Religious coping strategies and spiritual transcendence

People use both positive and negative religious coping strategies, and do so in the context of how they perceive their relationship with God, which means that both require individuals to acquire some degree of self transcendence. This study attempted to show that self transcendence is incorporated in both positive and negative coping strategies. The sample consisted of 190 practising Anglicans and Catholics. They completed RCOPE from which two variables measuring positive coping and negative coping were then constructed, the Self Transcendence Scale (ST) the item content of which is largely positive and the Spiritual Transcendence Scale (STS) of the Temperament and Character Inventory, which acknowledges negative as well as positive experiences. They also completed a scale, God Cares, measuring a person's perception of God as caring. In a series of hierarchical regression analyses, all three variables, the perception of God as caring, and both the positive and negative coping variables predicted ST and all of its subscales except one. The positive coping variable largely predicted STS, the perception of God as caring variable less so and the negative coping variable not at all. The findings were interpreted as suggesting that both perceiving God as caring and using positive coping strategies limit the problematic feelings associated with negative coping strategies, allowing the self transcendence implicit in them to appear.     

Religious coping,drinking motivation,and sex

The relations for religious coping with types of drinking motivation were examined in 178 college students. Participants completed the Ways of Religious Coping Scale and the Drinking Motives Questionnaire. As expected, correlations suggested that amount of alcohol used as well as social and enhancement motives for using were negatively related to religious coping scores. These relations were more clearly evident among women than among men. Coping motivation for alcohol use and religious coping were not significantly correlated.     

Religious experience,religious orientation and schizotypy

The present study examined the relationship between religious orientation and schizotypy, with the prediction that intrinsic religiosity would be negatively associated with schizotypy, and religious experience and extrinsic religiosity would be positively associated with schizotypy. A total of 308 UK adults (132 men; 176 women) completed measures of religious experience, intrinsic orientation towards religion, extrinsic orientation towards religion, schizotypal personality traits and borderline personality. Though the present findings also suggest that the significant relationships between religiosity and schizotypy traits are fragmented, particularly by sex, the findings are consistent with theory that an intrinsic orientation towards religion is associated with lower levels of schizotypy, and religious experience and an extrinsic orientation towards religion is associated with higher levels of schizotypy.     

Religious coping and the threat of heart transplantation

The concern of this article is to examine the relationship between religiousness and state-and-trait anxiety in a sample of cardiac transplantation candidates. Religiousness was made operational by integrating measures of religious orientation and religious coping with cluster analysis to form religious coping profiles. Three religious coping profiles were identified:Deferring/Collaborators, Self-Directors, andEclectic. Analyses of variance indicated that coping profiles were significantly different in their report of trait anxiety, such that the Eclectics reported a good deal more trait anxiety than did the Self-Directors. This leads to a discussion of the implications for the clinical presentation of religious coping profiles in cardiac transplantation candidates.     

Intrinsic-extrinsic religious orientation and individual coping style

The relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation and the use of specific coping strategies was investigated among 58 volunteers who ranged in age from 17 to 57 years and who reported experiencing either high or low stress. Dependent upon the amount of stress, age interacted with religious orientation to influence the use of two coping strategies, turning against an object and turning against self.     

Religious coping in highly religious psychiatric inpatients

This study among highly religious psychiatric patients in a mental hospital in the Netherlands focused on the following issues: their religious and spiritual beliefs and activities; their religious coping activities, measured using Pargament's three coping styles and a positive religious coping scale; the influence of religious coping on psychological and existential well-being; and the predictive value of general religiousness, as compared with religious coping activities, regarding psychological and existential well-being.

For this population of inpatients, religion had a positive influence on their ways of dealing with mental problems; religious coping was positively correlated with existential and psychological well-being. General religiousness as well as religious coping were positively correlated with existential well-being, whereas psychological well-being primarily was predicted by positive religious coping.

Results are discussed in the context of theoretical notions of religious coping, addressing in particular the positive influence of religious beliefs, relying on God, religious activities and religious social support in psychological and existential times of crisis.     

Religious orientation and mental health: a study with Turkish university students

The present study examined the relationship between religious orientation and mental health symptoms among Turkish students. A total of 341 undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 26 completed the Brief Symptom Inventory and Age Universal Intrinsic-Extrinsic Scale. Extrinsic orientation was found to be correlated positively with symptoms of anxiety and depression. There were also significant correlations between hostility scores and both intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations. Patterns were similar to those reported previously, but correlations were mostly in the .10-.14 range. In multiple-regression models, extrinsic orientation emerged as the only significant predictor for hostility, anxiety, and depression; however, only 2% of the variance was explained.     

Religious orientation and its association with personality,schizotypal traits and manic-depressive experiences

A total of 180 respondents completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Claridge's STQ, Thalbourne's Manic-Depression scales and the Batson and Ventis Religious Life Inventory (RLI). The RLI was used to yield scores for external, internal and quest dimensions of religiosity. Principal Component Analysis showed the quest dimension to be separate from external and internal religion, which loaded together on one factor. It was found that when the personality and schizotypal trait measures were entered together to predict scores on religiosity, psychoticism emerged as the only predictor of external and internal religiosity, where as schizotypal traits emerged as the only predictor of religious quest.     

Patterns of coping with cancer.

We identified five patterns of coping in a sample of 603 cancer patients: "seeking or using social support," "focusing on the positive," "distancing," "cognitive escape-avoidance," and "behavioral escape-avoidance." Relationships of these coping patterns to sociodemographic characteristics, medical factors, stress appraisals, psychotherapeutic experience, and emotional distress were tested using correlational and regression techniques. Type of cancer, time since diagnosis, and whether a person was currently in treatment had few or no relationships to coping. The specific cancer-related problem (e.g., pain, fear of future) was also not associated with how individuals coped. Perceptions of its stressfulness, however, were related to significantly more coping through social support and more of both forms of escape-avoidance. Coping through social support, focusing on the positive, and distancing was associated with less emotional distress, whereas using cognitive and behavioral escape-avoidance was associated with more emotional distress. Implications of the results for understanding coping processes and intervention with cancer patients are discussed.     

Religious orientation and attitudes toward money: relationships with narcissism and the influence of gender

Psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers, counselors, and other people involved in the mental-health fields are increasingly working with American Indians who practice various religious ceremonies and life ways foreign to Western-oriented epistemologies and ontologies. The American Indian Church and its sacramental use of peyote is one such example. This paper provides a brief history of the American Indian Church and its use of peyote, as well as the American Indian beliefs behind the use of peyote and the psychopharmacological data concerning peyote. It is shown that the sacramental use of peyote by the American Indian Church members is not a deviant hallucinogenic disorder and that in fact it provides a means of achieving and maintaining health, balance, respect, and a sense of community among participants and their social relations.     

Dimensions of achievement goal orientation and coping in South African wheelchair rugby players with quadriplegia

This study investigated the relationship between dispositional achievement goal orientation (task and ego) and coping ability in wheelchair rugby players with quadriplegia. The sample consisted of 16 (15 males and 1 female) players between the ages of 25 and 44 (M=33.7 years; SD=8.7) who were selected for South Africa's national training squad in preparation for the 2011 International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) Asia-Oceania Championship. Players self-reported on their perception of success and athletic coping skills. The data were analysed for correlational associations between dimensions of achievement goal orientation and psychological skills associated with coping in sport. Findings revealed that players have both high task and fairly high ego orientation of which task orientation was significantly correlated with coping ability.     

Religious coping,stigma, and psychological functioning among HIV-positive African American women

The present study examined the role of religious coping in psychological distress and adjustment both cross-sectionally and longitudinally among 141 HIV-positive African American women. Cross-sectional analyses showed that negative religious coping was associated with poorer mental health and functioning, and greater perceptions of stigma and discrimination. Longitudinal analyses revealed that greater negative religious coping at baseline significantly predicted greater changes in mental health in a negative direction 12 months later. Positive religious coping was not associated with any measures of psychological well-being, nor did it predict any mental health outcomes at 12 months. However, participants who experienced high levels of HIV-related stigma and reported high levels of positive religious coping were less depressed than those who reported lower levels of positive religious coping. These results suggest that for this population, negative religious coping was a more salient determinant of psychological distress than positive religious coping was of psychological health.     

Couples coping with cancer: Research issues and recent findings

The diagnosis of cancer in one partner can impose numerous changes for both the individual diagnosed with cancer and his or her healthy spouse. In this article, the literature on spouse social support in the context of cancer is reviewed. The importance of understanding support given and received within a close relationship using an interactional, contextual perspective is emphasized. Examining support-related interactions and understanding the personal characteristics that determine the type and amount of support that providers give and the kind of support individuals prefer, and investigating why significant others respond in supportive or critical ways is important. In addition, the study of support interactions must be placed in the both in the context of a marriage and in the context of a catastrophic life event such as cancer. A longitudinal study of patients with gastrointestinal cancer and their healthy partners was undertaken to examine these issues, and the design of this study is described. General problems conducting research with couples undergoing a severe life stressor as well as specific problems our research group has encountered while setting up a research program in the cancer setting are reviewed.     

The role of religious values in coping with cancer

The relationship between transcendent meaning attribution, religious orientation, and psychological well-being was studied in cancer and noncancer patients to test the hypotheses that intrinsic religious values and life meaning enhance coping and well-being during the course of the life-threatening illness. Subjects were 44 patients receiving medical treatment for cancer and noncancer medical conditions. In the cancer group, higher levels of attributed life meaning were positively linked with intrinsic religious orientation, and associated with lower levels of despiar, anger-hostility, and social isolation. Cancer patients scored higher than noncancer patients on depersonalization, suggesting the presence of psychic numbing in response to their illness. Noncancer group results were characterized by positive correlations between the two groups in coping styles and salience of life meaning attribution. A rationale for the observed differences in coping styles between the two groups is presented, highlighting perceived life threat as a key differentiating variable.     

The medical context of parental coping with childhood cancer

This research assessed the extent to which contextual factors, especially the medical context, are related to the use of specific coping strategies by 74 parents of surviving children with cancer. Parents reported that they coped reasonably well by using information-seeking, problem-solving, help-seeking, maintaining emotional balance, relying on religion, being optimistic, denying, and accepting. More highly educated parents tended to use problem solving, optimism, and information seeking significantly more and denial significantly less than well-educated parents. However, gender and income were unrelated to coping. The use of specific coping strategies was not related to severity of the child's medical condition, stress level, or parents' own evaluations of their coping effectiveness. However, the quality of relations with the medical staff was strongly related to coping strategies. Use of passive coping strategies was positively related to good relations with the medical staff.     

The role of religion in coping with childhood cancer

The role of religion in the crisis of childhood cancer was explored through interviews with 265 members of 118 families that had a child with cancer. Measures of family and patient religiosity were related to a broad spectrum of parental and patient perceptions and activities. Evidence was obtained that the religion related positively to familial support of the patient and efforts to keep school performance at pre-illness levels. There were signs of a narrowing of the family's social field while relationships with close friends were strengthened. Religion appeared to act as a protective-defensive system that motivated efforts by family members to cope constructively with the crisis of illness.This work is based on data from National Cancer Institute Project 212-46-1061, principal investigator, William J. Zwartjes, M.D.     

Collaborative coping and daily mood in couples dealing with prostate cancer

Collaborative coping (i.e., spouses pooling resources and problem solving jointly) may be associated with better daily mood because of heightened perceptions of efficacy in coping with stressful events. The study examined the daily processes of collaborative coping (individuals' perceptions that the spouse collaborated), perceived coping effectiveness (ratings of how well they dealt with the event), and mood (i.e., Positive and Negative Affect Scale) across 14 days in 57 older couples coping with stressors involving the husband's prostate cancer and daily life in general. In hierarchical multivariate linear models, collaborative coping was associated with more positive same-day mood for both husbands and wives and less negative mood for wives only. These associations were partially mediated by heightened perceptions of coping effectiveness. Exploratory analyses revealed that collaborative coping was more frequent among wives who performed more poorly on cognitive tests and couples who reported greater marital satisfaction and more frequently using collaboration to make decisions. The results suggest that older couples may benefit from collaborative coping in dealing with problems surrounding illness.