Religious Coping as Moderator of Psychological Responses to Stressful Events: A Longitudinal Study

Felipe E García,Alejandro Reyes-Reyes,Rodolfo Álvarez,Darío Páez

doi:10.3390/rel8040062

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of positive and negative religious coping with posttraumatic symptoms (PTS) and growth (PTG). Their moderating role was also examined among predictors such as social support and the subjective severity of event with PTS and PTG. Two hundred and eleven Chilean adults (58.3% women) of 18 years and older who had been exposed to highly stressful were surveyed. The Brief-RCOPE, the Brief-COPE subscale of social support, the Subjective Severity of Event Scale, and a socio-demographic questionnaire were used as measurements at time one. The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory-short form (PTGI-SF) and Short Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Rating Interview (SPRINT-E) was used to collect baseline scores and six months after. The results show that negative religious coping predicts the increase in PTS, positive religious coping predicts the increase in PTG and plays a moderation role: at low levels of positive religious coping it was found a strong association between coping by seeking social support and PTG, while at high level the association is weak. These results are discussed in the framework of the functionality of positive and negative religious coping and its role in adjusting to potentially traumatic events.

Highlights

This article examines the role of religiosity and religious coping (RC) when adjusting to traumatic events, both in attenuation of symptoms and favouring positive effects of growth
We looked at how severity of event, RC and social support in Time 1 predict changes in posttraumatic growth (PTG) and posttraumatic symptoms (PTS) or differences between Time 1 and Time 2 PTG and PTS
The most important strength and contribution to the literature of this study is that it longitudinally evaluates the moderating role of religious coping on changes in posttraumatic growth and stress

Summary

Introduction

This article examines the role of religiosity and religious coping (RC) when adjusting to traumatic events, both in attenuation of symptoms and favouring positive effects of growth. We will discuss the relationship between positive and negative RC with social support and its role both in symptoms of trauma and posttraumatic growth. Reviewed studies suggest the potential role of RC as a moderator between adjustment and others forms of coping like social support and suggest that RC is different from other forms of coping—like coping by seeking social support. There is evidence indicating that religiosity helps to cope with highly stressful or potentially traumatic events. Religious beliefs can help in re-evaluating stressful situations such as a mild threat or a challenge [1], or help in attributing meaning to them [2]. Stressful or traumatic experiences can, in turn, lead to a deepening of religiosity [1]

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