Unpacking the Varieties of Nonbelief within US-Based Marginalized Populations

Melanie Brewster; Dena Abbott; Brandon Velez; Veronica Kim; Patrick Meyer; Rin Nguyen

doi:10.5334/snr.237

Figures & Tables

Table 1

Bivariate Correlations Among Continuous Nonbelief Variables.

VARIABLE	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	α	M	SD
1. Salience of nonbelief	—												–	72.69	28.14
2. Importance of Religion	–.24***	—											.83	1.43	0.74
3. Importance of Spirituality	–.27***	.39***	—										.89	2.17	1.11
4. Stigma Consciousness	.30***	–.37***	–.12***	—									.80	4.77	0.97
5. Internalized Prejudice	–.16***	.32***	.32***	.09**	—								.78	2.36	1.00
6. Christian Hegemony	.13***	–.33***	–.02	.41***	.06	—							.90	4.95	0.99
7. Outness	.15***	–.06	–.03	–.01	–.21***	–.00	—						.72	6.37	2.21
8. Concealment	–.01	.00	.03	.14***	.27***	.09**	–.31***	—					.79	5.50	2.68
9. Illusory Beliefs	–.35***	.54***	.76***	–.25***	.37***	–.18***	–.05	.03	—				.93	2.04	0.70
10. New Age Beliefs	–.26***	.53***	.72***	–.26***	.36***	–.15***	.00	.01	.85***	—			.96	2.29	1.05
11. Service Attendance	–.10**	.19***	.11**	–.05	.14***	.04	–.07	.04	.18***	.13***	—		–	1.34	0.62
12. Prayer Frequency	–.23***	.25***	.32***	–.13***	.20***	–.03	–.09*	–.02	.40***	.32***	.25***	—	–	1.24	0.63
13. Social Justice Intentions	.04	–.10**	.06	.12***	.02	.17***	.15***	–.09*	.01	.08*	–.01	.07*	.91	6.61	1.83
14. Distress	–.11**	.22***	.20***	.07*	.32***	.06	–.03	.10**	.27***	.25***	.10**	.13***	.88	2.36	0.89
15. Loneliness	–.03	.04	.10**	.15***	.17***	.12***	–.10**	.18***	.10**	.08*	.05	.01	.84	1.91	0.64
16. Life Satisfaction	–.00	.08*	–.02	–.22***	–.10**	–.07	.13***	–.09**	.01	.09**	–.03	.01	.87	4.40	1.34

[i] *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001. Possible ranges provided in-text of Measures section.

Table 2

Model Fit Indices for LPA Solutions.

SOLUTION	PROFILE NS (PERCENTAGE OF N)^a	BIC	ABIC	ENTROPY	LM ALRT	p-VALUE
1	1 = 888 (100%)	41,143.57	41,045.12	—	—
2	1 = 598 (67%) 2 = 290 (33%)	38,868.15	38,709.36	0.91	2385.91	p < .001
3	1 = 549 (62%) 2 = 132 (23%) 3 = 132 (15%)	38,293.20	38,074.07	0.91	698.53	p = .009
4	1 = 533 (60%) 2 = 191 (22%) 3 = 120 (14%) 4 = 44 (5%)	37,885.28	37,605.81	0.92	532.78	p = .003
5	1 = 510 (57%) 2 = 193 (22%) 3 = 108 (12%) 4 = 44 (5%) 5 = 33 (4%)	37,666.26	37,326.45	0.93	345.34	p = .093
6	1 = 405 (46%) 2 = 218 (25%) 3 = 110 (12%) 4 = 84 (9%) 5 = 41 (5%) 6 = 30 (3%)	37,442.15	37,042.00	0.90	350.38	p = .013

[i] Note. BIC = Bayesian information criteria. ABIC = Adjusted BIC. LM ALRT = adjusted Lo-Mendell-Rubin likelihood ratio test. ^APercentages may not sum to 100% due to rounding.

Table 3

Comparisons of Categorical nonbelief variables by Profile Membership.

VARIABLES		ADAMANT NONBELIEVERS		AMBIVALENT MAYBELIEVERS		SPIRITUALLY INCLINED		χ²(DF)	CRAMER’S V
VARIABLES		n	%	n	%	n	%	χ²(DF)	CRAMER’S V
Beliefs about God	Don’t believe in God	466	84.9^A	83	62.9^B	67	32.4^C	252.31(6)***	.38
	Don’t know if there is a God, don’t believe there is a way to know	76	13.8^A	32	24.2^B	70	33.8^B
	Don’t believe in personal God, but believe in a higher power	6	1.1^A	11	8.3^B	62	30.0^C
	Believe in God sometimes	1	0.2^A	6	4.5^B	8	3.9^B
Prior belief in God	Never believed in God	155	28.2^A	100	75.8^B	40	19.3^C	131.84(2)***	.39
Prior belief in God	Used to believe in God	394	71.8^A	32	24.2^B	167	80.7^C	131.84(2)***	.39
Secular Community Involvement	Yes	297	63.6^A	39	58.2^A	52	32.1^B	48.56(2)***	.26
Secular Community Involvement	No	170	36.4^A	28	41.8^A	110	67.9^B	48.56(2)***	.26

[i] Note. Across a row, proportions that do not share the same superscript differ by at least p <.05.

***p < .001.

Mean scores of continuous nonbelief variables by profile. Variables are standardized so that scores of zero represent the grand mean. All values are in the metric of standard deviations. Thus, for example, values of 1 represent scores one standard deviation above the grand mean and values of –1 represent scores one standard deviation below the mean. Error bars reflect 95% CI intervals of the mean.

Table 4

Comparisons of Demographic Variables by Profile Membership.

VARIABLES		ADAMANT NONBELIEVERS		AMBIVALENT MAYBELIEVERS		SPIRITUALLY INCLINED		χ²(df)	CRAMER’S V
VARIABLES		n	%	n	%	n	%	χ²(df)	CRAMER’S V
Gender	Man	333	60.7^A	90	68.2^A	91	44.0^B	30.02 (4)***	.13
	Nonbinary	199	36.2^A	35	26.5^A	111	53.6^B
	Woman	17	3.1^A	7	5.3^A	5	2.4^A
Gender Identity	Cisgender	435	79.2^A	126	95.5^B	161	77.8^A	20.63 (2)***	.15
Gender Identity	Transgender or Nonbinary	114	20.8^A	6	4.5^B	46	22.2^A	20.63 (2)***	.15
Race or Ethnicity	Arab, Middle Eastern, or North African	8	1.5^A	0	0.0^A	3	1.5^A	158.72 (14)***	.31
	Asian	46	8.8^A	11	11.1^A	26	13.1^A
	Black or African American	44	8.4^A	52	52.5^B	17	8.6^A
	Latinx/e	36	6.9^A	2	2.0^A	17	8.6^A
	Multiracial	34	6.5^A	3	3.0^A	17	8.6^A
	Native American	2	0.4^A	2	2.0^A	1	0.5^A
	White or European American	352	67.2^A	29	29.3^B	116	58.6^A
	Other	2	0.4^A	0	0.0^A	1	0.5^A
Sexual Identity	Asexual	30	5.8^A	0	0.0^B	12	6.4^A	109.01 (8)***	.26
	Bisexual or pansexual	160	30.9^A	19	15.6^B	82	43.6^C
	Gay or lesbian	176	34.0^A	22	18.0^B	49	26.1^AB
	Heterosexual	115	22.2^A	73	59.8^B	24	12.8^C
	Other	37	7.1^A	8	6.6^A	21	11.2^A
Education	Less than high school	1	0.2^A	3	3.3^B	0	0.0^A	41.47 (10)***	.16
	High school	16	3.2^A	9	9.8^B	7	3.8^AB
	Some college	118	23.8^A	21	22.8^A	46	24.9^A
	Bachelor’s	142	28.6^A	36	39.1^A	49	26.5^A
	Some graduate school	46	9.3^A	12	13.0^A	19	10.3^A
	Graduate degree	173	34.9^A	11	12.0^B	64	34.6^A
Employment Status	Unemployed	161	32.7^A	7	7.8^B	52	28.0^A	23.23 (4)***	.12
	Part-time	68	13.8^A	17	18.9^A	27	14.5^A
	Full-time	263	53.5^A	66	73.3^B	107	57.5^A
Social Class	Lower class	34	6.9^A	2	2.2^A	14	7.5^A	22.25 (8)**	.12
	Working class	110	22.3^A	33	35.9^B	62	33.3^B
	Middle class	226	45.8^A	37	40.2^A	77	41.4^A
	Upper-middle class	106	21.5^A	13	14.1^A	26	14.0^A
	Upper class	17	3.4^A	7	7.6^A	7	3.8^A
Annual Household Income	Below $10,000	17	3.5^A	3	3.3^A	10	5.4^A	37.75 (18)**	.16
	$10,001–$30,000	50	10.2^A	9	9.8^A	27	14.5^A
	$30,001–$50,000	55	11.2^A	12	13.0^A	23	12.4^A
	$50,001–$70,000	66	13.5^A	18	19.6^A	33	17.7^A
	$70,001–$90,000	62	12.7^A	17	18.5^A	33	17.7^A
	$90,001–$110,000	59	12.0^A	7	7.6^A	22	11.8^A
	$110,001–$130,000	37	7.6^A	13	14.1^A	11	5.9^A
	$130,001–$160,000	41	8.4^A	6	6.5^A	9	4.8^A
	$160,001–$190,000	34	6.9^A	3	3.3^AB	2	1.1^B
	Above $190,000	69	14.1^A	4	4.3^B	16	8.6^AB
Urbanity	Rural	75	15.2^A	19	20.7^B	28	15.1^A	21.00 (4)***	.12
	Suburban	216	43.8^A	17	18.5^B	77	41.4^A
	Urban	202	41.0^A	56	60.9^B	81	43.5^A

[i] Note. Across a row, proportions that do not share the same superscript differ by at least p <.05.

**p < .01. ***p < .001.

Table 5

Univariate Comparisons of Mental Health Variables by Profile Membership.

VARIABLES	ADAMANT NONBELIEVERS (n = 523)		AMBIVALENT MAYBELIEVERS (n = 109)		SPIRITUALLY INCLINED (n = 195)		F(2, 824)	η_p²
VARIABLES	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	F(2, 824)	η_p²
Distress	2.22^A	0.87	2.81^B	0.86	2.46^C	0.84	22.80***	.05
Loneliness	1.89^A	0.66	1.96^A	0.53	1.96^A	0.63	1.05	.00
Life satisfaction	4.37^A	1.41	4.70^A	1.08	4.33^A	1.26	3.19*	.01

[i] Note. Within a row, means that do not share the same superscript differ by at least p < .05.

*p < 05. ***p < .001.

Supplemental Table A

Univariate Comparisons of Continuous Nonbelief Variables by Profile Membership.

VARIABLES	ADAMANT NONBELIEVERS (n = 494)		AMBIVALENT MAYBELIEVERS (n = 87)		SPIRITUALLY INCLINED (n = 184)		F(2, 762)	η_p²
VARIABLES	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	F(2, 762)	η_p²
Salience of Nonbelief	79.92^A	24.91	57.63^B	29.30	60.65^B	29.16	51.42***	.12
Importance of Religion	1.13^A	0.31	2.93^B	0.76	1.35^C	0.47	657.54***	.63
Importance of Spirituality	1.51^A	0.60	3.00^B	0.85	3.43^C	0.82	598.82***	.61
Stigma Consciousness	4.95^A	0.95	3.84^B	0.57	4.86^A	0.93	55.92***	.13
Perceptions of Christian Privilege	5.10^A	0.89	3.87^B	0.96	5.28^A	0.69	89.22***	.19
Internalized Anti-Atheist Prejudice	2.11^A	0.90	3.00^B	1.01	2.65^C	1.02	45.63***	.11
Concealment	5.47^A	2.72	5.45^A	2.27	5.66^A	2.74	0.39	.00
Outness	6.54^A	2.20	6.24^A	2.02	6.13^A	2.31	2.61	.01
Illusory Beliefs	1.60^A	0.35	2.91^B	0.43	2.69^C	0.49	759.08***	.67
New Age Beliefs	1.64^A	0.50	3.69^B	0.85	3.19^C	0.78	674.29***	.64
Religious Service Attendance	1.29^A	0.61	1.49^B	0.68	1.39^AB	0.59	4.96**	.01
Prayer Frequency	1.06^A	0.29	1.54^B	0.70	1.59^B	0.97	69.72***	.16
Social Justice Intentions	6.64^A	1.91	6.05^B	1.36	7.05^C	1.64	9.44***	.02

[i] Note. Within a row, means that do not share a superscript differ significantly by at least p < .05.