Positive and negative religious/spiritual coping and combat exposure as predictors of posttraumatic stress and perceived growth in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

Abstract

We examined religious/spiritual (RS) coping from the Survey of Experiences of Returning Veterans (SERV) Study, 630 participants who reported on their demographics, combat exposure, use of positive and negative RS coping, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and perceived posttraumatic growth (PPTG). PTSD symptoms and PPTG were inversely correlated. As hypothesized, negative RS coping was inversely associated with PPTG and positively with PTSD, while positive RS coping was related only to PPTG. Although we expected that RS coping would buffer relations between combat exposure and both PTSD and PPTG, we found only one moderator effect and it was opposite our hypothesized direction: Those with high combat exposure and high positive RS coping had the highest PTSD symptomatology. These results suggest, among veterans with combat exposure, negative RS coping is associated with higher PTSD symptomatology, while positive RS coping is generally associated with higher PPTG as well as higher PTSD for those with high combat exposure.

Religiosity and the psychological outcomes of trauma: A systematic review of quantitative studies

“…Thomas and Savoy () showed that the association between trauma exposure and PTG was stronger in people with lower levels of negative religious coping. Positive associations were also found in Park et al, . However, Ahrens et al () and Gerber et al () found no significant links.…”

“…Consistent pattern of associations was found in the case of negative religious coping and symptoms of disorders: depression (Ahrens et al, ; Henslee et al, ; Leaman & Gee, ), PTSD (Berzengi, Berzenji, Kadim, Mustafa, & Jobson, ; Cuevas et al, ; Currier et al, ; Gerber et al, ; Harris et al, ; Leaman & Gee, ; McCann & Webb, ; Park et al, ; Raines et al, ; Wortmann et al, ; Zukerman, Korn, & Fostick, —only in women; Zukerman, Korn, Shapiro, & Fostick, , avoidance symptoms), distress (Chan & Rhodes, ), suicidal ideations (Currier, Smith, & Kuhlman, ; Kopacz et al, ; Raines et al, ), and substance use (Raines et al, ). Lack of significant associations between the negative coping and symptoms of PTSD was demonstrated in Ahrens et al (), Al‐Hadethe et al (), and Chan and Rhodes ().…”

“…Significant interaction effects were found in Maschi et al (, mediation between continuous lifetime trauma exposure and mental disorders symptoms) and Stratta et al (). Partial effects were found in Wortmann et al (), Staton‐Tindall et al (), and Park et al (). Overall, there is some evidence to suggest that the relationships between religiosity and mental health are quantitatively different in the case of trauma, but the area is under‐researched.…”

“…As for the associations between positive religious coping, negative associations with mental health problems were found in Ahrens, Abeling, Ahmad, and Hinman (), Al‐Hadethe, Hunt, Thomas, and Al‐Qaysi (), Currier et al (), and Henslee et al (). Positive religious coping was also a predictor of positive outcomes (PTG and/or well‐being) in five studies: Ahrens et al (), Chan and Rhodes (), Gerber et al (), and Park et al (). Constructs related to positive religious coping—spiritual well‐being or religious comfort—were also explored.…”

Post-traumatic growth in the military: a systematic review

“…All but three19 33 46 of these papers reported Cronbach’s alphas for their samples on the PTGI, in order to assess the internal reliability of the scale. All values were excellent, with ranges between 0.9042 and 0.96 21 37. None of the studies employing the PTGI reported on the validity or reliability of the scale within their sample.…”