Religious and spiritual identities: evaluating change over time, identity salience, and the influence of aging

This study has three objectives. First, to assess change in four religious/spiritual identities: religious only, spiritual only, both religious and spiritual, and neither religious nor spiritual. Second, to evaluate whether respondents believe the identities they assumed are salient. Third, to estimate whether the probability of identity change is associated with age. The findings indicate that roughly a quarter of the sample changed their religious/spiritual identity over time. The data further suggest that the spiritual component of the religious and spiritual identity is valued the most highly. Finally, the results reveal that the probability of exiting a role decreases with age.