Upenieks Laura
Department of Sociology, Baylor University, Waco, United States.
Rev Relig Res. 2022;64(2):249-278. doi: 10.1007/s13644-022-00487-0. Epub 2022 Apr 11.
Research to date has suggested that religion might be a source of comfort and strength in times of crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it may also be a form of stress if spiritual struggles are experienced. We posit the discussion of religious and spiritual matters as a potential feature of religious life that may be helpful or harmful for dealing with the impacts of spiritual struggles.
This study has two objectives. First, we assess the association between religious/spiritual struggles and both perceptions of psychological distress and self-rated health, affording attention to the prevalence of religious struggles during this time. Second, drawing from social penetration theory, we consider both the potential helpful and harmful role of discussing religion with friends and family members for the well-being of those experiencing various degrees of religious/spiritual struggles.
Using data from a nationally representative sample of Americans collected in January 2021, nearly a year after the onset of the pandemic (N = 1,711), we conduct a series of OLS and ordinal logistic regression models.
Results suggest that religious/spiritual struggles were somewhat common among Americans during COVID-19 and were associated with greater psychological distress and worse perceived self-rated health during the pandemic. In the context of high R/S struggles, both psychological distress and perceived self-rated health were more favorable when religious and spiritual matters were discussed very frequently, several times a week or more. Unlike for psychological distress, however, we found no evidence that discussion of religious matters in the face of greater R/S struggles exacerbated their ill effect on health. Supplemental analyses showed that these findings are not being driven by religious denominational differences across our focal variables.
Encouraged by discussions of faith with close network confidants, people experiencing R/S struggles might seek help in the form of counseling in both secular and/or religious settings. Exploring potential resilience factors, such as religious discussion, may help inform broader or more local strategies aimed at economic recovery. Our results therefore invite future investigation into the role of religious coping in mitigating the health effects of pandemic hardship.
迄今为止的研究表明，宗教可能是在新冠疫情引发的危机时期提供慰藉和力量的源泉，但如果经历精神挣扎，它也可能成为一种压力形式。我们提出将宗教和精神事务的讨论作为宗教生活的一个潜在特征，这可能有助于或有害于应对精神挣扎的影响。
本研究有两个目标。首先，我们评估宗教/精神挣扎与心理困扰感知和自我评定健康之间的关联，同时关注这段时间宗教挣扎的普遍性。其次，借鉴社会渗透理论，我们考虑与朋友和家人讨论宗教对经历不同程度宗教/精神挣扎的人的幸福所具有的潜在有益和有害作用。
我们使用2021年1月收集的具有全国代表性的美国样本数据，此时距疫情爆发已近一年（N = 1711），进行了一系列普通最小二乘法（OLS）和有序逻辑回归模型分析。
结果表明，宗教/精神挣扎在新冠疫情期间的美国人中较为常见，并且与疫情期间更大的心理困扰和更差的自我评定健康状况相关。在宗教/精神挣扎程度较高的情况下，当每周多次或更频繁地讨论宗教和精神事务时，心理困扰和自我评定健康状况都更为良好。然而，与心理困扰不同的是，我们没有发现证据表明在宗教/精神挣扎程度较高时讨论宗教事务会加剧其对健康的不良影响。补充分析表明，这些发现并非由我们重点变量中的宗教派别差异所驱动。
受到与亲密社交圈知己进行信仰讨论的鼓舞，经历宗教/精神挣扎的人可能会在世俗和/或宗教环境中寻求咨询形式的帮助。探索潜在的恢复力因素，如宗教讨论，可能有助于为旨在经济复苏的更广泛或更本地化策略提供信息。因此，我们的研究结果促使未来对宗教应对在减轻疫情困难对健康影响方面的作用进行调查。
