Anxiety and Depression in Cancer Patients: The Association with Religiosity and Religious Coping

There is a lack of studies looking into religiosity and religious coping in cancer patient. In this cross-sectional study, we examined the religiosity using Duke University Religion Index, religious coping using Brief Religious Coping Scale, anxiety and depression based on Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale among 200 cancer patients. The association between religiosity and religious coping with anxiety and depression was studied. The findings showed that subjects with anxiety or depression used more negative religious coping and had lower non-organization religiosity. Hence, measurements in reducing negative religious coping and encouraging religious activities could help to reduce psychological distress in cancer patients.     

Influence of religiosity on self-reported response to psychological therapies

There is a lack of research exploring the influence of religious or spiritual beliefs on response to psychological therapies. Our aims were to confirm the positive relationship between religiosity and psychological wellbeing, and investigate the potential synergistic impact of religiosity on self-reported response to psychological therapies. Participants were 118 adults (33 male, 85 female) aged 18 to 78 (M?=?40.01, SD?=?15.41); data was collected via online survey. Religious and psychological variables were assessed using a range of standard measures including the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, and the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale. Atheists reported less psychological distress and increased personal wellbeing; participants with higher levels of religiosity experienced greater ongoing benefits from therapy in domains of coping and social functioning. Results suggest that mental health practitioners should consider the religious/spiritual beliefs and behaviours of their clients in their interventions.     

Religiosity and Cancer Screening

Churches have been suggested as avenues to reach African-American populations with messages about health because of their strong participation in church activities. Membership in several religious denominations has been associated with healthy lifestyle practices that are associated with lower cancer-incidence rates and better coping strategies among cancer patients. Among African-American women, however, belief in God as their doctor might preempt seeking treatment for cancer. The goal of the present study was to examine the influence of church participation and religious beliefs on the utilization of breast and cervical cancer screening among low-income, predominantly African-American women. A cohort consisting of 290 women was surveyed at baseline and one year later to determine the association between screening rates in the past year and measures of religiosity. The majority of women were members of a church (88%), with fairly regular church attendance (51% reported weekly attendance), and strong beliefs regarding God's influence on their health (e.g. 88% agreed that God was their doctor). Church attendance was the only religious variable related to screening frequency in univariate analyses, with those reporting attending church 1–3 times per month more likely to receive mammography screening (p = .013). Churches can provide avenues to reach African-American women about cancer screening; strong religious beliefs do not, however, appear to keep women from receiving regular screening exams.     

Multiple Variations: Perspectives on the Religious Psychology of Buddhist and Christian Converts in the People’s Republic of China

Based on questionnaires and in-depth interviews, this article describes and systematically analyzes the psychology of the religiosity of contemporary Chinese Buddhist and Christian converts. People convert to a religious faith for a variety of reasons that range from seeking a means of escape to a practical way of coping with life. Religious belief contains subtle and complex factors, such as the interactions between believers and their beliefs, a sense of community among religious believers, conversion of mind and personality, and influence of the religious beliefs on religious believers’ mental health and behavior. This paper seeks to provide an overview of research conducted in the People’s Republic of China about the various motivations and paths to conversion.     

Bereavement and Religion Online: Stillbirth,Neonatal Loss,and Parental Religiosity

Stillbirth and neonatal death often trigger immense and long‐lasting grief in parents. These life‐altering losses both call upon and call into question parents’ religious beliefs and practices. This qualitative research examines the impact of stillbirth and neonatal death on parental religiosity, broadly conceived to include personal spirituality and any religious affiliation, including atheism. It examines religion online, a nontraditional but important social context for grief, especially regarding statistically rare tragedies such as stillbirth and neonatal death. Content analysis of postings on a hub website for “babyloss” parents yields four major themes: religious disorientation, religious reorientation, changed relationships with others, and a quest for meaning.     

The Coping Mechanisms and Strategies of Hypertension Patients in Ghana: The Role of Religious Faith,Beliefs and Practices

This qualitative study explored the role of religious faith, belief and practice systems in the coping mechanisms and strategies of essential hypertension patients in Accra, Ghana. Six participants were recruited for participation, of which five were Christians and one was a Muslim. Interviews were conducted and interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyze the data. Results showed that participants used their religious faith, beliefs and practices as coping resources. Participants used a deferring-collaborative style of religious coping, which seemed to have provided them with an avoidance strategy that protected the participants from conscious confrontation with their illness. Religious faith and beliefs also afforded the participants a sense of coherence that enabled the participants to manage their stress, reflect on their external and internal resources to promote effective coping and adaptive functioning in a health promoting manner. Implications of a deferring-collaborative style of religious coping and religious re-appraisal are discussed.     

Who is more ethical? Cross‐cultural comparison of consumer ethics between religious and non‐religious consumers

Religion is a significant part of daily life that affects consumers' decisions and behaviors. Religious consumers are predicted to be more ethical than non‐religious consumers. Nonetheless, past research suggests mixed results. Hence, the present study has two main objectives: (1) to examine differences in moral ideologies and ethical beliefs among religious and non‐religious consumers in Indonesia and Australia and (2) to investigate the impact of moral ideologies and religiosity on consumer ethical beliefs. This is one of the first cross‐cultural studies to compare consumer moral ideology (specifically, idealism and relativism) and consumer ethical beliefs between religious and non‐religious consumers. The results show that religious consumers tend more toward idealism than relativism and have stronger ethical beliefs regarding negative consumer ethical behaviors compared with non‐religious consumers. However, for ethical beliefs regarding specific consumer behaviors, namely, recycling and software piracy/buying counterfeit, the effect of religion was overshadowed by cultural differences between the two countries. This study contributes to the debate on the impact of moral ideologies and religiosity on consumer ethical beliefs. The findings may assist managers and public policymakers in their efforts to mitigate unethical consumer activities. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Religious Doubt and Spiritual Growth Among Adults Bereaved of a Grandparent

Religious beliefs and bereavement provide contexts for personal growth (Benore & Park, 2004). The death of a grandparent may be especially well-suited to prompt such growth. Using data from 164 adults, ages 18 to 51 years, bereaved of a grandparent, the authors examined whether religious doubt relates to current grief via perceived spiritual growth. Mediation analyses showed that fewer religious doubts were associated with spiritual growth in bereavement, but spiritual growth was associated with higher levels of current grief. Results are discussed within a framework for including family processes in bereavement research that includes religious doubt and spiritual growth.     

Profiling Religious Maturity: The Relationship of Religious Attitude Components to Religious Orientations

This study examined the relationships between religious orientation and components of religious attitudes. Religious orientation was measured using Batson, Schoenrade, and Ventis' (1993) Religious Life Inventory. Affective, cognitive, and conative components of attitudes toward religious beliefs and practices were measured using an instrument constructed for the study. Participants were undergraduate students from four educational institutions in the United States. Systematic relationships were found among the dimensions of religious orientation and the components of religious attitudes. Means and Quest orientations had very similar profiles, characterized by high Cognition scores and relatively low Affect and Conation scores. By contrast, modestly low Cognition scores and significantly high Affect and Conation scores characterized the profile of the Ends orientation. Results are discussed in terms of the concept of mature religiosity.     

Religious upbringing and current religiosity in Spanish nursing and medicine students

The influence of religious education in the family upon current spiritual and religious tendencies was assessed in a sample of 599 Spanish nurse and medicine students using a religiosity scale and answers to a series of belief/disbelief statements. Results showed that nursing and medicine students were equally low-religious, with no differences in religiosity total scores between participants coming from religious families; however, medical students coming from nonreligious families showed higher religiousness than the corresponding nursing trainees. This distinction appeared both across religiosity items and in a variety of responses to belief/disbelief of Christian/secular assertions. Regression analysis showed that religious family background was a consistent predictor of religious beliefs at young adulthood, and its influence was higher for medical students. In addition to establish religious upbringing as an important factor modulating enduring religiosity, these findings provide distinctions between nurse and medical trainees, and reproduce, in a Spanish mainly catholic sample, the structure of religiosity factors previously found on North American mainline protestants.     

The Impact of a Breast Cancer Diagnosis on Religious/Spiritual Beliefs and Practices in the UK

The use of religious/spiritual resources may increase when dealing with the stress of a cancer diagnosis. However, there has been very little research conducted into changes in religious/spiritual beliefs and practices as a result of a cancer diagnosis outside the USA. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of a breast cancer diagnosis on patients’ religious/spiritual beliefs and practices in the UK where religious practice is different. The study used two methods. One compared the religious/spiritual beliefs and practices of 202 patients newly diagnosed with breast cancer with those of a control group of healthy women (n = 110). The other examined patients’ perceived change in religious/spiritual beliefs and practices at the time of surgery with those in the year prior to surgery. The aspects of religiousness/spirituality assessed were: levels of religiosity/spirituality, strength of faith, belief in God as well as private and public practices. Patient’s perceived their belief in God, strength of faith and private religious/spiritual practices to have significantly increased shortly after surgery compared with the year prior to surgery. However, there were no significant differences in religious/spiritual beliefs and practices between patients and healthy participants. Change scores demonstrated both a reduction and an increase in religious/spiritual beliefs and practices. Although belief in God, strength of faith and private religious/spiritual practices were perceived by patients to be significantly higher after their cancer diagnosis, no significant differences in religious/spiritual beliefs and practices were found between the cancer group at the time of surgery and the control group. Different methodologies appear to produce different results and may explain contradictions in past US studies. Limitations of this study are discussed and suggestions for future research are made.     

Relationship between religious characteristics and responses to vigilantism

Religious characteristics are often related to attitudes about legal issues (e.g., death penalty). This study investigated whether U.S. university students’ religious beliefs (i.e., fundamentalism, devotionalism, evangelism) and religious motivations (i.e., intrinsic, extrinsic religiosity) were associated with responses to vigilantism (i.e., whether the vigilante is justified, should be legally responsible, should receive a lighter sentence). Participants read three scenarios describing vigilantism in response to different crimes (murder, drug dealing, child molestation). More punitive responses to vigilantism were associated with being low in fundamentalism, extrinsic religiosity, and evangelism, and with being high in devotionalism and intrinsic religiosity. Motivations were more frequent predictors of responses to vigilantism than beliefs. Results are the first step in explaining relationships between religious characteristics and responses to vigilantism.     

Religion and emotional compensation: results from a prospective study of widowhood

Based on recent applications of attachment theory to religion, the authors predicted that the loss of a spouse would cause widowed individuals to increase the importance of their religious/spiritual beliefs. This hypothesis was examined using the Changing Lives of Older Couples sample from which preloss measures of religiosity were available for widowed individuals and matched controls. A total of 103 widowed individuals provided follow-up data, including reports of religious beliefs and grief, at 6 months, 24 months, and 48 months after the loss. Results indicated that widowed individuals were more likely than controls to increase their religious/spiritual beliefs. This increase was associated with decreased grief but did not influence other indicators of adjustment such as depression. Finally, insecure individuals were most likely to benefit from increasing the importance of their beliefs. Results are discussed in terms of the potential value of applying psychological theory to the study of religion.     

An Examination of Religious Priming and Intrinsic Religious Motivation in the Moral Hypocrisy Paradigm

Reliable individual differences have not yet been identified in moral hypocrisy. This research examined whether intrinsic religious motivation combined with an experimental religious priming manipulation would predict decreased moral hypocrisy. A sample of Christian college students ( N =142) completed the Religious Orientation Scale—Revised, and the moral motivation paradigm, which tests whether participants will act in accordance with their moral beliefs at a cost to themselves. Half the participants received religious priming prior to the procedure. Intrinsic religiosity predicted decreased moral hypocrisy, but only when religiosity was primed. Findings support Allport's view of intrinsic religiosity, but with an emphasis on cognitive processes in addition to motivational ones.     

Why Do Women Endorse Honor Beliefs? Ambivalent Sexism and Religiosity as Predictors

Cultures of honor, such as Turkey, prioritize defending individual and family reputations, but in gender-specific ways (Nisbett and Cohen 1996). Men maintain honor via reputations for toughness, aggression, control over women, and avenging insults. Women maintain honor through obedience to men, sexual modesty, and religious piety. Honor beliefs support women’s subordination, justifying violence against them (Sev’er and Yurdakul, Violence against Women, 7, 964–998, 2001) and therefore should be challenged. Understanding honor beliefs’ ideological correlates may inform such efforts. We hypothesized that benevolent sexism, a subjectively favorable system-justifying ideology, would more strongly, positively predict Turkish women’s (versus men’s) honor beliefs; whereas hostile sexism, which is openly antagonistic toward women, would more strongly, positively predict Turkish men’s (versus women’s) honor beliefs. Additionally, due to justifications for gender inequality embedded in Islamic religious teachings, we expected Islamic religiosity to positively predict honor beliefs for both genders. A convenience sample of Turkish undergraduates (313 women and 122 men) in Ankara completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, Religious Orientation Scale, and Honor Endorsement Index. Regression analyses revealed that benevolent (but not hostile) sexism positively predicted women’s honor beliefs, whereas hostile (but not benevolent) sexism positively predicted men’s honor beliefs. Islamic religiosity positively predicted honor beliefs for both genders, but (unexpectedly) did so more strongly for men than women. We suggest that combating benevolent sexism and promoting feminist interpretations of Islamic religiosity may help to empower Turkish women to challenge honor beliefs.     

Religiosity and attitudes towards professional mental health services: analysing religious coping as a mediator among Mexican origin Latinas/os in the southwest United States

In this study, we examined the relationship between religiosity and attitudes towards professional mental health services. We further examined whether internal religious coping and external religious coping mediated both relationships. Results indicated a significant association with religiosity and negative attitudes towards mental health services, as well as external religious coping and internal religious coping. Results also showed a nonsignificant association with both religious coping and negative attitudes towards mental health services. Finally, external religious coping mediated the relationship between religiosity and negative attitudes towards mental health services for men but not for women.     

The Adolescent Religious Coping Scale: Development,Validation, and Cross-Validation

Research literature on adolescent coping is growing, but typically such studies have ignored religious coping strategies and their potential impact on functioning. To address this lack, we developed the Adolescent Religious Coping Scale and used its seven subscales to examine the relationship between religious coping and emotional functioning. A cross-sectional research design was used with both a validation sample of Christian school students (Sample 1, N = 500, ages 12–19) and a cross-validation sample of Christian youth group attenders (Sample 2, N = 62, ages 11–18). Emotional functioning was assessed positively (life satisfaction) and negatively (hopelessness). Factor analyses supported factorial validity, and alpha levels supported reliability of the seven religious coping subscales (Positive God-Focused Coping, Seeking Religious Support, Constructive Distraction, Questioning, Avoidance, Denial, and Deferring). For both samples, religious coping was significantly related (unique variance) to religious support, parental support, and emotional functioning, respectively. In general, positive religious coping strategies were related to more support and better functioning, whereas the reverse was true for negative religious coping strategies. Moreover, many of these results were maintained even after controlling for variance due to age, gender, and religious attendance. As such, clinicians working with religious adolescents should consider encouraging these teens to optimize use of positive religious coping strategies and minimize reliance on negative ones as part of a holistic approach to handling stress. Religious coping findings are discussed regarding their comparison to general adolescent coping and with respect to future research directions.     

Unexpected death,religious coping and conjugal bereavement outcomes in Africa (Togo)

This pioneering study in sub-Saharan African context examined the role played by religious strategies (religious coping, religious community support (RCS)) in the conjugal bereavement process and its outcomes depending on the expected or unexpected death. Based on cross-sectional approach, the study targeted Togolese bereaved spouses (N?=?162). The mean period of mourning was 112.52 months (SD?=?94.72). The results of a hierarchical regression revealed that RCS was positively associated with grief symptoms when the death was expected and, unsurprisingly, the negative religious coping predicted grief symptoms when the death was sudden and unexpected. Religious strategies would play a threefold role: providing refuge and comfort, regulating the bereavement distress and serving resources to give meaning to the loss of the beloved. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Spirituality and Religiosity: Factors Affecting Wellness Among Low‐Income,Rural Women

A study including measures of spirituality, religiosity, and wellness was conducted to identify coping strategies for the multiple challenges to wellness faced by low‐income, rural women. Total spirituality and religiosity accounted for 39% of the variance in wellness, with purpose and meaning in life, unifying interconnectedness, and private religious practices composing the main contributions. Implications for counselors working with these women are discussed, as is the need for further research.