Emotions Toward the Institution of the Church: Development of a New Measure

Abstract

The aim of the study was to develop a scale for measuring emotions toward the Church as an institution. In Study 1, the initial development of the Emotions Toward the Church Scale (ETC) involved compiling a list of 91 Church-related emotions. Following evaluation by expert judges, the list was reduced to 27 items, which were administered to a representative sample of Polish adults (N = 518). Based on the results of an exploratory factor analysis, two factors were identified—positive emotions toward the Church and negative emotions toward the Church—and the final 24-item version of the ETC was established. In Study 2, also conducted on a nationwide sample of Polish adults (N = 1943), confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the two-factor structure identified in Study 1, with overall model fit indices indicating a moderate fit. The ETC demonstrated high internal consistency (α = 0.95 for positive emotions toward the Church and α = 0.96 for negative emotions toward the Church). The scale may serve as a valuable tool for examining perceptions of institutional forms of religion and the affective experiences associated with them.