The Muslim Spiritual Attachment Scale–16 for Muslims in Indonesia: Psychometric Evaluation Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Yonathan Natanael

Abstract


Abstract: This study aims to investigate the psychometric properties of the Muslim Spiritual Attachment Scale (M-SAS 16 16) within the context of Indonesian Muslims. Although this instrument has been widely used in various Muslim-majority countries, no empirical validation has yet been conducted in Indonesia-a nation with the world’s largest Muslim population and distinct cultural and religious characteristics. A total of 450 Muslims in Bandung voluntarily participated in this research, which was conducted during Ramadan 2025. Instruments used included M-SAS 16, Riverside Life Satisfaction Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, and Situational Self-Awareness Scale. Confirmatory factor analysis with the Maximum Likelihood estimator showed that the M-SAS 16 can be tested with various factor structures, namely unidimensional, multidimensional, second-order, or bifactor (fulfillment of all model fit criteria CFI > .90; TLI > .90; RMSEA < .08). Furthermore, measurement invariance testing did not reveal any item bias across gender groups, indicating that the M-SAS 16 is fair and consistent. Overall, the findings of this study confirm that the Indonesian version of the M-SAS 16 is a valid, reliable, and culturally appropriate instrument in Indonesia. These findings could be an important contribution to the development of Islamic psychology psychometrics in Indonesia
Keywords: confirmatory factor analysis; Islamic Psychology; Muslim spirituality attachment; reliability; validity

Copyright ©2026. The Authors. Published by Psikoislamika: Jurnal Psikologi dan Psikologi Islam. This is an open access article under the CC BY NO SA. Link: Creative Commons — Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Keywords


Muslim spirituality attachment; confirmatory factor analysis; validity; reliability; Islamic Psychology

References


Beck, R., & McDonald, A. (2004). Attachment to God: The attachment to God inventory, tests of working model correspondence, and an exploration of faith group differences. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 32(2), 92–103. https://doi.org/10.1177/009164710403200202

Bonab, B. G., Miner, M., & Proctor, M.-T. (2013). Attachment to God in Islamic spirituality. Journal of Muslim Mental Health, 7(2), 77–104. https://doi.org/10.3998/jmmh.10381607.0007.205

Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24(4), 385–396. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136404

Counted, V., & Zock, H. (2019). Place spirituality: An attachment perspective. Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 41(1), 12–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/0084672419833448

Ghorbani, N., Watson, P. J., Omidbeiki, M., & Chen, Z. J. (2016). Muslim attachments to God and the “perfect man” (Ensān-e Kāmel): Relationships with religious orientation and psychological adjustment in Iran. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 8(4), 318–329. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000084

Govern, J. M., & Marsch, L. A. (2001). Development and validation of the Situational Self-Awareness Scale. Consciousness and Cognition, 10(3), 366–378. https://doi.org/10.1006/ccog.2001.0506

Hassan, H. M. (2016). Investigation of the self-reported aberrant driving behavior of young male Saudi drivers: A survey-based study. Journal of Transportation Safety & Security, 8(2), 113–128. https://doi.org/10.1080/19439962.2015.1017782

Henderson, W. M., & Kent, B. V. (2022). Attachment to God and psychological distress: Evidence of a curvilinear relationship. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 61(1), 161–177. https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12767

Jordan, K. D., Niehus, K. L., & Feinstein, A. M. (2021). Insecure attachment to God and interpersonal conflict. Religions, 12(9), 739. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12090739

Khalaf, M. A., & Abulela, M. A. A. (2021). The Academic Buoyancy Scale: Measurement invariance across culture and gender in Egyptian and Omani undergraduates. European Journal of Educational Research, 10(4), 2121–2131. https://doi.org/10.12973/eu-jer.10.4.2121

Kimball, C. N., Boyatzis, C. J., Cook, K. V., Leonard, K. C., & Flanagan, K. S. (2013). Attachment to God: A qualitative exploration of emerging adults’ spiritual relationship with God. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 41(3), 175–199. https://doi.org/10.1177/00916471130410030

Margolis, S., Schwitzgebel, E., Ozer, D. J., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2019). A new measure of life satisfaction: The Riverside Life Satisfaction Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 101(6), 621–630. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2018.1464457

McNeish, D., An, J., & Hancock, G. R. (2018). The thorny relation between measurement quality and fit index cutoffs in latent variable models. Journal of Personality Assessment, 100(1), 43–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2017.1281286

Miner, M., Ghobary-Bonab, B., & Dowson, M. (2017). Development of a measure of attachment to God for Muslims. Review of Religious Research, 59(2), 183–206. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13644-016-0281-2

Mohd Matore, M. E. E., Zainal, M. A., Mohd Noh, M. F., Khairani, A. Z., & Abd Razak, N. (2021). The development and psychometric assessment of Malaysian Youth Adversity Quotient Instrument (MY-AQi) by combining Rasch model and confirmatory factor analysis. IEEE Access, 9, 13314–13329. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3050311

Nazari, M., Ghobari Bonab, B., Bahrinan, S. A. M., & Haji Alizadeh, K. (2023). Developing an intervention program based on attachment to God and investigating its effectiveness on ineffective spiritual schemas and spiritual well-being. Journal of Adolescent and Youth Psychological Studies, 4(7), 98–106. https://doi.org/10.61838/kman.jayps.4.7.11

Piedmont, R. L. (2014). Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research (A. C. Michalos, Ed.). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5

Pirutinsky, S., Rosmarin, D. H., & Kirkpatrick, L. A. (2019). Is attachment to God a unique predictor of mental health? Test in a Jewish sample. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 29(3), 161–171. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2019.1565249

Rowatt, W. C., & Kirkpatrick, L. A. (2002). Two dimensions of attachment to God and their relation to affect, religiosity, and personality constructs. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 41(4), 637–651.

Salarhaji, N., Behzadi Pour, S., & Tahmasebi, S. (2019). Moderating role of self-compassion in relation to psychopathological symptoms and God attachment in women with breast cancer. Archives of Breast Cancer, 6(1), 21–28. https://doi.org/10.32768/abc.20196121-28

Salsabila, D. F., Rofifah, R., Natanael, Y., & Ramdani, Z. (2019). Uji validitas konstruk Indonesian-Psychological Measurement of Islamic Religiousness (I-PMIR). Jurnal Psikologi Islam dan Budaya, 2(2), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.15575/jpib.v2i2.5494

Sayin, M., Demi̇R, İ. H., & Ekşi̇, F. (2019). The relationship of marital satisfaction and life satisfaction with spiritual orientation: The mediating role of sacrifice and sensitivity. Spiritual Psychology and Counseling, 4(3), 237–256. https://doi.org/10.37898/spc.2019.4.3.083

Shoshan, T. S., Chaki-Binon, H., & Abu-Raiya, H. (2024). The links between insecure attachment to God, divine struggles, and happiness and depressive symptoms among Muslims and Jews in Israel. Journal of Religion and Health, 63(4), 2501–2522. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-024-02055-y

Timbers, V. L., & Hollenberger, J. C. (2022). Christian mindfulness and mental health: Coping through sacred traditions and embodied awareness. Religions, 13(1), 62. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13010062

Upenieks, L. (2022). Perceptions of dignity, attachment to God, and mental health in a National US Sample. Journal of Religion and Health, 61(5), 3615–3636. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-022-01559-9

Yahya, F., Mat, S. B., & Panduragan, S. L. (2022). A Model of Islamic spirituality: A systematic scoping review. International Journal of Medical and Exercise Science, 08(04), 1384–1394. https://doi.org/10.36678/IJMAES.2022.V08I04.003

Zehra, S. S., & Schwaiger, E. (2021). Attachment to God in a collectivistic context and its impact on perceived stress. Christian Journal for Global Health, 8(2), 24–35. https://doi.org/10.15566/cjgh.v8i2.531




DOI: https://doi.org/10.18860/psikoislamika.v23i1.37320

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Indexing By:

  

 

 

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

pSIKOISLAMIKA by http://ejournal.uin-malang.ac.id/index.php/psiko is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.