Factorial Structure And Measurement Invariance Of The Four Basic Dimensions Of Religiousness Scale Among Mexican Males And Females

The Four Basic Dimensions of Religiousness Scale (4-BDRS) is a newly developed instrument based on 4 components of religion: believing (beliefs relative to external transcendence), bonding (rituals and emotions), behaving (adherence to norms and moral arguments), and belonging (community and social group cohesion; Saroglou, 2011). This paper provides empirical evidence to support the factorial structure and measurement invariance assumptions of 4-BDRS among 1,982 adults (mean age of 29.27 years) from Mexico, a country among the top 10 nations in the world for religious involvement. The fit indices indicate similar patterns and strengths in factor loadings, means, and intercepts across males and females. Gender comparisons showed that females score significantly higher on all 4 religiousness dimensions than males. We conclude that the 4-BDRS is a brief and valid measure of religiousness that is suitable for use in Mexican samples.