Psychosocial mediation of religious coping styles: a study of short-term psychological distress following cardiac surgery

Although religiousness and religious coping styles are well-documented predictors of well-being, research on the mechanisms through which religious coping styles operate is sparse. This prospective study examined religious coping styles, hope, and social support as pathways of the influence of general religiousness (religious importance and involvement) on the reduced postoperative psychological distress of 309 cardiac patients. Results of structural equation modeling indicated that controlling for preoperative distress, gender, and education, religiousness contributed to positive religious coping, which in turn was associated with less distress via a path fully mediated by the secular factors of social support and hope. Furthermore, negative religious coping styles, although correlated at the bivariate level with preoperative distress but not with religiousness, were associated both directly and indirectly with greater post-operative distress via the same mediators.     

Dimensions of Religiousness and Cancer Screening Behaviors Among Church-Going Latinas

Churches are a promising setting through which to reach Latinas with cancer control efforts. A better understanding of the dimensions of religiousness that impact health behaviors could inform efforts to tailor cancer control programs for this setting. The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between dimensions of religiousness with adherence to cancer screening recommendations among church-going Latinas. Female Spanish-speaking members, aged 18 and older from a Baptist church in Boston, Massachusetts (N = 78), were interviewed about cancer screening behaviors and dimensions of religiousness. We examined adherence to individual cancer screening tests (mammography, Pap test, and colonoscopy), as well as adherence to all screening tests for which participants were age-eligible. Dimensions of religiousness assessed included church participation, religious support, active and passive spiritual health locus of control, and positive and negative religious coping. Results showed that roughly half (46 %) of the sample had not received all of the cancer screening tests for which they were age-eligible. In multivariate analyses, positive religious coping was significantly associated with adherence to all age-appropriate screening (OR = 5.30, p < .01). Additional research is warranted to replicate these results in larger, more representative samples and to examine the extent to which enhancement of religious coping could increase the impact of cancer control interventions for Latinas.     

Similarity in Religiousness of the Solicitor,the Potential Helper,and the Recipient as Determinants of Donating Behavior1

In a 2 × 2 × 2 field experiment, 107 religious and secular subjects were requested by a religious/secular solicitor to donate money for a religious/secular needy family. Religious subjects donated significantly more than secular ones. The pattern of the cell means suggested that whereas the behavior of the religious subjects was guided by the need for positive self-presentation, the secular subjects were influenced by their similarity in religiousness to the solicitor and the recipient.     

Relationship Between Religiosity and Conduct Problems Among African American and Caucasian Adolescents

This study investigated the relationship between religiosity and conduct problems in a racially diverse sample of high school aged adolescents (ages 13–19) who attended public schools in a large metropolitan area. The results of the study found racial and gender differences in religiosity: African American adolescents were more likely to attend church, describe themselves as very religious and use Collaborative and Deferring religious coping styles; they were less likely to use Self-Directing religious coping styles when compared to Caucasian adolescents. Females were more likely to be involved in church activities, use a Collaborative religious coping style and tended to be less likely to use a Self-Directing religious coping style when compared to males. The results of multiple regression analyses, after controlling for race, gender, and self-reported religiousness found that Self-Directing and Deferring religious coping styles were risk factors for conduct problems; there was no relationship between Collaborative religious coping and conduct problems. The findings from the study provide additional support for the importance of considering religiosity, race and gender when examining mental health outcomes in adolescents and have implications for the development of mental health interventions for adolescents.     

Shifting foundations: religious belief change and adjustment in college students

In a sample of 154 college students, prevalence of religious belief change and its relationship to religiosity and coping variables were examined twice over the course of one month. Students who reported belief change (62%) scored higher than those who did not on measures of religiosity and fared worse on adjustment measures. Significant differences in coping strategies were noted, with the change group using more religious coping and alcohol and drugs to cope. Within the change group, a higher degree of change was related to higher levels of religiousness and religious coping, and poorer adjustment at baseline and follow-up.     

Validation de la version française d’une échelle abrégée de coping religieux : Brief-RCOPE

The involvement of religious beliefs and practices in the way of coping with stressful events is coined by the term of religious coping. It is commonly distinguished the positive from the negative patterns of religious coping (i.e., a secure and a less secure relationship with God respectively) as assessed by the Brief RCOPE. The interest for the religious coping patterns lies in their predictive value for the quality of the adjustment to stress. After controlling for the effects of sociodemographic variables, and nonreligious coping measures, the positive pattern is a significant predictor of well-being while the negative pattern promotes a poorer physical and mental health. This study was designed to validate the French version of the Brief RCOPE.

Assessing gender differences in the relationship between religious coping responses and alcohol consumption

The purpose of this study is to see if the use of religious coping responses is associated with alcohol intake. In addition, tests are conducted to see if the relationship between religion and alcohol use varies by gender. Data from a recent nationwide survey (N?=?2173) indicate that greater use of religious coping responses is associated with less alcohol consumption. The findings further reveal that even though women use religious coping responses more often than men, the relationship between the use of religious coping responses and alcohol consumption is stronger for men than for women. This suggests that, with respect to alcohol consumption, men may benefit more from using religious coping responses than women. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed.     

Illness coping behaviour of outpatients with depression or diabetes mellitus in two tertiary hospitals in Enugu state,southeast Nigeria

The study aims to compare the coping styles of patients with diabetes with those with depression. A total of 224 patients, 112 with depression and an equal number with diabetes were recruited. Sociodemographic variables were determined with the sociodemographic questionnaire, and coping styles with the Mental Adjustment to Cancer (MAC) adapted and Brief Religious Coping (Brief RCOPE) Scales. Fighting Spirit and MAC Summary Positive Adjustment were used more by participants with depression. Both groups of participants used the Brief RCOPE positive method to the same extent. Brief RCOPE negative was used more by participants with depression. Positive coping skills were used more by participants with depression than those with diabetes. This underscores the need for clinicians to explore the coping resources available to their patients, both religious and non-religious, and projecting them to their patients for enhancement and application as an adjunct for the purpose of a better clinical outcome.     

Attachment and affective resolution following a stressful event: General and religious coping as possible mediators

The current study replicated and extended previous research on mediators of attachment qualities and outcome (affective resolution), including appraisal, coping, and religious coping. Structural equation models were used to analyze the responses on an Internet survey for a primarily Christian sample of 1,289 adults (416 men and 873 women). As expected, appraisal was a significant mediator of ambivalent attachment qualities and coping, as well as ambivalent attachment qualities and religious coping. Avoidance coping significantly mediated ambivalent attachment qualities and affective resolution; it also mediated avoidant attachment qualities and affective resolution. Fit indices for models were adequate only when differences between interpersonal and non-interpersonal events were taken into account. Substantial similarities were found in the relationships among variables for the two models examined, one including coping in general and the other including religious coping. Religious coping provided additional explanatory value to more secular models of coping in a highly religious sample. The implications for assimilating religious coping into mainstream coping research are discussed.     

Religious Involvement and Readiness to Confirm Reported Physical Disability

This investigation examines the influence of religious involvement on likelihood of verifying previously reported disability, net of current activity difficulty and self-rated health. It compares African American and white community-dwelling adults confirming (N = 348) and not confirming (N = 164) activity limitations. Logistic regressions show service attendance negatively associated with disability perception only among African Americans. For whites, use of beliefs in coping mitigates against confirmation of disability. Observed associations are conditioned by socioeconomic status and gender. These results underscore the importance of social context, as well as multidimensional religiosity, in understanding the health and disability implications of religiousness.     

Terror management and religion: evidence that intrinsic religiousness mitigates worldview defense following mortality salience

Terror management theory suggests that people cope with awareness of death by investing in some kind of literal or symbolic immortality. Given the centrality of death transcendence beliefs in most religions, the authors hypothesized that religious beliefs play a protective role in managing terror of death. The authors report three studies suggesting that affirming intrinsic religiousness reduces both death-thought accessibility following mortality salience and the use of terror management defenses with regard to a secular belief system. Study 1 showed that after a naturally occurring reminder of mortality, people who scored high on intrinsic religiousness did not react with worldview defense, whereas people low on intrinsic religiousness did. Study 2 specified that intrinsic religious belief mitigated worldview defense only if participants had the opportunity to affirm their religious beliefs. Study 3 illustrated that affirmation of religious belief decreased death-thought accessibility following mortality salience only for those participants who scored high on the intrinsic religiousness scale. Taken as a whole, these results suggest that only those people who are intrinsically vested in their religion derive terror management benefits from religious beliefs.     

Religiousness,religious coping methods,and cognitive test anxiety among African-American college students

This study explored the roles of religiousness and religious coping methods in predicting cognitive test anxiety. A convenience sample of 121 African-American students (97 females and 24 males) ranging in age from 18 to 39 (M_age?=?20.16), attending a historically Black university completed an online questionnaire assessing demographic information, religiousness, religious coping methods, and cognitive test anxiety. Results showed that negative religious coping methods were significant factors in predicting cognitive test anxiety. These relationships may be pertinent for understanding salient factors that influence cognitive test anxiety in African-American college students.     

Gendered Religiosity

This study uses measures of cognitive and expressive aspects of gender as a social identity from the General Social Survey to examine whether and how they relate to religiosity. I find that religiosity is clearly gendered, but in different ways for women and men. Consistent with the feminine-typing of religion in the Christian-majority context of the United States, gender expression is linked with more religiousness among women but not men. Consistent with religion being a sometimes patriarchal institution, those with more pride in being men are more religious. I conclude that religiosity is gendered, that degendering and secularization processes could go hand-in-hand, and that future research on gender differences in religiosity should further examine variation among women and among men.     

Religious Belief and Mental Health in Lay and Consecrated Italian Teachers

There is compelling evidence that teachers and clergy are stressful occupations. This study aimed to compare the rate of job strain and burnout among lay and consecrated teachers and to study the effect of religious coping on the mental health of these two groups. A cross-sectional survey study was carried out in Catholic kindergarten, preschool and primary schools of an Italian Congregation of nuns, in South Italy. The Italian versions of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educator Survey (MBI-ES) scale, of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and a study-specific questionnaire with sociodemographic variables and indicators of subjective (self-reported religiosity) and objective (prayer personal and church attendance) religiousness were used. Data were analyzed according to the guidelines for data processing and an analysis of the scales used. The participation rate of this study was 88 %. There was a significant difference between two groups in religiousness and job strain/burnout scores (lay teachers were the most affected group). Moreover, religiousness scores had a positive correlation with personal accomplishment, job satisfaction and perceived performance and a negative correlation with emotional exhaustion, turnover intention and morbidity psychiatric. Therefore, according to religious coping’s research, prayer personal and church attendance can be recommended as two of the ways to prevent job strain and burnout in the teacher work.     

Patterns of Religious Coping among Bereaved College Students

Contemporary research has suggested that bereavement is a paramount issue in college populations, a group which has historically been underrepresented in grief research (Balk. in Death studies 25:67–84, 2001; Balk et al. in Death Studies 34:459–468, 2010). Indeed, there has been a call to generate new research on grief with specific populations and age groups (Center for the Advancement of Health. in Death Studies 28:568–575, 2004). Religion is often described as a primary way that individuals cope with bereavement in particular (Frantz et al. in Pastor Psychol 44(3):151–163, 1996) and has been shown to effect college student reactions to stress in general (Merrill et al. in Mental Health, Religion & Culture 12(5):501–511, 2009). The RCOPE (Pargament et al. in J Clin Psychol 56(4):519–543, 2000, J Health Psychol 9:713–730, 2004) is a frequently used measure of religious coping, but has not been evaluated with a bereaved undergraduate population. Given that emerging adulthood is a critical developmental phase of religious identity (Fowler. in New Directions for Child Development 3(52):27–45, 1991), the current study examined the factor structure of the RCOPE within a sample of bereaved college students. An exploratory factor analysis was performed, which approximated the factor structure proposed by Pargament et al. (J Clin Psychol 56(4):519–543, 2000). However, a high correlation between the positive and negative religious coping subscales (r = 0.71) detracted from the predictive utility of Pargament et al.′s (2000) two overarching subscales. Therefore, an exploratory factor analysis with an orthogonal rotation was used to identify two uncorrelated subscales (adaptive religious coping and maladaptive religious coping). This new two-factor, 39-item version of the RCOPE was found to demonstrate good internal consistency (α > 0.8) as well as convergent and discriminant validity. The interaction between religious coping strategies and core beliefs about the predictability of the world is explored, and directions for future research and clinical practice are suggested.     

Psychometric evaluation of the Negative Religious Coping (NRC) Scale of the Brief RCOPE in the Czech environment

ABSTRACT

The Negative Religious Coping (NRC) Subscale is a part of the Brief RCOPE Scale, but can also be used separatelly. It is a brief measure assessing negative religous coping. The aim of this study was to psychometrically evaluate the NRC in Czech conditions. The NRC was administered to 531 religious respondents (25.5?±?3.4 years, 43.5% male). Negative religious coping and religiosity, together with basic sociodemographic information, were measured. The non-parametric comparison of different sociodemographic groups showed no differences between genders and almost no differences among the age groups. Significantly lower NRC scores were obtained by widows/widowers. The Czech version of the NRC showed a coherent one-dimensional factor structure and high reliability, with Cronbach’s α?=?.84 (95% CI .83–.85) and McDonald’s ω_t?=?.90. Our findings indicate that the Czech version of the NRC scale may reliably assess religious coping. This instrument might be useful both for research and clinical praxis.     

The Efficacy of Adult Christian Support Groups in Coping with the Death of a Significant Loved One

Psychologists sometimes minimize important resources such as religion and spiritual beliefs for coping with bereavement. Alienation of therapeutic psychology from religious values contrasts to professional and public interest in religious experience and commitment. A supportive viewpoint has come about partially as a result of recognizing important values which clinicians have found absent in many of their clients. Until spiritual belief systems become integrated into the work of clinicians, clients may not be fully integrative in coping with loss. The key finding of this study was that individuals who participated in Christian and secular support groups showed no statistically significant difference in their mean endorsement of negative criteria on the BHS, and no statistically significant difference for their mean score endorsement of positive criteria on the RCOPE. However, a Christian-oriented approach was no less effective than a psychological-oriented one. In both groups, a spiritual connection to a specific or generalized higher power was frequently identified which clients ascribed to facilitating the management of their coping.     

Trajectories of Religious/Spiritual Struggles Between Years 1 and 2 of College: The Predictive Role of Religious Belief Salience

Religious and spiritual struggles involve tensions, conflicts, and strains pertaining to religious and spiritual life. This research examined whether broad measures of religiousness predicted differences in the development and resolution of struggles over 1 year in a sample of undergraduates (N = 451) from three U.S. universities: secular public (n = 146), secular private (n = 126), and faith-based Christian (n = 179). Latent class growth analyses indicated 4 distinct trajectories of change in struggles. One group reported consistently low levels of struggles (n = 298, 66% of total sample); another developed struggles over a 1-year period (n = 100, 22%); a third reported high levels of struggles during both years (n = 19, 4%); and the final group reported resolving their struggles over 1 year (n = 34, 8%). Penalized multinomial logistic regressions indicated that religious belief salience predicted the development of struggles longitudinally. We discuss the implications of these findings.     

Is Spirituality Detrimental to Generativity?

This article examines the relations between religiousness, spirituality, and generativity (concern for the welfare of future generations) in late adulthood using longitudinal life-course data. Religiousness and spirituality were operationalized as distinct but overlapping dimensions of individual difference measuring involvement in traditional and nontraditional religious practices, respectively. In late adulthood, both religiousness and spirituality correlated positively with overall scores on self-report and observer-based measures of generativity. However, whereas religiousness was significantly related to the communal facets of generativity, spirituality was significantly related to its self-expanding aspects. These differences were more pronounced after gender, cohort, social class, and the overlap between religiousness and spirituality were controlled. The respective relations among religiousness, spirituality, and generativity in late adulthood were also observed using religiousness scored in early, and spirituality scored in late-middle, adulthood.     

Is Religious Coping Related to Better Quality of Life Following Acute Myocardial Infarction?

Although few studies have examined the extent to which religiousness is related to better well-being following acute myocardial infarction (AMI), studies from the broader literature suggest that positive religious coping may be helpful while more negative forms of religious coping may be related to poorer well-being. To assess the relationship between positive and negative religious coping and depressive symptoms in patients with AMI, we collected data twice over a 1-month period from 56 patients hospitalized with a first AMI. Controlling for demographic variables and social support, both positive and negative religious coping were independently related to higher levels of depressive symptoms both in hospital and at a one-month follow-up. Further, even when controlling for baseline depressive symptoms, religious coping predicted higher subsequent depressive symptoms. These results suggest that religious coping appears to be maladaptive in dealing with acute MI, perhaps because this type of recovery requires more active forms of coping.