Bereaved African American Adults: The Role of Social Support,Religious Coping,and Continuing Bonds

The present study identified relationships between social support, religious coping, continuing bonds, prolonged grief disorder (PGD) symptoms, and the quality of life among bereaved African American adults (N = 154). Perceived social support and less use of negative religious coping strategies predicted a higher quality of life and fewer PGD symptoms. Also, greater perceived social support, less use of negative religious coping strategies, and less use of continuing bonds significantly predicted fewer PGD symptoms. Implications suggest that the conceptualization of grief and loss for African Americans might include social support, religious coping, and continuing bonds.     

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.     

Neither Bereavement nor Grief: Coping with the Death of a Cherished Person in the Cunda-sutta

Though bereavement and grief have been common human experience throughout recorded history, how bereavement is viewed and grief coped with varies from one philosophical tradition to another. By examining features running throughout the Cunda-sutta, this paper demonstrates a shift from the ordinary conception of bereavement to an insightful understanding of not-bereavement. If one possesses insight into how worldly convention shapes ordinary conceptions of bereavement, then one need not associate bereavement with loss and grief. For ordinary people, grief may be regarded as a natural response to loss. However, in light of the emptiness of bereavement, the emphasis can be shifted from coping with grief to the understanding of not-grief and to the cultivation of mental abilities conducive to moving forward on the right path. By examining the reasoning of neither bereavement nor grief, this paper sheds new light on a rarely acknowledged perspective on coping with the death of a cherished person.     

Trauma and substance use: the role of defences and religious engagement

Substance use disorders commonly co-occur with posttraumatic stress disorder and are associated with greater impairment. There is some evidence to suggest that different coping strategies, including defence mechanisms and religious forms of coping, may buffer the relationship between trauma and SUDs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential moderating roles of defence mechanisms and religious coping on the already-established relationship between trauma symptoms and substance abuse. Data were gathered from a sample of college students (N?=?380). Trauma symptoms were associated with increased substance use and abuse. The use of immature defences was significantly associated with trauma and substance use. Increased substance abuse was also associated with higher rates of negative religious coping. Individuals who endorsed trauma symptoms were also more likely to use positive and negative religious coping. Defences and coping did not moderate the relationship between trauma and substance use.     

Spiritual Distress and Depression in Bereavement: A Meaning-Oriented Contribution

One key focus of a meaning reconstruction model of bereavement concerns spiritual meanings attributed to the death, whether consoling or troubling. Specifically, previous studies in our research program suggest that religiously inclined violent death survivors are at risk for elevated levels of both bereavement distress and complicated spiritual grief, a crisis of faith following loss that refers to the erosion of the mourner’s relationship to God and/or the religious community. However, more research is needed to understand the convergence of depression and spiritual struggle in the context of violent and natural loss. In this study of a diverse sample of 59 American Christians bereaved less than 5 years, we sought to: (1) determine if individuals bereaved by homicide, suicide or fatal accident differed from those bereaved by natural causes in their levels of depression and spiritual coping; (2) investigate the relation between the latter constructs; and (3) ascertain if cause of death mediates the effect of religious coping on depression. We found that: (a) violently bereaved individuals endorsed more negative religious coping, and (b) depression was associated with greater spiritual struggle, particularly a sense of disrupted relationship with God. Contrary to expectations, positive religious coping was unrelated to post-loss depression, and cause of death did not mediate the relationship between spiritual coping and depressive symptomatology. A clinical case study concludes the article, illustrating the interweaving of spiritual and psychological distress in tragic bereavement, and their implications for a meaning-oriented grief therapy.     

Spontaneous Reports of Religious Coping by Patients with Chronic Physical Illness

Individuals undergoing the stress of physical illness often report the use of religious coping activities. This study compared the frequency of spontaneous reports of religious coping in three groups of patients including those with cancer preparing for a bone marrow transplant (n = 22), chronic pain (n = 36), and cardiovascular disease (n = 53). Participants were asked to respond to a written, open-ended question asking how they were coping with the challenges involved in their medical condition. The question asked them to list the resources, strategies, strengths, or behaviors that they found most helpful. No mention of religion or religious coping was included with the question. Of the 111 participants surveyed, 26.1% included religious coping in their responses. The relative percentage of religious coping was calculated by dividing the total number of coping responses by number of religious responses. Mean percentage of religious coping was highest in participants preparing for a bone marrow transplant (22.9%), followed by the cardiac group (5.7%), and the chronic pain group (3.8%).     

Does Religious Belief Matter for Grief and Death Anxiety? Experimental Philosophy Meets Psychology of Religion

It is commonly reasoned that religious belief moderates death anxiety and aids in coping with loss. However, a philosophical perspective known as meta‐atheism includes the claim that avowed religious believers grieve deaths and experience death anxiety as intensely as avowed atheists. Thus, we report a study comparing religious believers and nonbelievers on measures of death anxiety and grief. We further investigated the relationships between certain religious beliefs (views of God, afterlife belief, religious orientation) and death anxiety, as well as both painful grief reactions and grief‐related growth. We surveyed 101 participants across the United States, ranging in age (19 to 57), education, and ethnicity. Participants avowing some form of religious belief, in comparison to those not, did not demonstrate lower levels of death anxiety. They did, however, display higher levels of a certain type of death acceptance. Additionally, those professing belief reported less grief and greater growth in response to loss. Greater afterlife belief was not associated with less grief; however, it was associated with both greater grief‐related growth and lower death anxiety.     

The role of attachment to God in secular and religious/spiritual ways of coping with a serious disease

This study investigated the role of security in one's attachment to God in relation to both secular and religious/spiritual ways of coping with a serious illness. The main objective was to test whether attachment to God and type of disease were related to secular coping strategies, when controlling for the effects of religious/spiritual coping. Study participants (N = 105) had been diagnosed either with cancer (i.e., an acute disease) and were under chemotherapy/awaiting surgery or with renal impairment (i.e., a chronic disease) and were attending dialysis. Results showed that secure attachment to God was uniquely related to fighting spirit, whereas insecure attachment to God was uniquely linked to hopelessness, suggesting that security, unlike insecurity, in one's attachment to God may impact favourably on adjustment to the disease. The only coping strategy related to type of disease was cognitive avoidance, which was linked to chronic disease.     

Continuing bonds in adjustment to bereavement: Impact of abrupt versus gradual separation

There is debate whether continuing bonds with a deceased person help or hinder adaptation to bereavement. This longitudinal study examined causal relationships between continuing bonds and symptoms over time. Following attachment theory predictions, suddenness of separation was examined as a moderator. Data were obtained from 60 bereaved spouses at 3 points across the first 2 years of bereavement. Measures included expectedness of death, grief and depression measures, and a continuing bonds index. Persons with unexpected loss who retained strong bonds were the least well adapted and remained so over time. Those with expected loss and strong ties suffered initially but improved. Those with weaker ties had lower scores on maladaptation, regardless of (un)expectedness of death. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.     

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.     

Bereavement anxieties and health amongst the Australian-Italian Catholic community

This article is based on survey of 269 households in the state of Victoria, Australia. It elicits some useful guidelines for professional caregivers in relation to eight cultural/religious groups including Australian-born Christians and Arab-born Muslims. The focus here is upon the relationships between the Australian Italian community and personal health outcomes during bereavement. The following sub-strata are examined: community differences in relation to grief and loss practices and traditions; the value of religious communal support and counseling; symptomatological differences from psychosocial and educational perspectives; psychopathological/psychiatric symptoms and beliefs and practice concerning the afterlife. Significant differences were revealed between the sexes on such matters as health problems, grief expressions, psychosomatic manifestations, communication with the dead, beliefs in the afterlife and interpretation of the meaning of loss. Differences in these findings will assist professional caregivers who deal with families experiencing personal death loss to broaden their own perspectives on bereavement, offering specific counselling strategies and care-giving interventions.     

The role of experiential avoidance in the relationship between faith maturity,religious coping,and psychological adjustment among Christian university students

In the current study, the authors investigated the relationship between faith maturity, religious coping, experiential avoidance (EA), and psychological maladjustment (depression, anxiety, and stress) among a sample of Christian college students (N?=?84). Findings revealed a strong positive correlation between faith maturity and positive religious coping, and weak negative correlations between faith maturity and negative religious coping and maladjustment. Moreover, a weak negative correlation emerged between positive religious coping and maladjustment, as well as a moderate positive correlation between negative religious coping and maladjustment. Finally, consistent with the proposed hypothesis, EA partially mediated the link between negative religious coping and psychological maladjustment, although EA played no mediating role with positive religious coping and maladjustment. Further studies are needed to replicate and generalise these preliminary findings.     

Religious Beliefs Affect Grieving After Pregnancy Loss

Religious beliefs and practices may aid in coping with bereavement and grief after pregnancy loss. Data from 103 women enrolled in the original Lehigh Valley Perinatal Loss Project, and who were followed-up for at least 1 year, were evaluated for the impact of initial religious practices and beliefs on the course and severity of grief. Religious practices corresponding to standard scales of religiosity and agreement with specific beliefs were rated by the women on a Likert scale of 1–5. Neither agreement with statements corresponding to extrinsic and intrinsic religiosity or to positive religious coping, nor frequency of religious service attendance was predictive of follow-up scores on the Perinatal Grief Scale. Religious struggle, agreement with statements classified as negative religious coping, and continued attachment to the baby were all associated with more severe grief.     

Religious Coping,Body Dissatisfaction,and Bulimic Symptomatology

The authors explored the association among body dissatisfaction, religious coping, and bulimic symptomatology. The results suggest that spiritual discontent religious coping was detrimental for the college female participants (N= 398) when considered in relationship to bulimic symptomatology. Implications of the findings for theory refinement, future research, and clinical practice are discussed.     

Spiritual pathology and religious coping as predictors of forgiveness

Spiritual pathology, religious coping, and dispositional forgiveness were investigated in two studies with graduate students at a Christian university-based seminary. Spiritual pathology was operationalised using measures of spiritual instability and spiritual grandiosity. Study 1 (N?=?194) examined patterns of correlation between positive and negative religious coping items, spiritual pathology, and dispositional forgiveness. Spiritual instability correlated with numerous positive and negative religious coping items while spiritual grandiosity did not. Dispositional forgiveness correlated with more positive than negative religious coping items. Study 2 (N?=?214) tested regression models with these variables. Spiritual grandiosity showed a significant quadratic (concave down) effect in predicting dispositional forgiveness while the linear effect was not significant. A hierarchical regression model showed positive religious coping, spiritual instability, and the quadratic effect for spiritual grandiosity each predicted unique variance in dispositional forgiveness after controlling for spiritual impression management. Negative religious coping was not related to dispositional forgiveness when included with these variables.     

Religious aspects of bereavement

The purpose of this study was to learn more about the role of religious beliefs and practices in bereavement. Subjects were 312 adults each bereaved approximately one year. They were interviewed at the rate of about 50 per year over a 6 year period. Conclusions include: a) The opportunity to say goodbye to the deceased was significantly related to positive coping and outlook; (b) 47% of our subjects reported contact with the deceased following the death but such contact was not related to coping or outlook; c) grieving people are much more likely to turn to women than men for help; d) 77% said their religious beliefs were of considerable help in their grief.     

Counselling strategies for bereaved people offered in primary care

The aim of this study was to identify strategies that general practice-based counsellors used when offering support to bereaved clients. Over the last decade, there has been a rapid growth in the provision of counselling services associated with British primary care services. A study was designed involving qualitative methods of data collection (semi-structured interviews) and analysis (a grounded theory approach). Counsellors were recruited from two cities in Southern Britain (Plymouth and Southampton). Twenty nine (76% response rate) counsellors agreed to participate (Southampton n = 15, Plymouth, n = 14). Semi-structured face-to-face audio-taped interviews elicited information about their perceptions of the appropriateness of general practitioner referrals, counselling strategies and models of bereavement. Analysis indicated that counsellors saw bereavement counselling within a broader agenda of work concerned with loss and relationship management. Many drew on eclectic approaches to bereavement counselling and specific strategies included: facilitating telling of the 'story' of the loss; engaging in active listening and valuing allowing people to talk; establishing a supportive relationship; and enabling the bereaved person to deal with unfinished business and to say 'goodbye'. Counsellors drew on implicit stage/phase models of grief that assumed levels of distress reduced over time. The value of these strategies requires more exploration.     

Validation of a Buddhist Coping Measure Among Primarily Non‐Asian Buddhists in the United States

Researchers have developed scales to measure religious coping among Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus. However, there is no quantitative measure of religious coping for Buddhists. The present study describes the development and initial validation of a scale of Buddhist coping (BCOPE). Eight hundred sixty participants in the United States completed the BCOPE along with demographic information and scales of adjustment to stress. Construct validity of the BCOPE is demonstrated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, which reveals 14 types of Buddhist coping. BCOPE subscales exhibited criterion validity through significant correlations with outcome measures. The BCOPE has incremental validity, predicting adjustment over and above demographic and global religious measures. The research and practical implications of the BCOPE are discussed.     

Forgivingness: Similarities and Differences Between Buddhists and Christians Living in China

Mourners often rely on faith following loss, but not all find spirituality comforting. Some grievers engage in negative religious coping (NRC), signaled by behaviors and thoughts such as anger toward God or their faith community, feeling spiritually abandoned, or questioning God's power. Our longitudinal study of 46 African American homicide survivors explored the relation of both positive religious coping (PRC) and NRC to complicated grief (CG) and investigated whether religious coping more strongly predicted psychological distress or vice versa. Results indicated that NRC was associated with CG, whereas PRC was substantially unrelated to bereavement outcome. Significantly, CG prospectively predicted high levels of spiritual struggle 6 months later, both in terms of CG and NRC composite scores and at the individual-item level. Clinical implications regarding spiritually sensitive interventions are noted.     

Does worry affect adjustment to bereavement? A longitudinal investigation

Background and objectives: Repetitive thought is a trans-diagnostic risk-factor for development of psychopathology. Research on repetitive thought in bereaved individuals has focused primarily on clarifying the role of rumination, repetitive thinking about past negative events and/or negative emotions. While detrimental effects of rumination have been demonstrated following bereavement, surprisingly few studies have aimed to clarify the role of worry, repetitive thinking about potential future negative events, in adjustment to loss. This study sought to fill this gap in knowledge. Methods/Design: One hundred eighty-three bereaved individuals (85.3% women) filled out questionnaires on sociodemographic and loss-related characteristics, worry, and symptom measures of depression, anxiety, and prolonged grief. After six months, 155 participants completed worry and symptom measures again. Using multiple regression analyses, concurrent and longitudinal associations between loss-related variables, worry, and symptoms of psychopathology were examined. Results: Main results were that worry was strongly positively associated with symptoms of anxiety, depression and prolonged grief concurrently and also predicted higher levels of anxiety, depression and prolonged grief longitudinally. Conclusions: Findings suggest that worry influences adjustment to bereavement negatively and may be a potential target in grief therapy, especially when aiming to reduce anxiety.