, 1968; Marcia, 1966), and the Moratorium-Achievement (MAMA) process of adult identity development (Stephen et al., 1992) do not fully capture the experiences of all individuals’ spirituality. In fact, such categorizations prove to be restrictive regarding spirituality. While modern operationalizations of identity have been advantageous as a starting point and may be heuristically useful, they are also too narrow to capture the actual lived experiences of spiritual identities. Postmodern language about identity may better fit the spiritual experiences of some, by acknowledging identity as fluid and relational (Rattansi & Phoenix, 2005). However, spiritual identity appeared to be less situationally or socially contingent for the women in this study than other identities studied, and neither did these women experience their religion/spirituality as an auxiliary identity, such as can be the case with hyphenated identities (Schachter, 2005). Rather, religion/spirituality were the central pieces to all other aspects of these women’s identities, the “essence” of their identity (Tuck & Thinganjana, 2007), or an “essential element defining who they are” (Russo-Netzer and Mayseless, 2014, p. 26).

Given how central and unifying spirituality was for these women, this study stands with other researchers (Kiesling & Sorrell, 2009; Russo-Netzer, & Mayseless, 2014) in calling for scientists to establish new conceptualizations of spiritual identity, as the current methods of operationalizing spiritual identity are proving insufficient in understanding adult spiritual identity. In other words, researchers must be willing to acknowledge the seemingly oppositional forces of ritual and spontaneity, continuity and change, evolution and de-evolution as part of spiritual identities. While women in this study identified with their faith systems, they also considered their spirituality to be a continual process of change and growth. In a study similar to this one (Russo-Netzer, & Mayseless, 2014), Jewish New Age Israeli adults experienced spirituality as a containing identity within which they balanced the tensions of dialectically opposing experiences. Thus, spiritual identity appears to be a broad and encompassing aspect of psychic and emotional experience.

In this way, it may be helpful to view spirituality—as it relates to a religious system for each individual—as a manifestation of the underlying identity structure, and further, as having the potential to influence the underlying structure of identity (in cooperation with non-chosen aspects of the self such as gender, ethnicity, and family history) rather than as merely, or only, a domain of identity. Going back to Kroger and Marcia’s (2011) discussion of identity, the authors make the point that “Any significant change in personality structure, even if positive, elicits anxiety that must be controlled in order to permit effective functioning in the world” (p. 33). Thus, when considering the lifespan and the many changes that may have a considerable impact on the sense of one’s identity (e.g., the comprehensive life changes occurring when becoming a mother, loss of significant family members, life-changing traumatic experiences, chronic illness), there may be opportunities for changes in the underlying structure of a person’s identity. Considering again the argument made by King (2003) that religion may pose a “distinct environment for identity exploration and commitment by providing an ideologically, socially, and spiritually rich context” (p. 198), it is reasonable to see how religion, and one’s personal experience of spirituality, may provide a context to navigate the changes that occur in later life related to identity. If religion provides such a natural context for identity development in adolescence, it is a logical conclusion that religion, as a meaning making system, may also provide the same context for identity related issues in adulthood.

The women’s accounts in this study also highlight the relational nature of their spirituality. The women referred to their spirituality as a relationship either with or to the sacred wherein the sacred was experienced as a person. This relationship helped define the women’s sense of self—a self that was anchored in this relationship. Their spirituality also provided a sense of meaning to the self that women possessed. Not only was this the case, but women’s spirituality was a means of intimacy with others; if others could understand the spiritual nature of the women, they felt as if they would be more known by others. Finally, the relational nature of their spirituality allowed women to transcend themselves and extend relational components and values of their spirituality to other relationships in their lives, such as in teaching and mothering. Existing views of spiritual identity are limited in understanding the relational nature of spiritual experience; and given that women often view themselves in matrices of relationships, we propose that spirituality is more relationally dynamic than current conceptualizations allow.

Evolving research in relational spirituality is beginning to capture the dynamic interplay of relationships and spirituality. While, currently, there is no unified theory of relational spirituality, there are several approaches in the literature, each with their own definition and assumptions (Tomlinson et al., 2016). Results from this study align closely with those conceptualizations proposed by Mahoney (2010) regarding ways in which spirituality impacts family systems, as well as the differentiation-based model of relational spirituality spearheaded by Sandage and colleagues (Sandage et al., 2011; Shults & Sandage, 2006). For example, Mahoney (2010) proposed a multifaceted model of relational spirituality in which spirituality may perform several mechanisms, one being that a family member relies on a relationship with the divine (or sacred) and another being that family relationships are invested with spiritual properties. While this was not the main thrust of the interviews, it is clear that many of the women relied on their relationship with the sacred and that their relationships were imbued with spiritual properties and meaning, presumably having a significant impact on family life. The differentiation-based model of relational spirituality (Shults & Sandage, 2006) allows for one’s religious/spiritual practice to unfold within both an intrapsychic and social context, and acknowledges that both commitment to a belief system and a pattern of relationship with the sacred (spiritual dwelling) can vacillate with questioning and exploring new spiritual understandings (spiritual seeking). The women in this study experienced their religion/spirituality playing out both in a reflective internal space as well as externally within their relationships, across their different roles, and in how they chose to engage with major life issues. What this study adds, above and beyond the current relational spirituality literature, is that on a micro-level, religion/spirituality was self-defining and performed an integrative function within women’s identities and contexts. Thus, in some cases, religion/spirituality can partly define adult development and major life events within the life course because religion/spirituality are central to one’s interpretation of the self, others, and the world, and guides decisions within those spheres.

Limitations

As with all research, this study has limitations. First, because the sample was largely European American, Protestant, educated, and socioeconomically middle to upper-middle class, the results are limited in their generalizability. In addition, data analysis did not occur concurrently with data collection. Therefore, researchers did not have the option of further honing interview questions more closely to the themes that emerged during the analytic process, as would have been the case if the analysis had occurred while the interviews were being conducted. Reformulation of existing questions or development of new questions directly related to emerging themes may have clarified some of the subtleties within the data. Future research could determine how women’s spiritual identities affect salient roles differently among different populations, or how women of more diverse backgrounds have similar experiences of their spiritual identities.

In addition, this study did not evaluate some intersectional elements that would be relevant as research continues in this area. The importance of different identity domains for each participant was not established quantitatively, so cannot be compared to other aspects of identity. For example, ethnicity may have a defining role in some of the women’s identities, but the impact of ethnicity was not established in conjunction with motherhood, career, and spirituality. What it meant for the women to identify with “being a woman” was not explored with participants though it may have had a significant impact on identity given that motherhood is a uniquely “female” experience. Thus, the importance of other intersectional elements were not explored in depth, as any research study must limit its exploration to be effective, and yet, it also means that the women’s spirituality may have been influenced by unidentified elements (i.e., it is possible that one’s spirituality is intertwined with her ethnicity, leading to a more centralized experience of spirituality than for another participant).

Furthermore, the inclusion criteria required that participants be Christian women working at a faith-affiliated university. The centrality of spirituality in the sample could be more a function of individuals who choose to work in faith-affiliated institutions having a strong faith commitment as opposed to religious/spiritual or professional women in general. In addition, many of the women sanctified their roles as mothers and faculty members; whether their spiritual identities fostered sanctification or the sanctification of the roles fostered a centralized spiritual identity is unknown. Further research may help clarify this, as well as explore spiritual identities of those who do not as readily sanctify their salient roles.

Notably, the women in this study largely expressed their religion/spirituality in positive terms; while they expressed tension between their roles as mothers and professors, they typically expressed their religion/spirituality as being broader and more comprehensive than these roles. Little was spoken about spiritual struggles related to the tensions between mothering and working among participants. It is possible that women sanctified both of their roles as a means of resolving spiritual dissonance, or that they were uncomfortable discussing their spiritual struggles unless directly asked. Furthermore, the women did not speak to ways that spiritual struggle influenced the impact of religion/spirituality on their identities, something further research can expand on for women in such tension-ridden positions.

Future research

As mentioned earlier, the contributions and limitations of this study suggest the need for future research. Warner (2008) astutely observed that when approaching the concept of identity in research the multifarious contributors to identity require investigators to make decisions as to which aspects of identity, or which identities, they include in their analyses. Based on how central spirituality was to identity in this sample, it appears that for religious individuals, and potentially non-religious individuals, future research should consider including this component as a primary contributor to identity formation and adult identity processes.

Taking into account the different meaning making systems that provide a similar context as religion/spirituality from an intersectional perspective, we might say that any system of making meaning that provides a context for locating oneself in a historical and/or relational context that also allows one to transcend the self and is deeply intertwined with the underlying structure of a person’s identity, could contribute to identity development similarly. For some, this might be ethnicity and ethnic history, for others, this might be a vocation. Religion, however, seems to provide a particularly transcendent context to inform identity development (King, 2003). Thus, the personal experience and interpretation of a religion could have the potential to have a profound impact on identity, even in adulthood. In fact, for some, it might be possible that the experience of conversion itself is a life-changing experience that alters a person’s identity. And for others, religion/spirituality may have little, if any, impact on identity. Further research would need to fully explore and understand the influence of spirituality and religion on identity development; based on the experiences of the women in this study, for some, spirituality may have a formative impact on identity, even into adulthood. The breadth and depth of the impact of religion/spirituality on identity for the women in this study might also provide some insight into why and how some adults may be drawn to extreme religious beliefs that can provide a sense of identity, though more research is needed to further explore this. This study also gives some form to theories about how religion/spirituality play out in intrapsychic and relational spheres and it is up to continued research to give further form and function to the relational elements of religion/spirituality to flesh out theories and conceptualizations of relational spirituality.

In light of how psychologically integrating religion/spirituality have the potential to be, it is important that researchers acknowledge the inclusivity of spiritual identities. As multiple accounts with LGBTQ populations have shown, when individuals valued their spirituality but felt that their sexuality and/or gender identity were incongruent with their spiritual or religious ideology, they encountered significant personal turmoil extending beyond the visible marginalization and discrimination they faced from religious groups (Hattie & Beagan, 2013; Kirkman, 2001; Murr, 2013). Many individuals in these studies felt as if they had to disown their faith to be consistent with their experiences of sexuality/gender identity (Hattie & Beagan, 2013; Murr, 2013). Implied in these discussions is the importance for spiritual identity to be congruent with other aspects of the self, and its role in unifying other identities. Of course, this may not be true for all people, but qualitative research thus far does seem to suggest it is true for many people, even those who are spiritually searching (Russo-Netzer & Mayseless, 2014). Practically, then, it is important for clinicians, spiritual directors, and those in pastoral roles to recognize that a crisis of faith, for some people, may extend far beyond ideology, and may be experienced as tantamount to an identity crisis.

Such a view does not come without its liabilities, however. As McMahon (1995) points out, Christianity has historically viewed motherhood as being redemptive for women, thus assuming a coherent and enduring self. This being a dominant perspective, gender and motherhood ideologies have been built in popular culture around such a view. When phenomena like this occur, popular ideologies have had a tendency to be essentializing and limiting for non-majority groups (McMahon, 1995), and may establish cultural assumptions that result in the misrepresentation—or lack of representation—of non-majority groups (Rattansi & Phoenix, 2005). Unjustifiably generalizing these results to other groups may significantly distort researchers’ understanding of spiritual identity and create similar social problems that gender generalizations have, only with regard to spirituality and religion. The researchers acknowledge that for women in this study, religion/spirituality were the central aspects of their identity; this does not mean that spirituality should be viewed as central to all people’s identities, nor is it the preeminent way to hold a spiritual identity. Simultaneously, the profundity of participants’ spiritual identities cannot be diminished, nor the need for researchers to begin to reconfigure an understanding of spiritual influences on identity.

Conclusion

In sum, this study found that religion/spirituality was deeply formative in women’s identities in that they provided a core for the self, a context in which to be grounded, a purpose for the self, as well as a thread to bind together different aspects of the self. In this way, religion/spirituality performed an integrative function for the self that brought multiple aspects of the self together, and encapsulated conflicting roles, within a meaningful context. Not only does this research lend support to the growing field of relational spirituality by giving some form to ways in which religion/spirituality may influence conservative women’s identities, their relationships, and inform their behavior, it also reinforces the need for continued expansion of relational spirituality concepts by incorporating how religion/spirituality may mold the self. Furthermore, it suggests the importance of exploring faith and belief systems in treatment because by not doing so, the effectiveness of treatment is reduced due to a failure to fully understand an individual or facilitate an exploration of the adaptive and maladaptive uses of spirituality/religion within one’s personality functioning in continual identity development. Finally, the limitations of this research suggest the importance of continued study on the impact of religion/spirituality on the identities and relationships of other groups of individuals as well as understanding how spiritual struggles impact this process.

Footnotes

Appendix 1 Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iDs

Elizabeth K. Laney

M. Elizabeth Lewis Hall

Author Biographies

Elizabeth K. Laney, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology, Biola University), is a Staff Psychologist at The Menninger Clinic and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the Baylor College of Medicine. Her interests include treatment of personality disorders, trauma, and women’s issues.

Lisa A. Carruthers, Psy.D. (Clinical Psychology, Biola University), is Director of Counseling & Student Support at Westridge School in Pasadena, CA. Her interests are in women’s issues as they apply in the context of all-girl education.

M. Elizabeth Lewis Hall, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology, Biola University), is a Professor of Psychology at Rosemead School of Psychology at Biola University. Her specialties include meaning-making in suffering, integration of psychology and theology, and women’s issues in an evangelical context.

Tamara L. Anderson, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology, CSPP-LA), is the Associate Provost of Academic Effectiveness and Administration and Professor of Psychology at Biola University. Her specialties include integrative and clinical topics related to gender and women’s issues, embryo adoption, and professional ethics.

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