The Relationship Between Childhood Emotional Neglect and Adult Spirituality: An Exploratory Study

The present study is an exploratory investigation into an area of study that to date has received very little attention: the relationship between childhood emotional neglect and adult spirituality. Participants were surveyed regarding childhood emotional neglect and their spirituality. Spirituality was defined as involving four areas of connectedness: with a higher power, with others, with humanity, and with an inner core. The study hypothesized a predictive relationship between emotional neglect and connectivity and that degree of connectedness would be inversely associated with severity of neglect. Results indicate an inverse, statistically significant, yet weak predictive relationship between neglect and several types of connectivity.