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Spiritual Occurrences and Spiritual Struggles Scale (SOSS)3

Spiritual Occurrences and Spiritual Struggles Scale (SOSS) Test

Understand your spiritual connection to self, others, nature, and something beyond in about 4 minutes. Quick and simple, it offers clear insights for therapy tracking, growth, or research.

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Questions: 184 minutes

08:30

October 2, 2025

October 2, 2025
Material has been updated

October 2, 2025
Material has been published

29,241 view

2,748 completions

2,285 likes

Verified by Daniel Hall

Psychologist with 25 years of experience

Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

example score

11/20

Selfhood (S)

Measures the degree of felt inner integrity, coherence of the sense of “I,” and inner harmony as a spiritual experience.

Lower self-integration

Moderate self-integration

Higher self-integration

4 – 9: Lower self-integration | 10 – 14: Moderate self-integration | 15 – 20: Higher self-integration

A score of 11 falls in the Moderate self-integration range, suggesting a moderate sense of inner coherence and harmony in self-related spiritual experience.

example score

8/15

Humanity (H)

Measures the intensity of spiritual experiences tied to feeling united with all humanity and a shared global identity.

Low

Moderate

High

3 – 6: Low | 7 – 11: Moderate | 12 – 15: High

A score of 8 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting a moderate sense of spiritual connection and unity with humanity.

example score

13/20

Transcendence (T)

Measures the tendency to have spiritual experiences that go beyond ordinary perception and align with belief in supernatural phenomena.

Low

Moderate

High

4 – 9: Low | 10 – 15: Moderate | 16 – 20: High

A score of 13 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting a noticeable but not strongly dominant tendency toward transcendent or supernatural-oriented experiences.

example score

11/20

God (G)

Measures the intensity of spiritual experiences and emotional connection associated with God or a higher being.

Low

Moderate

High

4 – 9: Low | 10 – 14: Moderate | 15 – 20: High

A score of 11 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting a noticeable but not strongly frequent or intense sense of connection to God or a higher being.

example score

13/15

Nature (N)

Measures the intensity of spiritual experiences and felt connectedness related to the natural world.

Low

Moderate

High

3 – 7: Low | 8 – 11: Moderate | 12 – 15: High

A score of 13 falls in the High range, indicating a strong sense of spiritual connection and meaningfulness associated with nature.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Meaning and purpose seekers

41%OF USERS

People exploring what gives their life depth and direction use it to understand how connected they feel to something larger than themselves.

Therapy and growth clients

34%OF USERS

People in counseling, coaching, or recovery take it to track how their sense of spirituality shifts during healing and personal change.

Psychology students and researchers

25%OF USERS

Learners and professionals use it to measure different sources of spiritual experience for studies, assessments, or program evaluation.

BASED ON AGGREGATED, ANONYMIZED DATA FROM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FREUDLY USERS.

Benchmarking

See How You Compare

Once you complete the test, your results are compared with real-world data from people in your country.
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.

Selfhood (S)

Average

11.8

Normal range

9.8 — 13.9

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Humanity (H)

Average

Normal range

9.8 — 14.1

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Transcendence (T)

Average

15.1

Normal range

13 — 17.2

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

God (G)

Average

14.1

Normal range

11.8 — 16.5

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Nature (N)

Average

6.7

Normal range

5.2 — 8.3

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Neither agree nor disagree
- Agree
- Strongly agree
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Neither agree nor disagree
- Agree
- Strongly agree
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Neither agree nor disagree
- Agree
- Strongly agree

These are 3 of the 18 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

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WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

About This Assessment

Spiritual Experiences Questionnaire, SOSS Test

Spiritual Occurrences and Spiritual Struggles Scale (SOSS) Test - Symptoms and Signs

spirituality

religiosity

Spiritual experiences can be clinically relevant and are not always captured in standard symptom measures. The Spiritual Occurrences and Spiritual Struggles Scale (SOSS) is a brief self-report measure designed to assess perceived spiritual experiences and related difficulties across several domains of spiritual connection.

The instrument contains 18 items and typically takes about 4 minutes to complete. Items ask respondents to rate the intensity or frequency of experiences that may involve connection to transcendent or personally meaningful sources (e.g., the divine, nature, humanity, or the self), emphasizing subjective experience rather than doctrinal belief. The Spiritual Occurrences and Spiritual Struggles Scale (SOSS), by Ralph W. Hood Jr., may be used in clinical or research contexts to characterize spiritual experience as part of a broader psychosocial assessment and to support monitoring of change over time when clinically indicated.

Author: Kenneth I. Pargament, Ralph W. Hood Jr.

Literature: Hood, R. W., Jr. Mysticism scale: Theory, measurement, and reporting. In R. A. Spilka & D. N. McIntosh (Eds.), The psychology of religion: Theoretical approaches. Westview Press. 1997.