Specific Religious Beliefs in a Cognitive Appraisal Model of Stress and Coping

Abstract

Although religiousness is tied to coping, little work examines the role of specific religious beliefs in the coping process. Applying the transactional model of coping, positivity of God image and vertical religious focus were assessed in a national sample of 103 parents of children with disabilities. Controlling for general religiousness, these specific beliefs were correlated with parents' appraisals. Positive God image was associated positively with appraisals that the disability is a challenge, a benefit, and God is in control; it was associated negatively with loss appraisal. Vertical religious focus was associated positively with the appraisal that God is in control. Consistent with the model, appraisals mediated the relation between specific beliefs and coping strategies. Loss appraisal mediated the relation of vertical focus and God image with engagement coping and the appraisal that God is in control further explained the relation between vertical focus and engagement coping.Religion powerfully influences how individuals cope with stress (Pargament, 1997). It explains unique variance in coping and predicts outcomes beyond secular coping (Pargament, 2002). Despite this wealth of research demonstrating that religion is linked with coping, much less is known about how religion enters and forms the coping process. This study addresses this question using a cognitive appraisal approach, providing a broader evaluation of religion's role in coping. We test how specific religious beliefs are related to appraisals of stressors, how these appraisals relate to coping, and how these beliefs fit into the whole coping process. Moreover, we explore the role that specific religious beliefs play beyond that of general religiousness. THE TRANSACTIONAL MODEL OF STRESS AND COPINGCognitive approaches to stress and coping assert that stressors are stressful only if an individual perceives them as such (Bandura, 1977;Roesch, Weiner, & Vaughn, 2002). Among the best-supported cognitive approaches is Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) transactional model. It features cognitive appraisals of a stressor as mediators of the relations between individual difference variables and coping strategies used; these strategies then influence various outcomes.

The Existential Function of Intrinsic Religiousness: Moderation of Effects of Priming Religion on Intercultural Tolerance and Afterlife Anxiety

“…Finally, sample differences may influence the results. As reported elsewhere (Newton and McIntosh , ; Park, Cohen, and Herb ) and theorized here, individual differences in religion can influence psychological responses; differences in religious beliefs between a sample from Texas and one from the western United States may alter outcomes. Future work should investigate these possibilities, as well as explore more generally factors that can integrate and explain the varying findings from religious priming studies.…”

“…Correlational studies of religion's influence are consistent with the idea that religion confers existential security (Baker and Gorsuch ; Beck ; Hood et al ; Hui, Bond, and Ng ; Norenzayan et al ) and that the effects of religious beliefs (e.g., religious coping appraisals, intrinsic orientation) differ depending on a person's faith tradition or religious denomination (Newton and McIntosh , ; Park, Cohen, and Herb ). A recent investigation specific to existential functions revealed that defensive religion (i.e., beliefs that are simplistic, dogmatic, and provide certainty) provides meaning in life through the promise of literal immortality and enhanced religious commitment (Van Tongeren, Hook, and Davis forthcoming), suggesting that the type of religious beliefs one endorses has important implications for existential security.…”

“…Indeed, a core function of religious beliefs may be to provide existential security by addressing these concerns (Batson and Stocks ). However, because heterogeneity in importance and content of beliefs influence psychological responses (e.g., Newton and McIntosh , ; Park, Cohen, and Herb ), religion may have different existential implications for individuals with varying orientations toward religion.…”

Perception of God and Paranoia among Iranian University Students

“…Hill and Hall (2002) had established the effect of elements such as family, society, interactions with people and religious learning/activities on a person's understanding of God. Newton and McIntosh (2010), in their works on the impact of the parents' perception of God on their empathetic potential, discovered that people with positive perceptions of God have enhanced capacities for psychological comforting and that they face challenges more positively. People, who have experienced warm and supportive relationship with their parents have higher self-esteem and believe God to be kind, giving and caring-wherein they develop a perception of God as a loving God, and a spirituality that is founded more on the "love of God" as opposed to "the fear of God".…”

Personal Construct System of a Runaway Adolescent: An Illustrative Case Study

“…It has been emphasized that violence in the family can be a constant source of stress for runaway children. With such violent and abusive family backgrounds, these children are more likely to perceive stressors as uncontrollable and coping as impossible (Newton & McIntosh, 2010). It must also be kept in mind that for successful coping with stressors, a supportive family is considered to be an anchor for children.…”