Date of Award
2007
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
Abstract
The paper sought to extend the work of Johnson, Kristeller, and Sheets' (2004) study by exploring the religious moderators of the relationship between stress and adjustment between cultures. Specifically, the goal of the present investigation was to identify whether the buffering effects of religious moderators (i.e., religious coping and religious support) on the relationship between stress and adjustment varied by race, as suggested by a wealth of studies on African Americans that support social and individualistic coping styles are key predictors of positive and negative outcomes, respectively. As predicted, religious support in African Americans was a better predictor of adjustment than religious coping. There was also some evidence of a compensatory effect, which suggested African Americans rely on religious coping in the absence of religious support. Overall, results also supported that in African Americans, religious support is a relatively stronger moderator than religious coping of the effects of life stress on adjustment, as predicted. Furthermore, religious support consistently moderated the effect of life stress on alcohol use and problems while religious coping did not. This is one of the study's strongest findings and was not observed amongst White students.
Recommended Citation
Maddux, Jemour A., "Life Stress, Adjustment, And Religious Support In African Americans" (2007). All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1019.
https://scholars.indianastate.edu/etds/1019