Victor Counted

Regent University · School of Psychology and Counseling

This book rekindles the well-known connection between people and place in the context of a global pandemic. The chapters are divided into two sections. In the first section, “Place Attachment During a Pandemic,” we review the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and the extent of its impact on place attachment and human-environment interactions. We exam...

How do spiritual ties to place (i.e., place spirituality) contribute to a meaningful spiritual life? Previous work has focused on sacred places, but a proposal is put forward for examining the spiritual connections people develop with many types of places in their search for meaning. The proposed theory examines spiritual ties to place across three...

This book synthesizes perspectives on how ‘place’ is deeply intertwined with our spirituality and well-being. Split into three sections, this book brings together contributions from global scholars across a range of disciplines to unravel how the personal, social, and cultural spheres of place shape our spiritual experiences and overall well-being....

This study uses three years of repeated cross-sectional data (N = 386,654) from the multinational Gallup World Poll (representing >90 % of world's population) to explore differences in the well-being of rural and urban inhabitants. We performed a series of descriptive analyses comparing rural and urban residents on 30 indicators of well-being, both...

Despite the rising global interest in well-being and its various dimensions, research in this area has been criticized for its Western-centric conceptual and geographical emphasis. In this cross-sectional study, we leverage more than 30 indicators of well-being from three years of Gallup World Poll (2020–2022) data to explore the diversity of well-...

In a multinational study (61 countries; N =15,039), we examined how collective narcissists, both agentic (ACN) and communal (CCN), reacted cognitively (through endorsement of unfounded conspiracy and health beliefs) and behaviorally (via prevention, hoarding, and prosociality) to the pandemic. Higher ACN and CCN predicted greater endorsement of COV...

A theoretical perspective on grandiose narcissism suggests four forms of it (sanctity, admiration, heroism, rivalry) and states that these forms conduce to different ways of thinking and acting. Guided by this perspective, we examined in a multinational and multicultural study (61 countries; N = 15,039) how narcissism forms are linked to cognitions...

In response to the call for integrative scriptural competence (Hathaway, 2021), missional psychotherapy offers a nuanced counseling approach that incorporates the spiritual dimensions of missio Dei (the mission of God) with human experiences to promote spiritual growth, holistic well-being, and personal transformation. Anchored to a Christian world...

There is evidence that suffering affects psychological health, but less is known about religious and spiritual (R/S) resources that might help people to successfully navigate suffering. This study takes an emic approach by exploring this phenomenon among Christians. Cross-sectional (N = 521) and longitudinal (N = 234) associations of suffering with...

We articulate a holistic understanding of hope, going beyond the common conceptualization of hope in terms of positive affect and cognition by considering what hope means for the underprivileged. In the recognition that hope is always situated in a particular place, we explore the perspective of the privileged and the underprivileged, clarifying ho...

Belonging is more than just a buzzword; it is a critical factor that affects students' academic engagement, motivation, persistence, and overall achievement, especially considering the diversity of students in educational settings. The goal of this paper is to dissect the complexities of belonging, examining its various determinants, the diverse im...

Contemporary cross-cultural research on flourishing and development has been limited by a focus on Western populations and typically Western priorities, and by attention to only a few indicators of flourishing, such as life satisfaction, life expectancy, or GDP per capita. This paper highlights some significant challenges for robust cross-national...

Spaces are boundless settings in which human experiences take shape. They provide contexts that can support the formation and maintenance of social relationships, reinforce or subvert existing power dynamics, and fuel or diffuse racial tensions. Drawing from a cross-disciplinary perspective, this chapter explores the racialization of space and trau...

A global and multidisciplinary approach to place, religion/spirituality, and well-being could contribute to improving our understanding of how place is related to religion/spirituality, well-being, and the intersection between these two fundamental aspects of human life. Re-establishing the centrality of place to human life, this chapter highlights...

In Chap. 1, we briefly discussed place as a central ingredient to psycho-social-spiritual resources that form part of the healing systems people rely on to support their well-being. Drawing on the multidisciplinary contributions presented in this volume, we elaborate on this idea by situating place as the cornerstone of healing systems, well-being,...

Unfounded—conspiracy and health— beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale, using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We obtained a two-factor model of unfounded (conspiracy and health) beliefs with good internal struct...

As Nigeria grew as an independent nation, the role of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) began to evolve, reflecting the needs of a burgeoning multi-ethnic society. This transformation is particularly evident in the Diocese on the Niger – the first indigenous Anglican diocese in Western Africa – a topic of debate within various factions of the Chu...

In this longitudinal study, we examine changes in psychological distress and multidimensional well-being from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic among South African adults. As a secondary purpose, we explore whether pre-pandemic flourishing is protective against subsequent psychological distress during the public health crisis. The analytic sam...

In this prospective study of US adults with chronic illness (n = 302), we examined the associations of subjective suffering and religious/spiritual (R/S) resources (i.e., religious coping, religious commitment, and spiritual fortitude) with the subsequent experience of R/S struggles. Using a rigorous analytic approach that involved adjusting for nu...

Drawing on the bounded affinity theory – a theory emphasising the shared commonality of religious and paranormal experiences, data from a cross-section of Australian Facebook users were tested. Results reveal that religious Christian individuals who express a strong level of Christian religious practice display less paranormal belief and engage in...

Culturally responsive cross-pollination of positive psychology (PP) and the psychology of religion/spirituality (PRS) has the potential to enrich both subfields and augment their impact. To strengthen the interaction of PP and the PRS beyond the traditional boundaries of the West, this chapter explores the current overlap between these two psycholo...

Physical and existential threats stemming from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may provoke religious/spiritual (R/S) struggles or exacerbate preexisting angst and questions. In the Global South, where pervasive social–structural disadvantages limit resource availability to mitigate psychosocial consequences, doubts about divine pre...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Kingdom (UK) government introduced public health safety measures to mitigate the spikes in infection rates. This included stay-at-home orders that prevented people from leaving their homes for work or study, except for urgent medical care or buying essential items. This practice could have both short and lon...

The new African diaspora has emerged from the recent migratory movements of Africans. This population is tasked with finding effective methods of adjusting to new environments. Through the psychoanalytic lens of object relations, this article explores the role of religion in shaping migration experiences of the new African diaspora. It considers th...

The COVID-19 pandemic and its sequelae have had significant consequences for many people around the world, precipitating loss of resources in various domains. To date, few studies have reported on how resource loss during the public health crisis has contributed to subjective experiences of suffering, especially among vulnerable populations. Using...

Since the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak emerged in late 2019, loss has been part of the individual and collective experiences of people all over the world. Of principal concern has been the loss of life. At the time of writing, more than 2.5 million COVID-19 deaths had been reported worldwide since the first case of SARS-CoV-2 was confirmed (World Health Org...

As we have learned from Bowlby’s (1969) classic work on attachment and loss in Chapter 1 (see also Chapter 5), secure attachment relationships can support health and well-being. This attachment perspective lays the foundation for conceptualizing and understanding the emotional distress that may be experienced when place attachment disruption occurs...

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is an international health crisis. When the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged, a lack of available treatment prompted widespread public health concerns (Govender et al., 2020). Countries and territories around the world implemented public health measures...

In Chapter 1, we introduced place as a relational object of attachment. This conceptualization of place allows us to consider what happens when a global pandemic threatens the bonds that people have with places of significance. It also provides a framework for understanding how separation from a place of significance can lead to a reparative proces...

The COVID-19 pandemic instigated a remarkable range of stressors that have impacted people all around the world (Cowden et al., 2021b). Those stressors have affected economic (e.g., financial security), interpersonal (e.g., social connectedness), physical (e.g., health), psychological (e.g., mental well-being), and religious/spiritual (e.g., in-per...

In Chapters 3 and 6, we discussed the principle that people are naturally driven to invest resources in order to regain, restore, or rebound from resource loss (Hobfoll, 2012). Attempts at offsetting resource loss can take different forms, most of which are functionally adaptive in that they are employed as means of dealing with the challenges a pe...

Early reports in 2021 show that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected many people, communities, and societies (Huang et al., 2021). Interactions and bonds with places that are a valued part of our lives have also been impacted by the public health crisis (Counted et al., 2021; Devine-Wright et al., 2020). People have been emplaced in their homes and d...

In earlier chapters, we addressed the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on people–place relationships and some of the avenues that people could pursue to effectively cope with and transcend place attachment disruption experiences. In this chapter, we focus on the potential for place-based experiences to provide people with opportunities to...

There is an undoubted movement of thought towards a restatement of radicalization and extremism along the lines of recent psychological achievements. This has already taken place, to a large extent, in social and behavioral sciences where concepts such as religion, place, and people are discussed as objects of attachment. This book examines the exp...

Suffering has been a topic of considerable discussion in the fields of medicine and palliative care, yet few studies have reported causal evidence linking the experience of suffering to health and well-being. In this three-wave prospective cohort study, we explore the potential psychological implications of suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic by...

In this article, we used the meta-metrics approach to analyse research grants in the Religion and Religious Studies field of research (FoR) in Australia, with respect to their metric properties, significance, similarity, and usage characterisation. Whilst comparing and contrasting various results from the dataset of the Australian Research Council...

The study examined whether there was an influence of region of origin, area, or residence prior to migration, religion, and perceived discrimination on the acculturation strategies of sub-Saharan African migrants in Australia. These factors have been found to affect acculturation, given the multi-dimensionality of identify formation. Data were obta...

The COVID-19 pandemic has plagued the world, bringing everyday activities to a standstill. Many people are wrestling with the impact of the public health crisis on the connections they have with their environment (e.g., neighborhoods, cities), specific places (e.g., workplaces, places of worship), and people (e.g., loved ones, faith community) that...

This chapter assessed the prevalence of religious delusions among a group of inpatients from an Egyptian mental health hospital (El-Abbassyia, Cairo). The main purpose was to investigate the frequency of religious delusions in psychotic patients, and how this affected their prognosis. Specifically, this study was carried out because there is insuff...

This study examines sociodemographic and wellbeing factors associated with forms of religiosity involving conventional religious belief (CRB) and daily spiritual experience (DSE), and unconventional paranormal beliefs in lifeforms (UPBL) and paranormal beliefs excluding extraordinary lifeforms (UPBEEL). Self-reported data collected from Australian...

To identify potential protective mechanisms that might buffer the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on well-being, the current set of studies (NStudy 1 = 1172, NStudy 2 = 451) examined the roles of hope and religious coping (positive and negative) in promoting well-being during stay-at-home orders that were implemented in Colombia and South Africa....

This chapter examines the role of spirituality in the relationship between confidence in Australian society and paranormal outcomes involving belief in demons and the practice of exorcism among different religious and non-religious groups of Australian Facebook users (N = 760; Female: 60%). It provides an understanding of the nature of paranormal p...

In: Adam Possamai & Joseph Blasi (Eds.), SAGE Encyclopedia for the Sociology of Religion (pp.56-57).

This chapter explores conceptual frameworks used for assessing the links between religious and place attachment and the role they play as objects of attachment and alternate security systems in everyday life. The first section of this chapter explores the complexities of adult attachment theory involving religious attachment in terms of relationshi...

This chapter clarifies the psychology of religion and place (PRP) by providing conceptual and operational definition of the concept as a first step in the systematic analysis of PRP for future research. Concept analysis is a method designed by Walker and Avant (Strategies for Theory Construction in Nursing. Pearson, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2011) fo...

This chapter introduces the psychology of religion and place as a significant and emerging interdisciplinary field for understanding the constellation of subjective relational and spiritual experiences in spatial settings. We carefully consider ways readers can benefit from the study of religion and place as a psychological phenomenon involving per...

This chapter explores the intersection of religious and place attachment as parallel processes, representing a cascade of relationships and flow-on effects flowing from one object of attachment (processing unit) to another both at macro and micro levels. The theory of parallel processing model is used to discuss how attached individuals simultaneou...

This chapter waves into focus the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of place and religious attachment in relation to health promotion and quality of life. Hence, the nature of the complex links between religion, place and health are discussed while summarising recent empirical findings on the topic. We discussed how adult attachment processes affect quality of life...

This book examines the role of religious and spiritual experiences in people’s understanding of their environment, and how their place experiences are transformed in the process. The contributors consider how understandings and experiences of religious and place connections are motivated by the need to seek and maintain contact with perceptual obje...

This rejoinder acknowledges the empirical gaps and theoretical/theological disharmony highlighted in the three selected commentaries on Place Spirituality (PS), but we defend our central argument about the developmental pathways of PS. First, we provide an overview of recent studies on PS, highlighting what has been done so far in the field. Second...

The expression of attachment to the divine in certain places among different groups has been documented by anthropologists and sociologists for decades. However, the psychological processes by which this happens are not yet fully understood. This paper focuses on the concept of “place spirituality” (PS) as a psychological mechanism which allows the...

This article investigates migration and sociodemographic factors associated with attitudes toward specific geographic settings (place attachment [PA], place identity, place dependence [PD]) in a cross-sectional data (N = 175) of sub-Saharan African residents in the Northern Netherlands and the Western Netherlands. Overall, it was found that scores...

The study examines the association between sense of place (SOP) attitudes (e.g., place attachment, place identity, and place dependence) and health-related quality of life (HQOL) in a sample of 261 African residents in New South Wales (Australia). Participants completed measures of the Sense of Place Scale, the World Health Organization Quality of...

This paper investigates the relationship between negative place experiences (involving racial discrimination, place insecurity, and feeling of anxiety about the future in a place) and sense of place (SOP), and the role played by spiritual attachment (AG) as a moderator. Cross-sectional data (N = 175; female 52%) were obtained from African migrants...

The purpose of this article is to analyze how the concept of African Christian diaspora religion and/or spirituality, as a missionary-based model, is currently being used and defined within African transnational research and diaspora religion. I conducted a review using a citation search strategy to retrieve peer-reviewed articles that explore the...

A presentation on Attachment and Quality of Life in African Migrants at the 'Psychology Research @ Western" symposium.

This paper reports on the association between global attachment styles and aspects of caregiving faith development that involve representations of God as a symbolic attachment figure in a cross-sectional data of 261 African Pentecostals in New South Wales, Australia. In particular, the applicability of the correspondence and compensation hypotheses...

The author proposes a variation to the ‘Circle of Security’ model: one in which the behaviour of a religious believer is depicted in a circular pattern of movement that begins and ends with the object(s) of attachment. This variation is conceptualised in the present paper as the Circle of Place Spirituality (CoPS). CoPS takes a relational psychoana...

This study investigates whether place attachment (PA) in terms of attachment to Australia as a country is associated with QoL and the extent to which this association is related to attachment to God (AG) among African Christian residents in NSW, Australia. Results reveal that the main effects of PA bear a consistent positive association with QoL. A...

A presentation by Victor Counted at the Place Attachment Symposium at the International Association of People-Environment Studies Conference in Rome, Italy, 12 July, 2018.

This study examines the domains of religious coping strategies among African Christians in New South Wales, Australia, and the role they play in negotiating quality of life and life stressors. Study themes were drawn from interview transcripts that showed positive and negative aspects of religious coping, involving multiple domains including person...

This presentation draws broadly on insights from attachment theory to discuss the main and interactive effects of attachment to God (AG), attitudes toward God (ATG), and quality of life (QoL) outcomes in a cross-sectional sample of African Christian church goers (N=261; mean age = 36.9) who are residents of New South Wales, Australia. Respondents c...

The problem for many troubled youths seeking help within a Christian context is that their need for meaningful connections and spiritual growth is attached to relationships with their significant others. When needs of attachment are not adequately met due to the effect of an insecure attachment working model in a relationship with God, the teen may...

Background: Despite the increasing number of evidence-based research on relational spirituality (RS) and quality of life (QoL) in medical-health research, little is known about the links between RS and QoL outcomes and the mechanisms by which RS aspects are functionally tied to QoL. Objective: To determine how RS is perceived/positioned in relatio...

A presentation at the 40th AFSAAP Conference, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Nov. 23 - 24, 2017. This presentation looks at the strength of the attachment experiences of the African diaspora in New South Wales, Australia, and the extent to which these experiences are related to health-related quality of life.

This paper examines the role of place attachment in religious life by analyzing various significant place events in the Bible, using analysis of biblical discourse. The paper looks at various biblical places, and explores the implications of approaching these sacred settings in terms of place attachment theory. In the Old Testament we focus on Moun...

This presentation looks at whether place attachment is associated with outcomes of quality of life, and the extent to which this association is conditional on attachment to God (spirituality

This paper explores the ways in which attachment disruptions might increase the risk of adult religious psychopathology by drawing parallels between the possible symbolisms lying behind religious violence and the concept of attachment. It is first argued that the relationship between a religious believer and a religious figure can be explained as a...

The presentation explores an alternative interpretation of religious conflict as an aspect of attachment-psychopathology. Paper was shared at the Religion, Conflict, and Peace Summer School, University of Groningen (14 – 18 Aug. 2017)

The paper explores the relationship between attachment to God (AG) and authenticity/inauthenticity among Christian youths in relation to a range of socio-demographic variables. Cross-sectional data were collected from 100 South African Christian youths using measures of AG and authenticity/inauthenticity. The correlation results reveal that feeling...

A presentation that conceptualizes a hermeneutical approach that privileges the missio Dei, or the mission of God, as the key to interpreting the stories of identity crisis and experiences of anxiety. The original notion of a missional hermeneutic stems from Wright and Hensbuger’s works, and have thus been used to understand what is meant by a miss...

Attachment and authenticity experiences were discussed as the building blocks of youth identity crisis. It was proposed that recognizing these central themes as the two greatest needs of young people would be the first practical step towards advocating for the youth in crisis.

The study explores the individual differences in the experience of faith formation using the framework of attachment theory, as it looks at what inspires attachment behaviours toward God. The experience of faith formation is herewith conceptualised in this study as a care-giving experience, watered by reciprocity of proximity with a divine attachme...

Spirituality and well-being are explored through frameworks of attachment and authenticity respectively. Spirituality was defined as an attachment to God experience, while conceptualizing well-being as the pursuit of authenticity and ability to stay true to one’s self. 100 South African youths were recruited to participate in the study using the At...

The article is an attempt to make sense of the different interdisciplinary perspectives associated with people’s attachment to places with a view to construct a holistic template for understanding people-place relationships and experiences. The author took note of the theoretical contributions of Jorgensen & Stedman (2001), Scannell & Gifford (2010...

The intention of this paper is to interpret the ontological conditions of youth identity crisis missionally. This is first done by conceptualising identity crisis as a psychological phenomenon using frameworks of authenticity and attachment to explain the impact of early attachment abuse, abandonment depression, insecure attachment anxiety with God...

This study examines the role of the Christian God as an attachment figure, using the attachment language criteria of a strong and enduring affectionate bond. Respondents were 15 anxiously attached Christian youths, purposefully selected for in-depth interviews to explore their God attachment language and God concepts. The results show how the respo...

One of the biggest news stories in the past decade has been the increasing impact of the internet and information technology on young people, from first-generation mission countries in North America and Western Europe to the global south—particularly in Africa. This advancement has fueled the growth of a “connected” and “plugged in” cohort of young...

The article is a qualitative study that focuses on the authenticity and self constructions of Christian millennials in Africa. Whilst exploring how fifteen respondents manifested their authentic self-behaviours using a case study design, the hallmark of the study was to observe the common coping mechanism of self-regulation, adopted by respondents...

Jews comprise less than one percent of the world’s population; however, in the second half of the twentieth century and in the twenty-first century Jews have been awarded more than 25 % of the Nobel Prizes. Why are Jews so creative? Some have claimed, they are genetically more intelligent as determined by IQ tests. Whereas there is an intelligence...

The author looks at the God image experience as an attachment relationship experience with God. Hence, arguing that the God image experience is borne originally out of a parent–child attachment contagion, in such a way that God is often represented in either secure or insecure attachment patterns. The article points out that insecure God images oft...

A seminar lecture at the 2015 Christian Youth Forum Stellenbosch on "Youth Identity Crisis: Finding God Without Losing Yourself". The published paper can now be found here: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13674676.2017.1326476?journalCode=cmhr20