Studies highlight that although the spiritual/religious dimension is commonly used as a resource ... more Studies highlight that although the spiritual/religious dimension is commonly used as a resource for coping with stress and suffering, sometimes this dimension can also be a locus of struggles. The Religious and Spiritual Struggles (RSS) Scale, composed of 26 items (extended version), is an instrument that assesses the presence of six types of spiritual struggles, categorized into three major categories: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Supernatural. More recently, studies have presented a leaner version, with 14 items (short version), also suitable for evaluating religious/spiritual struggles. This study aimed to validate the RSS Scale, in its two versions, in the Brazilian cultural context and was able to attest to its quality and reliability, albeit with small variations. The Brazilian extended version presented six components (similar to the original version) explaining 68.48% of variance and 0.907 of KMO. Two items were withdrawn due to low loadings, but the psychometric quali...
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2020
Social scientists have increasingly recognized the lack of diversity in survey research on Americ... more Social scientists have increasingly recognized the lack of diversity in survey research on American religion, resulting in a dearth of data on religion and spirituality (R/S) in understudied racial and ethnic groups. At the same time, epidemiological studies have increasingly diversified their racial and ethnic representation, but have collected few R/S measures to date. With a particular focus on American Indian and South Asian women (in addition to Blacks, Hispanic/Latinas, and white women), this study introduces a new effort among religion and epidemiology researchers, the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health. This multicohort study provides some of the first estimates of R/S beliefs and practices among American Indians and U.S. South Asians, and offers new insight into salient beliefs and practices of diverse racial/ethnic and religious communities.
Does God listen and respond to prayers? This project provided initial validation for a brief meas... more Does God listen and respond to prayers? This project provided initial validation for a brief measure of perceived divine engagement and disengagement in response to prayer. As part of a larger project on religious/spiritual struggles among U.S. undergraduates, we used Sample 1 (n = 400) for exploratory factor analysis and Sample 2 (n = 413) for confirmatory factor analysis and initial validity testing. A two-factor model with four items per factor provided acceptable fit. On average, participants reported more divine engagement than disengagement. They endorsed items about God listening more than those about God responding. Divine engagement showed strong positive associations with religiousness and positive-valence variables involving God. Divine disengagement showed strong positive associations with variables suggesting divine struggle or distance. Importantly, both subscales also showed evidence of incremental validity: Divine engagement predicted positive-valence God variables (...
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2018
According to sanctification theory, religious people tend to imbue certain aspects of their lives... more According to sanctification theory, religious people tend to imbue certain aspects of their lives with spiritual character and significance. Moreover, they take active steps to preserve and protect sacred aspects of their lives that might be threatened. If they are successful, they derive a deep sense of satisfaction and well‐being. However, when stressful events arise, some individuals are not able to preserve and protect the facets of their lives that they have come to view as sacred. The resulting sacred loss/desecration can be associated with physical and mental health problems. The purpose of the current study is to see if a sense of meaning in life buffers (i.e., moderates) the relationship between sacred loss/desecration and four measures of health: physical functioning, the number of chronic conditions, symptoms of physical illness, and self‐rated health. Data from a recent nationwide survey (N = 2,104–2,107) suggest that the negative relationship between sacred loss/desecra...
Religious and spiritual struggles (R/S struggles)—tension or conflicts regarding religious or spi... more Religious and spiritual struggles (R/S struggles)—tension or conflicts regarding religious or spiritual matters—have been robustly linked to greater psychological distress and lower well-being. Most research in this area has relied on samples consisting predominantly of participants who believe in god(s). Limited research has examined R/S struggles among atheists, generally conflating them with agnostics and other nontheists. This study investigated the prevalence of R/S struggles among atheists and compared atheists to theists in two samples (3978 undergraduates, 1048 Internet workers). Results of a multilevel model showed that atheists experience less demonic, doubt, divine, moral, and overall R/S struggles than theists, but similar levels of interpersonal and ultimate meaning struggles. Correlation and regression analyses among atheists demonstrated links between moral, ultimate meaning, and overall R/S struggles and greater distress (depression and anxiety symptoms) as well as l...
Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (São Paulo, Brazil : 1999), 2015
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with elevated levels of anxiety and depression and... more Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with elevated levels of anxiety and depression and a reduction in health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Nonadherence to treatment is also frequent in IBD and compromises outcomes. Religious coping plays a role in the adaptation to several chronic diseases. However, the influence of religious coping on IBD-related psychological distress, HRQoL, and treatment adherence remains unknown. This cross-sectional study recruited 147 consecutive patients with either Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. Sociodemographic data, disease-related variables, psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), religious coping (Brief RCOPE Scale), HRQoL (WHOQOL-Bref), and adherence (8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale) were assessed. Hierarchical multiple regression models were used to evaluate the effects of religious coping on IBD-related psychological distress, treatment adherence, and HRQoL. Positive RCOPE was negatively ass...
Progress in studying the relationship between religion and health has been hampered by the absenc... more Progress in studying the relationship between religion and health has been hampered by the absence of an adequate measure of religiousness and spirituality. This article reports on the conceptual and empirical development of an instrument to measure religiousness and spirituality, intended explicitly for studies of health. It is multidimensional to allow investigation of multiple possible mechanisms of effect, brief enough to be included in clinical or epidemiological surveys, inclusive of both traditional religiousness and noninstitutionally based spirituality, and appropriate for diverse Judeo-Christian populations. The measure may be particularly useful for studies of health in elderly populations in which religious involvement is higher. The measure was tested in the nationally representative 1998 General Social Survey ( N = 1,445). Nine dimensions have indices with moderate-to-good internal consistency, and there are three single-item domains. Analysis by age and sex shows that...
Objective. To understand the role of religiousness/spirituality in coping in children with cystic... more Objective. To understand the role of religiousness/spirituality in coping in children with cystic fibrosis (CF). Methods. Participants were a convenience sample of 23 patients with CF, ages 5 to 12 years, and their parent(s) in an ambulatory CF clinic. The design was a focused ethnography including in-depth interviews with children and parent(s), children’s drawings, and self-administered written parental questionnaires. Analysis used grounded theory. Results. Main outcome measures were participants’ views on religion/spirituality in coping with illness. Data included 632 quotes organized into 257 codes categorized into 11 themes. One overarching domain emerged from analysis of the 11 themes: Religious/Spiritual Coping, composed of 11 religious/spiritual coping strategies. Conclusions. Children with CF reported a variety of religious/spiritual coping strategies they nearly always associated with adaptive health outcomes. A preliminary conceptual framework for religious/spiritual cop...
A total of 268 medically ill, elderly, hospitalized patients responded to measures of religious c... more A total of 268 medically ill, elderly, hospitalized patients responded to measures of religious coping and spiritual, psychological and physical functioning at baseline and follow-up two years later. After controlling for relevant variables, religious coping was significantly predictive of spiritual outcome, and changes in mental and physical health. Generally, positive methods of religious coping (e.g. seeking spiritual support, benevolent religious reappraisals) were associated with improvements in health. Negative methods of religious coping (e.g. punishing God reappraisal, interpersonal religious discontent) were predictive of declines in health. Patients who continue to struggle with religious issues over time may be particularly at risk for health-related problems.
Studies highlight that although the spiritual/religious dimension is commonly used as a resource ... more Studies highlight that although the spiritual/religious dimension is commonly used as a resource for coping with stress and suffering, sometimes this dimension can also be a locus of struggles. The Religious and Spiritual Struggles (RSS) Scale, composed of 26 items (extended version), is an instrument that assesses the presence of six types of spiritual struggles, categorized into three major categories: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Supernatural. More recently, studies have presented a leaner version, with 14 items (short version), also suitable for evaluating religious/spiritual struggles. This study aimed to validate the RSS Scale, in its two versions, in the Brazilian cultural context and was able to attest to its quality and reliability, albeit with small variations. The Brazilian extended version presented six components (similar to the original version) explaining 68.48% of variance and 0.907 of KMO. Two items were withdrawn due to low loadings, but the psychometric quali...
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2020
Social scientists have increasingly recognized the lack of diversity in survey research on Americ... more Social scientists have increasingly recognized the lack of diversity in survey research on American religion, resulting in a dearth of data on religion and spirituality (R/S) in understudied racial and ethnic groups. At the same time, epidemiological studies have increasingly diversified their racial and ethnic representation, but have collected few R/S measures to date. With a particular focus on American Indian and South Asian women (in addition to Blacks, Hispanic/Latinas, and white women), this study introduces a new effort among religion and epidemiology researchers, the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health. This multicohort study provides some of the first estimates of R/S beliefs and practices among American Indians and U.S. South Asians, and offers new insight into salient beliefs and practices of diverse racial/ethnic and religious communities.
Does God listen and respond to prayers? This project provided initial validation for a brief meas... more Does God listen and respond to prayers? This project provided initial validation for a brief measure of perceived divine engagement and disengagement in response to prayer. As part of a larger project on religious/spiritual struggles among U.S. undergraduates, we used Sample 1 (n = 400) for exploratory factor analysis and Sample 2 (n = 413) for confirmatory factor analysis and initial validity testing. A two-factor model with four items per factor provided acceptable fit. On average, participants reported more divine engagement than disengagement. They endorsed items about God listening more than those about God responding. Divine engagement showed strong positive associations with religiousness and positive-valence variables involving God. Divine disengagement showed strong positive associations with variables suggesting divine struggle or distance. Importantly, both subscales also showed evidence of incremental validity: Divine engagement predicted positive-valence God variables (...
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2018
According to sanctification theory, religious people tend to imbue certain aspects of their lives... more According to sanctification theory, religious people tend to imbue certain aspects of their lives with spiritual character and significance. Moreover, they take active steps to preserve and protect sacred aspects of their lives that might be threatened. If they are successful, they derive a deep sense of satisfaction and well‐being. However, when stressful events arise, some individuals are not able to preserve and protect the facets of their lives that they have come to view as sacred. The resulting sacred loss/desecration can be associated with physical and mental health problems. The purpose of the current study is to see if a sense of meaning in life buffers (i.e., moderates) the relationship between sacred loss/desecration and four measures of health: physical functioning, the number of chronic conditions, symptoms of physical illness, and self‐rated health. Data from a recent nationwide survey (N = 2,104–2,107) suggest that the negative relationship between sacred loss/desecra...
Religious and spiritual struggles (R/S struggles)—tension or conflicts regarding religious or spi... more Religious and spiritual struggles (R/S struggles)—tension or conflicts regarding religious or spiritual matters—have been robustly linked to greater psychological distress and lower well-being. Most research in this area has relied on samples consisting predominantly of participants who believe in god(s). Limited research has examined R/S struggles among atheists, generally conflating them with agnostics and other nontheists. This study investigated the prevalence of R/S struggles among atheists and compared atheists to theists in two samples (3978 undergraduates, 1048 Internet workers). Results of a multilevel model showed that atheists experience less demonic, doubt, divine, moral, and overall R/S struggles than theists, but similar levels of interpersonal and ultimate meaning struggles. Correlation and regression analyses among atheists demonstrated links between moral, ultimate meaning, and overall R/S struggles and greater distress (depression and anxiety symptoms) as well as l...
Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (São Paulo, Brazil : 1999), 2015
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with elevated levels of anxiety and depression and... more Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with elevated levels of anxiety and depression and a reduction in health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Nonadherence to treatment is also frequent in IBD and compromises outcomes. Religious coping plays a role in the adaptation to several chronic diseases. However, the influence of religious coping on IBD-related psychological distress, HRQoL, and treatment adherence remains unknown. This cross-sectional study recruited 147 consecutive patients with either Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. Sociodemographic data, disease-related variables, psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), religious coping (Brief RCOPE Scale), HRQoL (WHOQOL-Bref), and adherence (8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale) were assessed. Hierarchical multiple regression models were used to evaluate the effects of religious coping on IBD-related psychological distress, treatment adherence, and HRQoL. Positive RCOPE was negatively ass...
Progress in studying the relationship between religion and health has been hampered by the absenc... more Progress in studying the relationship between religion and health has been hampered by the absence of an adequate measure of religiousness and spirituality. This article reports on the conceptual and empirical development of an instrument to measure religiousness and spirituality, intended explicitly for studies of health. It is multidimensional to allow investigation of multiple possible mechanisms of effect, brief enough to be included in clinical or epidemiological surveys, inclusive of both traditional religiousness and noninstitutionally based spirituality, and appropriate for diverse Judeo-Christian populations. The measure may be particularly useful for studies of health in elderly populations in which religious involvement is higher. The measure was tested in the nationally representative 1998 General Social Survey ( N = 1,445). Nine dimensions have indices with moderate-to-good internal consistency, and there are three single-item domains. Analysis by age and sex shows that...
Objective. To understand the role of religiousness/spirituality in coping in children with cystic... more Objective. To understand the role of religiousness/spirituality in coping in children with cystic fibrosis (CF). Methods. Participants were a convenience sample of 23 patients with CF, ages 5 to 12 years, and their parent(s) in an ambulatory CF clinic. The design was a focused ethnography including in-depth interviews with children and parent(s), children’s drawings, and self-administered written parental questionnaires. Analysis used grounded theory. Results. Main outcome measures were participants’ views on religion/spirituality in coping with illness. Data included 632 quotes organized into 257 codes categorized into 11 themes. One overarching domain emerged from analysis of the 11 themes: Religious/Spiritual Coping, composed of 11 religious/spiritual coping strategies. Conclusions. Children with CF reported a variety of religious/spiritual coping strategies they nearly always associated with adaptive health outcomes. A preliminary conceptual framework for religious/spiritual cop...
A total of 268 medically ill, elderly, hospitalized patients responded to measures of religious c... more A total of 268 medically ill, elderly, hospitalized patients responded to measures of religious coping and spiritual, psychological and physical functioning at baseline and follow-up two years later. After controlling for relevant variables, religious coping was significantly predictive of spiritual outcome, and changes in mental and physical health. Generally, positive methods of religious coping (e.g. seeking spiritual support, benevolent religious reappraisals) were associated with improvements in health. Negative methods of religious coping (e.g. punishing God reappraisal, interpersonal religious discontent) were predictive of declines in health. Patients who continue to struggle with religious issues over time may be particularly at risk for health-related problems.
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