Spiritual Transcendence Scale (STS)

The Spiritual Transcendence Scale (STS), developed by Piedmont in 1999, is a 24-item self-report measure of spiritual transcendence: the human capacity to experience connection to something beyond oneself—whether understood as God, nature, humanity, or the sacred. The STS conceptualizes spiritual transcendence as a personality trait distinct from religious adherence or institutional participation, measured through three facets: Prayer Fulfillment (satisfaction from spiritual practices), Universality (sense of interconnection with all people and life), and Connectedness (sense of deep connection to the divine or sacred). The scale has become influential in understanding spirituality as a psychological dimension orthogonal to the Big Five personality traits.