Effect of Positive and Negative Religious Coping Styles on Perceived Stress of Teachers

Abstract

The current study primarily aimed at investigating religious coping styles' effect on teachers’ perceived stress. This article also enlightened the difference in scores of male and female educators in the use of positive religious coping styles. Correlational design was employed and data of (N=350) was taken through convenience sampling comprising both males (n=168) and females (n=182) around the Malakand division of Khyber Phuktoonkhwa (KP), Pakistan. Collected data was then analyzed via statistical tools; Linear regression, correlation, and t-test, through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Firstly, Regression analysis revealed that religious coping led to reduced perceived stress in teachers. Pearson correlational analysis showed a positive significant association between negative religious coping and perceived stress among educators while positive religious coping has a negative relationship with perceived stress among them. The comparative analysis demonstrated that female educators scored higher on positive religious coping than male educators. Further data comparison disclosed that males showed higher negative religious coping than females. These findings proved to be helpful for teachers, policymakers, researchers, and mental health professionals better understand and cater to educators’ religious coping styles and initiate a series of multiple workshops and projects focusing on their mental health in the Muslim world.