1. Dreams of Ancestors: Perceived spiritual relevance Sharifa Kato, Biola University T.L. Brink, Crafton Hills College TLBrink@CraftonHills.edu

2. Dreams of Ancestors (Kato & Brink)

3. Dreams Hallucinations & Illusions

4. Dreams Hallucinations & Illusions Memory for & Meaning of dreams is accomplished retrospectively (Brink, 2003)

5. Question How are attitudes regarding dreams correlated with religiosity?

6. Question How are attitudes regarding dreams correlated with religiosity or denominational affiliation?

7. Religiosity Not about which religious tradition one adheres to …

8. Religiosity

9. About how religious one is.

10. Religiosity

12. METHOD

13. “Inland Empire” Between Los Angeles & Palm Springs

14. “Inland Empire” Between Los Angeles & Palm Springs San Bernardino & Riverside Counties

15. Population Riverside300k San Bernardino210k Redlands 70k Highland 53k Yucaipa 51k Beaumont 37k Banning 30k

16. Population Riverside300k minor San Bernardino210k minor Redlands 70k major Highland 53k major Yucaipa 51k major Beaumont 37k minor Banning 30k minor

17. Household Income Redlands$58k Riverside$42k Highland$41k Beaumont$40k Yucaipa$39k Banning$32k San Bernardino$20k

18. Adults with BA degrees California30% Redlands38% Riverside20% San Bernardino11%

19. Population Based on enrollment data from Fall 2011

20. Enrollment Between 5,500 and 6,500 over past five years

21. Enrollment Full-Time = 12+ units 37.3% Part-Time = under 12 units 62.7%

22. Gender Male49% Female51%

23. Age Under 20 33.5% 20 – 24 37.3% 25 – 29 12.3% 30 – 34 6.0% 35 – 39 3.5% 40 – 49 4.4% 50 or older 3.0% Unknown 1 0.0%

24. Age Median and Modal category of 20-24

25. Ethnicity Asian 5% African Am6.3% Hispanic 34.8% Native Am 0.6% Caucasian 52.5% Unknown 1.1%

26. Transfer to U.C. Riverside Cal State S.B. U of Redlands Loma Linda U Cal Baptist U

27. Career & Technical Fire Science Paramedic Respiratory Radiography Child Dev

28. Represented + Seventh-day Adventist + Latter Day Saint + Roman Catholic + Evangelical Christian

29. Under-Represented -Jehovah’s Witness -Jewish -Muslim -Buddhist

30. Under-Represented -Hindu -Jain -Sikh -Zoroastrian

31. Sample size N = 59

32. Sample gender Males = 35%

33. Sample age Under age 25 90%

34. Sample ethnicity Hispanic 47%

35. Sample denominations JW 2% SDA 5% Catholic 23% Other Christian 13%

36. Sample denominations Jewish 2% Muslim 2% Buddhist 5% Other religion 28% None 20%

37. Norenzayan & Hansen (2006) one item measures of religiosity are commonly employed

38. Religiosity (Gallup, 2013) How important would you say religion is in your own life?

39. Religiosity norms (Gallup, 2013) Very55% Fairly26% Not very19%

40. Religiosity

41. RESULTS

42. Religiosity of sample Very30% Fairly40% Not very30%

43. Sample vs. Gallup

44. Sample is less religious P <.01 Kolmogorov-Smirnov

45. Dream Recall How often, upon awakening in the morning, do you recall the previous night's dream?

46. Dream Recall MOST OF THE TIME 33% ABOUT HALF THE TIME 42% SELDOM 20% NEVER 5%

47. Deceased Relatives How often have you had a dream about a deceased family member?

48. Deceased Relatives NEVER 47% ONCE 22% SEVERAL TIMES 18% MANY TIMES 13%

49. Spiritual significance Do you agree that your dreams have a real spiritual significance?

50. Spiritual significance STRONGLY AGREE 18% MOSTLY AGREE 23% NOT SURE 43% MOSTLY DISAGREE 7% STRONGLY DISAGREE 3%

51. Coping Have your dreams helped you cope with real life problems you experience while awake?

52. Coping DEFINITELY 17% PROBABLY 25% POSSIBLY 30% NO WAY 28%

53. Correlations

54. Rho = +.29, p <.03 Those who recalled dreams more frequently were more likely to recall dreaming of deceased family members

55. Rho = +.32, p <.02 Those who recalled dreams more frequently were more likely to perceive their dreams as helpful in coping with real life

56. Rho = +.36, p <.01 Those who recalled dreams more frequently were more likely to perceive their dreams as spiritually relevant

57. Rho = +.54, p <.001 Those who considered dreams to be spiritually relevant were also more likely to report dreaming of deceased family members

58. Rho = +.45, p <.001 Those who considered dreams to be spiritually relevant were also more likely to view dreams as leading to effective coping

59. Rho = +.32, p <.02 Those with higher religiosity were more likely to contend that dreams had spiritual relevance

60. Rho = +.26, p <.05 Those from “other religious traditions” were more likely to contend that dreams had spiritual relevance

61. Rho = -.27, p <.04 Those reporting “no religious affiliation” were less likely to contend that dreams had spiritual relevance

62. P <.01 Women were more likely to report dreams of family members

63. P <.03 Women were more likely to regard dreams as having spiritual significance

64. DISCUSSION

65. Explanation If you dream about the dear departed, you come to regard your dreams as more important (spiritual) and capable of assisting daily coping, and therefore you become more likely to remember them.

66. Explanation These findings must be explained in the personal and social functions of religion.

67. Riesebrodt (2010) "a complex of practices that are based on the premise of the existence of superhuman powers …

68. Riesebrodt (2010) "a complex of practices that are based on the premise of the existence of superhuman powers, whether personal or impersonal, that are generally invisible"

69. Riesebrodt (2010) "all religions claim to have the ability to avert misfortune, overcome crises, and provide salvation." (p. 89)

70. Dillon & Wink (2009) Longitudinal study of religiosity over the life cycle

71. Brink (1993) The epidemic of depression is due to loss of reliance on religion.

72. Future Research Larger sample Instructions Sites Other variables

73. Future Research Religious studies must use qualitative (e.g., focus groups, ethnographies) in addition to, rather than instead of, quantitative methods (Brink, 1995)

74. Future Research The next cycle of research should utilize qualitative methods (e.g., participant observation, focus groups) to figure out the relationships between religious components and the cultural context in which they are accepted (Brink, 1999).

75. Link to Kato’s paper https://goo.gl/V56tej

76. Link to Kato’s data https://goo.gl/67PiIQ

77. Link to this presentation https://goo.gl/eNuVYO

78. Dreams of Ancestors: Perceived spiritual relevance Sharifa Kato, Biola University T.L. Brink, Crafton Hills College TLBrink@CraftonHills.edu