Faith and Coping
Religious Support, Religious Coping, and Illusory Control
Principle Investigator: Dr. Jeff Bjorck
The Faith and Coping research program of Dr. Jeff Bjorck and his students has continued its focus on three major areas during the past year. One involves the study of religious support among adults of various ethnocultural groups and faiths. The second involves religious coping among adults in different contexts. The third involves the assessment of both religious support and religious coping among Christian adolescents. Research has included continued work on three major new psychometric measures.
Research Team (in alphabetical order): Dawna Bilow, Lauren Brighton, Ted Cosse, Katrina Gayles, David Gilliland, Katie Labriola, Eric Nelson, Jim Paulus, Joey Tadie, Brianna VanScoy, Garret Woods, and LaShelle Zellner
Faith Universal Religious Support
Principle Investigator: Dr. Jeff Bjorck
Dr. Bjorck and two alumnae submitted two manuscripts this year (currently under review) regarding the effects of religious support perceived from: (a) one's ‘God’ concept, (b) one's religious leaders, and (c) one's fellow participants. These papers address the new Multi-faith Religious Support Scale (MFRSS) which will continue to be used in future studies. This research builds on an earlier approach (Lazar & Bjorck, 2008) which adapted the original RSS for use explicitly with one religious group (Hebrew-speaking religious Jews in this case). Whereas this previous approach provided additional support for the psychometric validity of the RSS, the current studies seek to provide a more generic version of the scale that can then be used with people of various faiths. This approach will more readily enable comparisons across groups.
Thus far, the MFRSS has been used to assess: (a) 64 Korean Buddhists, (b) 65 English-speaking Muslim university students, (c) 295 Korean Christians, and (d) 539 English-speaking Muslim adult women in the USA (the latter involving an online data collection). All of these studies have consistently shown that perceived religious support is related to better psychological functioning, above and beyond the effects of general social support. During 2009-2010, a religious support paper focused on religious Jewish mothers of large families in Israel was also published, as well as two articles focused on religious support among short-term missionaries and international relief workers, respectively. Several articles are in preparation.
Research Team (in alphabetical order): Audrey Maslim and Gu-Hwa Yi (alumnae)
Religious Support among Adolescents
Principle Investigator: Dr. Jeff Bjorck
Outside of this lab, no published quantitative research has systematically assessed religious support among adolescents. A new measure, the Multi-faith Religious Support Scale-Adolescent (MFRSS-A), has completed its first phase of psychometric assessment. This scale modifies the original RSS for adults in two ways. First, the measure enables assessment for persons of various faiths, and second, its wording targets adolescent populations. In both the pilot study, with 62 church youth group attenders, and the first formal study, with 500 Christian school students, the measure showed excellent psychometric properties. This first study is in preparation for publication submission.
The second wave of research is underway, with a successful longitudinal data collection (two collections, six months apart) completed this past year. This research design permits the implication of causal relationships. Moreover, the data (grades 6-12) enables the assessment of actual received versus simply perceived adolescent religious support. This research will be the basis for Master’s projects and dissertations, prior to publication.
Research Team (in alphabetical order): Dawna Bilow, Robert Braese (alumnus), David Gilliland, Grace Kim (alumna), and Joey Tadie
Religious Coping among Adolescents
Principle Investigator: Dr. Jeff Bjorck
Whereas a significant literature does address religious coping in adults, virtually none has focused systematically on adolescents. Thus, the recent (2010) publication of the Adolescent Religious Coping Scale (ARCS) is significant and will hopefully stimulate growth in this research area. Initial findings showed that adolescents use both avoidant and approach religious coping. In addition, their strategies can be classified as active versus passive. Seven subscales were developed: (a) God Focused Coping, (b) Deferring to God, (c) Seeking Religious Support, (d) Constructive Distraction, (e) Questioning, (f) Avoidance, and (g) Denial. Further, some strategies are generally associated with better functioning (e.g., God Focused and Seeking Religious Support) whereas others are generally linked with poorer functioning (e.g., Questioning and Avoidance). One dissertation has just been completed in connection with this first wave of data. This study showed that gratitude can interact with religious coping to enhance emotional
functioning. The initial ARCS assessed how teens cope in general (styles). During this past year, the same longitudinal study mentioned above included preliminary assessment of a modified version of the ARCS, with wordings change to permit examination of coping with specific stressors (strategies). The broad sample (grades 6 – 12) will also provide the means to assess the effects of age on religious coping. A master’s project is currently in progress with this data, and more dissertations and masters will follow prior to publication of findings.
Research Team (in alphabetical order): Robert Braese, David Gilliand, and Joey Tadie
Religious Coping among Adults
Principle Investigator: Dr. Jeff Bjorck
One recently completed adult religious coping study was in connection with a dissertation. This project compared explicit self-report measures and implicit attitude assessments (IAT) of religious coping and found them to be divergent constructs, consistent with other literature on IAT. Two other projects are underway, which will provide the bases for Master's projects and related publications. The first focuses on the impact of religious coping on cyberpornography use among Christian college students. The second examines religious coping among married couples. Both are nearing completion, and both areas are intended topics for additional future research.
Research Team (in alphabetical order): Ted Cosse, Eric Nelson, and Brianna VanScoy