Initial Psychometric Properties of the Spiritual Bypass Scale in an Indian College Student Sample

The purpose of the present study was to examine the psychometric characteristics of the Spiritual Bypass Scale-13 (SBS-13) in India. English-speaking Indian graduate students (N = 250) at a large university participated. Students were 22 years of age on average, and most were women, Indian, Hindu, and never married. The main measure of interest was the SBS-13. Convergent validity measures included the Religious Commitment Inventory-10, Sources of Spirituality Scale, and the Brief RCOPE. The factor structure of the SBS-13 initially reported in both the United States and Brazil was replicated in an Indian sample. A two-factor model (i.e., psychological avoidance and spiritualizing) was found as was a second-order model representing a SBS-13 total score. Alpha coefficients for scores on the subscales and total score were above .8. Convergent validity coefficients for associations of the SBS-13 with religious commitment, spirituality, and religious coping ranged from .23 to .73 with magnitude and direction consistent with prior studies. The present study provides initial evidence of the utility of the SBS-13 in an Indian sample.