Religious and Psychological Implications of Positive and Negative Religious Coping in Iran

The Role of Dominant Spiritual and Religious Coping Modality on Psychological Predictors Among Nursing Students

Purpose: The current study aimed to examine the role of the dominant spiritual and religious coping modality on health-related variables and determinants, including stress overload, mindfulness, and impulsivity, among nursing students. Methods: A cross-sectional design was used to achieve the study goal. The authors recruited 1199 nursing students. The results showed that the mean for positive spiritual and religious coping was higher compared to negative spiritual and religious coping. Results: In the current study, 73.3% of nursing students predominantly used positive spiritual and religious coping compared to 17.6% in the neutral group and 9.1% in the negative spiritual and religious coping group. Positive spiritual and religious coping was positively correlated with mindfulness and stress overload and negatively correlated with impulsivity. According to the ANOVA results, students with positive spiritual and religious coping tended to have a significantly higher stress overload, higher mindfulness, and lower impulsivity compared to the neutral and negative spiritual and coping groups. Negative spiritual and religious coping group significantly differed from the neutral groups only in terms of impulsivity. Conclusion: The current study's findings help nursing students by determining dominant spiritual and religious coping modalities and provide valuable information in directing counseling efforts. Results and implications were discussed.

An Analysis of the Relationship Between Religiosity and Psychological Well-Being in Chilean Older People Using Structural Equation Modeling

Using a representative sample, we explored the relationship of organizational (ORA), non-organizational (NORA), and intrinsic religiosity (IR) with depressive and anxious symptomatology and loneliness in Chilean older people, and examined mediating mechanisms. Structural Equation Modeling showed a direct effect between ORA and reduced depressive symptomatology and between IR and anxious symptomatology; for indirect effects, the relationship between ORA and depressive and anxious symptomatology was mediated by friends' social support network, while that between IR and the three outcomes studied was mediated by the family support network and resilience. NORA was not associated with any of the outcomes or mediating variables.

Spiritual Needs, Religious Coping and Mental Wellbeing: A Cross-Sectional Study among Migrants and Refugees in Germany

It has been widely proven that resettlement is associated with negative psychological effects (e.g., increased depression and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder) among refugees. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve the psychosocial functioning of migrants. This study assessed associations between negative dysfunctional appraisal (perceiving experiences as stressful), spiritual needs, religious coping and wellbeing. Data from paper-and-pencil questionnaires were collected from 744 refugees (69.8% male) aged 18–67 years (M = 27.99) with diverse backgrounds (including from Mashreq countries) who were resettled in Germany. Bootstrapping mediation analysis revealed that the relationship of dysfunctional appraisal and wellbeing among refugees is mediated by spiritual needs (i.e., existential and religious needs). Additionally, negative religious coping mediates the relationship between spiritual needs and wellbeing. The data obtained suggest the need for practitioners to focus on psychological interventions that strengthen spiritual needs in order to improve mental health among refugees.

Recollections of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Complexities of Religious Coping and Muslim Religious and Psychological Adjustment in Afghanistan

Religious coping is a double-edged sword. Clarification of the psychological benefits for positive religious coping requires statistical controls for negative religious coping and vice versa. This study sought to further explore the complexities of Muslim religious coping by extending the analysis to Afghans who coped with the sufferings associated with recollections of childhood and adolescent sexual abuse. Two hundred Dari Persian-speaking Afghan university students (122 identified having experience of childhood sexual abuse) self-reported on variables that measure religious orientation, religious coping, Muslim experiential religiousness, mental health, and child abuse. Results showed that negative religious coping interfered with the possibly beneficial effects of positive religious coping on mental health and child abuse. After controlling for negative religious coping, the associations of positive religious coping became obvious. In addition, Muslim spirituality moderated the associations of religious coping with mental health outcomes and child abuse: for people with higher Muslim spirituality, positive religious coping associated with better mental health, and negative religious coping associated with less child abuse. Implications for religious coping and combating trauma in a religious context are discussed.

Effects of intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity on well-being through meaning in life and its gender difference among adolescents in Hong Kong: A mediation study

The present study examines and explores the indirect effects of intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity on well-being, namely self-esteem and life satisfaction, through presence of and search for meaning in life, and its gender difference among adolescents. 301 girls and 395 boys from Hong Kong participated in this cross-sectional survey study. Independent t-test, correlation and four mediation model analyses with a bootstrap of 5000 samples were conducted. Girls score higher in extrinsic religiosity (personal) and search for meaning in life; lower in self-esteem compared with boys. Presence of meaning in life was found to positively mediate the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic personal religiosity on self-esteem and life satisfaction for boys but is not significant for girls. However, intrinsic religiosity promotes higher search for meaning in life, which in turn lowers self-esteem only for girls. The indirect effect of extrinsic social religiosity on well-being was not significant for both genders. Finding suggests that boys benefit more from religiosity on well-being.

The Association of Positive or Negative Religious Coping Methods With Psychological Distress and Quality of Life Among Parents of Infants With Congenital Heart Disease

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether positive and negative religious coping methods were associated with psychological distress and quality of life in parents of infants with congenital heart disease (CHD). Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted at a provincial hospital in Fujian, China. Clinical data from 115 parents of infants with CHD were collected. Chinese Sociodemographic Forms, Brief RCOPE, Beck Depression Interview (BDI), and the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) were used in this study. Results: The sex of caregivers in infants with CHD was an independent predictor of BDI scores. The positive religious coping score and the negative religious coping score were both independent predictors of the BDI score (β = -5.365, P = 0.006 and β = 4.812, p = 0.017). The correlation between the quality-of-life scores and positive or negative religious coping scores indicated that positive religious coping scores were significantly positively correlated with Vitality, Social Functioning, and Mental Health scores. There was a significant negative correlation between negative religious coping scores and mental health scores. Conclusions: Positive or negative religious coping methods may be associated with psychological distress and quality of life among parents of infants with CHD. It is suggested that more attention should be devoted to the influence of religious coping methods on parents of infants with CHD, and the use of religious resources should be encouraged.

Anxiety and Avoidance in Adults and Childhood Trauma Are Associated with Negative Religious Coping

Religion as a coping strategy is mostly connected with positive health outcomes. Yet, negative religious coping (NRC) has been associated with rather negative outcomes that affect one’s health. The aim of this study was to explore whether insecure adult attachment and childhood trauma are associated with higher NRC. A sample of Czech adults (n = 531, 51.1 ± 17.2 years; 43.5% men) participated in a survey. As measures, the NRC subscale of the Brief RCOPE, the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised questionnaire, and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) were used. From the whole sample, 23.7% respondents reported higher NRC. Respondents with higher anxiety in close relationships were more likely to use negative coping strategies, with an odds ratios (OR) of 1.27 (95% confidence interval 1.01–1.59). Similarly, avoidance was associated with negative coping OR = 1.41 (1.13–1.75). Moreover, each subscale of the CTQ-SF revealed a significant association with high summary NRC. Respondents who reported physical neglect scored highest on summary NRC with OR = 1.50 (1.23–1.83) after controlling for sociodemographic variables, but also for anxiety and depression. Our findings support the idea that childhood trauma experience and adult attachment style are associated with higher use of NRC strategies.

Childhood Trauma Is Associated with the Spirituality of Non-Religious Respondents

Childhood trauma experience (CT) is negatively associated with many aspects of adult life. Religiosity/spirituality (R/S) are often studied as positive coping strategies and could help in the therapeutic process. Evidence on this is lacking for a non-religious environment. The aim of this study was to assess the associations of different types of CT with R/S in the secular conditions of the Czech Republic. A nationally representative sample (n = 1800, mean age = 46.4, SD = 17.4; 48.7% male) of adults participated in the survey. We measured childhood trauma, spirituality, religiosity and conversion experience. We found that four kinds of CT were associated with increased levels of spirituality, with odds ratios (OR) ranging from 1.17 (95% confidence interval 1.03-1.34) to 1.31 (1.18-1.46). Non-religious respondents were more likely to report associations of CT with spirituality. After measuring for different combinations of R/S, each CT was associated with increased chances of being "spiritual but non-religious", with OR from 1.55 (1.17-2.06) to 2.10 (1.63-2.70). Moreover, converts were more likely to report emotional abuse OR = 1.46 (1.17-1.82) or emotional neglect with OR = 1.42 (1.11-1.82). Our findings show CT is associated with higher levels of spirituality in non-religious respondents. Addressing spiritual needs may contribute to the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic treatment of the victims.