Religiousness and the Big Five factors in a large British sample

This study examined the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and religiousness in a large sample where the majority of people were not at all religious. In all, 3869 British adults recorded how religious they were and completed a measure of the Big Five. Extraversion had a markedly different effect in terms of the odds of being non-religious compared to the effect on the level of religiousness. A standard deviation increase in Extraversion was associated with a 7% reduction in religiousness but, by contrast, it is also associated with a 28% decrease in the odds of being non-religious. A standard deviation increase in Agreeableness is associated with a 10% increase in the level of religiousness and a 17% decrease in the odds of being non-religious. Implications for research are discussed and limitations are acknowledged.