Bryan Moctezuma Nicolas, Kat Gutierrez, & Dr. Argero Zerr
Religion can be a way of coping for some individuals. Some people are born into a household where they are encouraged to practice religion which could contribute to their coping methods. For example, Ahmand et al. (2023) conducted a study on Muslims who are in the United States which showed that the majority of their participants use religious/spiritual coping as a way to cope with difficulties. Oxhandler et al. (2018) also found that participants who were diagnosed with a mental illness used religious/spiritual coping, in which the majority of the participants conducted practices such as prayer and bible readings to where they felt a sense of comfort and protection by god.
This present study explores how participants from different religions use coping mechanisms. We hypothesize that Muslim and Christian participants are more likely to use religious methods of stress coping compared to agnostics and atheists. Our data was collected via an online survey through Prolific. Participants included 48.7% women, 46.1% male, and 3.6% non-binary, aged 18 to 80 (M = 35 years). Participants included 52.3% White, 13.6% more than one ethnicity, 11.4% Asian, 11% Black or African American, and 9.4% Hispanic or Latinx. Participants completed a survey that consisted of 9 different questions regarding using religious practices to handle stress and emotions (Gutierrez, 2023).
Initial analyses showed that Christian participants reported more frequent use of religious coping methods compared to atheist participants, t(105.45) = 10.03, p < .001, d = 1.4. Additional analyses will examine religious coping strategies for participants with other religious affiliations. We will also examine which specific coping strategies are used most and least often. This study can help to enhance our understanding of how religious coping can serve as a tool for individuals and aid individuals in establishing diverse support systems.