The internal structure of a derived, revised, and amended measure of the Religious Orientation Scale: The 'Age-Universal' I-E Scale-12

The accurate measurement of an intrinsic and extrinsic orientation toward religiosity has been an ongoing rigorous psychometric investigation within the psychology of religion for over 30 years. With this debate, a number of suggestions have been made to improve the measurement of intrinsic/extrinsic religiosity. The aim in the present study was to com-bine some of the suggestions made, and examine whether or not a combination of these amendments still provides a psychometrically reliable measure of intrinsic and extrinsic dimensions to religiosity. Respondents were 3,090 adults and schoolchildren (1,408 males, 1,984 females) from the USA (N = 513), England (N = 1421), Northern Ireland (N = 839), and the Republic of Ireland (N = 468). All respondents completed a 15-item revised and amended version of the ‘Age-Universal’ I-E scale. Principal components analysis with oblimin rotation of the items suggested a 6-item intrinsic scale and 3-item measures of extrinsic-personal and extrinsic-social religiosity dimensions. The present findings suggest a 12-item measure of intrinsic and extrinsic dimensions to religiosity (‘Age-Universal’ I-E Scale -12) which can be used among a number of Western samples, among adults and school children, and among religious and non-religious individuals.