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Abstract
Building on earlier psychological type profiles of clergy serving in Britain, the present study was designed to clarify the psychological type profile of Methodist circuit ministers, distinguishing between male and female ministers and between superintendent and non-superintendent ministers. Data provided by 619 male ministers demonstrate preferences for introversion (66%), sensing (56%), feeling (59%), and judging (76%). Data provided by 312 female ministers also demonstrated preferences for introversion (67%), sensing (51%), feeling (72%), and judging (78%). Among male ministers, superintendents were significantly more likely to prefer judging (81% compared with 74%) and less likely to include INFPs (4% compared with 9%). Among female ministers there were no significant differences distinguishing the smaller number of superintendents. The implications of these findings are discussed for the expression and experience of ministry within the Methodist Church of Great Britain.
Abstract
The Francis Burnout Inventory (FBI) conceptualised poor work-related psychological health in the terms of the classic model of balanced affect proposed by Bradburn. Operationalised specifically for application among clergy and religious professionals, in the FBI negative affect is assessed by the 11-item Scale of Emotional Exhaustion in Ministry (SEEM) and positive affect is assessed by the 11-item Satisfaction in Ministry Scale (SIMS). In the present study the FBI was completed by 803 Methodist ministers in Great Britain together with two independent measures hypothesised as reflecting the consequence of burnout, dissatisfaction with present appointment, and thoughts of leaving ministry. These data were employed to test the significance of the interaction between SEEM and SIMS in predicting these independent measures. In support of the theory of balanced affect, these data demonstrated that the mitigating impact of positive affect increased with increasing levels of negative affect.