Implicit and explicit beliefs about God and scrupulosity symptoms: A prospective study

Cross-sectional studies have found significant positive relationships between scrupulosity symptoms, i.e. obsessive-compulsive symptoms with religious or ethical content, and both explicit and implicit negative conceptions of God as well as their interaction. This study aimed to test the role of these conceptions by examining whether they predict scrupulosity symptoms prospectively. Sixty-five participants drawn from a larger study on Judaism and Mental Health completed a measure of explicit beliefs about God, a related implicit measure and a measure of scrupulosity the Penn Inventory of Scrupulosity-Revised (PIOS-R) at two time points approximately one year apart. Implicit associations emerged as a positive prospective predictor of scrupulosity symptoms in regression analysis. Neither explicit negative beliefs nor the interaction between implicit and explicit beliefs emerged as prospective predictors. Results suggest that negative conceptions of God may not be causal in the development of scrupulosity. The emergence of implicit associations as a positive prospective predictor may reflect the fact that the PIOS-R partly measures religiosity. Alternatively, positive associations may predict the content of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in people vulnerable to developing Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Limitations and suggestions for future studies are discussed.