Date of Conferral

5-2-2024

Date of Award

May 2024

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Patricia Loun

Abstract

Patterns of spiritual/religious coping (S/R coping) and spiritual/religious struggle (S/R struggle) have an impact on wellbeing after experiencing a negative life event (NLE). These impacts can have significant implications for the person after experiencing a NLE, particularly for evangelical Christians. However, little is known about how S/R struggle interacts with S/R coping after experiencing NLE. This study was guided by spiritual/religious coping theory and the general orienting system, theoretical orientation and conceptual framework, respectively. Research questions explored the moderating role of S/R struggle on the relationship of NLE both by number and mean stress level of NLE and S/R coping for evangelical Christians. A sample of 150 participants with inclusion criteria of being adult evangelical Christians who experienced an NLE within the last 12 months were recruited online through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Moderation multiple regression analysis was used to analyze data collected via the Brief Spiritual/Religious Coping Scale, Spiritual/Religious Stress Scale, and amended Schedule of Recent Events. Results support the adoption of alternative hypotheses, demonstrating S/R struggle moderates the relationship between number and sum stress level of NLE and S/R coping for the study’s population. Results allow for positive social change by improved intervention and support for people after experiencing NLE. Implications for the research include confirmatory studies and additional studies to broadening the study’s population increase generalizability.

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