Social–Psychological Underpinning of Anti–Church Sentiment

The aim of this research is to learn whether social alienation, Schwartz’s values, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism contribute to the prediction of results obtained on the scale of anti–Church sentiment. The survey was conducted on a convenience sample of full–aged citizens of Croatian ethnicity. Factor analysis was performed on the scales of anti–Church sentiment, social alienation, and Schwartz’s 10 individual values in order to establish the construct validity of these measurements. The results of the first multiple regression analysis revealed that social alienation and value orientations were significant predictors of anti–Church sentiment. The second multiple regression showed that primary psychopathy and Machiavellianism were also significant predictors of anti–Church sentiment. The construct of anti–Church sentiment was proven to be a hybrid of personal and attitudinal variables and motivated social cognition. Factor analysis performed was based on all variables investigated, and it revealed the existence of a latent “dark” attitudinal–personal construct of which anti–Church sentiment is a factorially significant component. Such a construct of anti–Church sentiment implicates the existence of a personality disorder and social dysfunction, and, at the same time, indirectly implies alienation or estrangement from the life of God.