Grace is an interesting and potentially significant domain within positive psychology, but remains largely neglected. The present study examined the relationships among three known grace scales to evaluate the potential for creating a stronger single measure. It also explored their relationships to several other religious/spiritual measures to examine whether the three scales are measuring the same construct, to explore the implications for our understanding of grace, and to provide insights for further study. The three measures had moderately strong correlations with each other (r = .55 to .66), had similar relationships to other measures of religion/spirituality, and had distinct relationships to measures of psychological health and distress. This suggested that the three scales measure somewhat different constructs. Two grace scales showed significant negative skew, indicating ceiling problems. Differences in the underlying grace constructs, contamination by other concepts, or an underlying multidimensional structure for grace could account for these differences. Further study should better articulate the constructs underlying grace measures, address problems related to negative skew in responses, and clarify whether grace is multidimensional.

Introduction: Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) require multiple crewmembers to successfully operate the aircraft. RPAs shape modern warfare and pose challenges for the spiritual-emotional health of RPA personnel. This study explored whether (a) RPA crewmembers could be separated into groups based on their experiences, (b) the groups differed in psychological health outcomes, and (c) they differed in aspects of spiritual well-being. Method: Participants included 354 United States Air Force personnel involved in RPA duty. Participants provided demographic information and completed the Work Role Strain Scale as a predictor. Outcome measures included job satisfaction, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, Outcome Questionnaire-45.2, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5), and medical complaints and psychosocial services indices. The Spiritual Well-Being Scale and Unit Cohesion Scale were assessed as moderating factors. Results: Cluster analysis identified two groups of crewmembers. Psychologically healthy participants included 73.4% of crewmembers (n = 260); the remaining 26.6% (n = 94) were distressed. The distressed group included more imagery analysts, weapon-strike pilots, and females, and fewer sensor operators and males compared with the healthy group. Symptoms among the distressed group included more psychological difficulties and PTSD symptoms, more medical complaints, and greater use of psychosocial services. The distressed group reported greater work-role conflict, role ambiguity, work overload, relationship stress, emotional exhaustion, and cynicism as well as lower job satisfaction, unit cohesion, professional efficacy, and existential well-being. Discussion: The strongest predictors of distress were lack of meaning and feeling overextended at work. Emotional exhaustion and low existential well-being identified distressed crewmembers. Clinical Impact Statement About one quarter of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) crewmembers reported high distress. They could be identified by their emotional exhaustion and low existential well-being. Primary stressors were work-role conflict, ambiguity, overload, and relationship stress. Greater attention to psychological wellness among RPA personnel seems essential given these findings. Successful intervention may require attention to religious/spiritual struggles, loss of meaning and purpose, guilt and shame, interpersonal alienation, anxiety, and depression. Trauma-informed treatment should incorporate aspects of spirituality and personal/cultural values. Similar approaches are suggested for others, including first responders, who experience similar events that challenge psychological and spiritual wellness.

The population of Poland could be of particular interest to researchers studying religion and spirituality. Catholicism has played a significant role in shaping the country’s culture, history, and tradition and is considered a national religion. More recently, however, the processes of moving away from regular participation in religious services and loosening ties with the institution of the Catholic Church are marked (Polish Public Opinion Research Center, CBOS). The Polish Catholic setting may modify the associations between psychological variables that have been studied in their relationships with spirituality, which have been investigated in religious contexts differing from a Polish Catholic one. Given this context, we examined the internal structure of spiritual well-being in the sample of present-day Polish Catholics (Study 1) and how spiritual well-being is related to mental health (Study 2). The internal structure of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale was replicated in the Polish sample, but only positively worded items loaded on the Religious and Existential Well-Being subscales. Spiritual well-being was positively related to positive mood, satisfaction with life, and psychological well-being; it was negatively associated with negative mood, depression, and anxiety, thus remaining significantly related to psychological well-being among Polish Catholics.