P-430 - Worry and religiosity

Abstract

Worry is a repetitive cognitive process in which a person anticipates and elaborates on possible undesirable future events and their consequences. Worry, especially when excessive, was demonstrated to be closely related to psychopathology, in particular to anxiety disorders and depression. Some studies suggested that worry can play an important role in the pathomechanisms of these disorders. However, the factors determining the levels of worry are poorly understood and studied. Objectives. This study aimed at exploring possible relationships between worry and religiosity. The hypothesis was put forward that certain aspects of religiosity, such as centrality or contents of religious beliefs, emotions and experiences can either increase or prevent worry. One-hundred eighty college students (90 men and 90 women), Roman Catholics, recruited from different universities and studying varied majors, took part in the study. They completed Penn State Worry Questionnaire measuring the tendency to worry and The Structure of Religiosity Test designed to measure centrality and contents of religiosity. The levels of worry were significantly statistically correlated with centrality of religiosity, with those who worried more demonstrating more central religiosity. The relationship was relatively weak, however, stable across different dimensions of centrality of religiosity. Higher levels of worry were also found to be weakly or moderately related to the contents of religiosity, strikingly, irrespective of their positive/negative value. Centrality of religiosity and most religious contents (emotions, experiences) may be factors predisposing to higher worry. However, this finding requires further explanation and verification in different religions and denominations.