Perceptions of religious solutions to personal problems of women

Investigated perceptions of effectiveness of religious solutions for personal problems for women. Ss (N = 160) read a biographical sketch of a hypothetical middle-class female who had a personal problem and who adopted a solution to the problem. Two independent variables were manipulated; they were type of problem and type of solution. Results indicate that religion is viewed as being just as effective as an informational solution for women. However, there was a difference between the acceptability of different types of religious solution with the intensely emotional religious experience being valued less than church or prayer. Results were compared and contrasted with those from an earlier study in which the biographee was a male.