Predictors of growth from spiritual struggle among Christian undergraduates: Religious coping and perceptions of helpful action by God are both important

Exline, Julie J.; Hall, Todd W.; Pargäment, Kenneth I.; Harriott, Valencia A.

doi:10.1080/17439760.2016.1228007

Cited by 51 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Importantly, the results remained significant even after controlling Islamic religiousness, implying that a spiritual jihad mindset may be contributing additional unique variance in Muslims' perceived spiritual and post-traumatic growth experiences. Although research on the relationship between r/s struggles and growth is mixed, the current findings add preliminary evidence to proposed suggestions in the literature that the actual response to the r/s struggle, rather than the struggle itself, may be what predicts spiritual growth or decline (Exline and Rose 2013;Exline et al 2016;Wilt et al 2017). Similar results emerged in regard to the association between a spiritual jihad mindset and perceived spiritual decline.…”

Section: Key Findingssupporting

confidence: 73%

Spiritual Jihad among U.S. Muslims: Preliminary Measurement and Associations with Well-Being and Growth

2018

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Abstract:Religious and spiritual (r/s) struggles entail tension and conflict regarding religious and spiritual aspects of life. R/s struggles relate to distress, but may also relate to growth. Growth from struggles is prominent in Islamic spirituality and is sometimes referred to as spiritual jihad. This work's main hypothesis was that in the context of moral struggles, incorporating a spiritual jihad mindset would relate to well-being, spiritual growth, and virtue. The project included two samples of U.S. Muslims: an online sample from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) worker database website (N = 280) and a community sample (N = 74). Preliminary evidence of reliability and validity emerged for a new measure of a spiritual jihad mindset. Results revealed that Islamic religiousness and daily spiritual experiences with God predicted greater endorsement of a spiritual jihad mindset among participants from both samples. A spiritual jihad mindset predicted greater levels of positive religious coping (both samples), spiritual and post-traumatic growth (both samples), and virtuous behaviors (MTurk sample), and less depression and anxiety (MTurk sample). Results suggest that some Muslims incorporate a spiritual jihad mindset in the face of moral struggles. Muslims who endorse greater religiousness and spirituality may specifically benefit from implementing a spiritual jihad mindset in coping with religious and spiritual struggles.

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Section: Key Findingssupporting

confidence: 73%

Spiritual Jihad among U.S. Muslims: Preliminary Measurement and Associations with Well-Being and Growth

2018

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“…Perceiving God as distant (Exline, Grubbs, & Homolka, 2015) may be related to having a higher passive SHLOC or a lower Active SHLOC. Exline, Hall, Pargament, and Harriott (2017) note that one predictor of growth as a result of religious struggle was positive religious coping that focuses on actions that people initiate in order to engage more deeply with God. However, a second predictor of growth was the perception that God had initiated some type of helpful action, such as communication, intervention, or providing support.…”

Section: Locus Of Control and Physical And Mental Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Longitudinal Study of Religiosity, Spiritual Health Locus of Control, and Health Behaviors in a National Sample of African Americans

Clark

Williams²,

Huang

et al. 2018

J Relig Health

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The present longitudinal study examined religious beliefs and behaviors, spiritual health locus of control (SHLOC), and selected health-related behaviors and outcomes in a national sample of 766 African American adults. Participants were interviewed by telephone three times over a 5-year period. Results indicated that stronger religious beliefs and religious behaviors were associated with greater changes in active SHLOC. There was some evidence of direct effects of religious beliefs and behaviors on changes in health behaviors. Religious behaviors were related to greater passive SHLOC over time across some health outcomes. Passive SHLOC was associated with some less desirable health outcomes over time.

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“…In fact, recent work suggests that R/S struggles may be a font of well-being (Szcześniak et al 2019;Zarzycka and Zietek 2019) and comfort (Van Tongeren et al 2013). They may also be a determinant of spiritual growth (Exline et al 2017;Park and Cohen 1993) and transformation (Wilt et al 2019b). People may come out of R/S struggles with a deeper sense of self and individual strength (Wilt et al 2019a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mediating Effect of Coping Strategies on Religious/Spiritual Struggles and Life Satisfaction

Szczęśniak¹,

Kroplewski²,

Szałachowski³

2020

Religions

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A growing number of researchers are testing potential problematic forms of religiousness that denote anxieties regarding sacred matters. However, only a few studies have assessed how religious/spiritual struggle is associated with positive outcomes. Because people’s coping responses to stressors are key determinants of their well-being, we expected that different coping strategies could be potential mediators between religious problems/tensions and life satisfaction. The research was conducted on a group of 744 Roman Catholics. We used the Religious Comfort and Strain Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE) questionnaire. The outcomes show that religious comfort correlated positively with life satisfaction, while fear/guilt, negative emotions toward God, and negative social interactions surrounding religion correlated negatively with life satisfaction. Our research amplifies the understanding of the religious/spiritual struggles and life satisfaction relationship, mediated by “secular” coping strategies. It confirms that both religious and secular methods of experiencing different strains seem to coexist with multiple other strategies in the context of broadly understood life satisfaction.

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Predictors of growth from spiritual struggle among Christian undergraduates: Religious coping and perceptions of helpful action by God are both important

Cited by 51 publications

References 23 publications

Spiritual Jihad among U.S. Muslims: Preliminary Measurement and Associations with Well-Being and Growth

Spiritual Jihad among U.S. Muslims: Preliminary Measurement and Associations with Well-Being and Growth

A Longitudinal Study of Religiosity, Spiritual Health Locus of Control, and Health Behaviors in a National Sample of African Americans

The Mediating Effect of Coping Strategies on Religious/Spiritual Struggles and Life Satisfaction

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