Original Article
Do Religious/Spiritual Resources Moderate the Association Between Suffering and Religious/Spiritual Struggles? A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study of US Adults with Chronic Illness
Blake Victor Kent,
Richard G. Cowden,
Victor Counted,
Edward B. Davis,
Sandra Y. Rueger,
Everett L. Worthington Jr.,
Corresponding Author
Blake Victor Kent
Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Westmont College
Center on Genomics, Vulnerable Populations, and Health Disparities, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital
Correspondence should be addressed to Blake Victor Kent, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Westmont College, 955 La Paz Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. E-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorRichard G. Cowden
Human Flourishing Program, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University
Search for more papers by this authorVictor Counted
School of Psychology and Counseling, Regent University
Search for more papers by this authorEdward B. Davis
School of Psychology, Counseling, and Family Therapy, Wheaton College
Search for more papers by this authorSandra Y. Rueger
School of Psychology, Counseling, and Family Therapy, Wheaton College
Search for more papers by this authorEverett L. Worthington Jr.
Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University
Search for more papers by this authorBlake Victor Kent,
Richard G. Cowden,
Victor Counted,
Edward B. Davis,
Sandra Y. Rueger,
Everett L. Worthington Jr.,
Corresponding Author
Blake Victor Kent
Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Westmont College
Center on Genomics, Vulnerable Populations, and Health Disparities, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital
Correspondence should be addressed to Blake Victor Kent, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Westmont College, 955 La Paz Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. E-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorRichard G. Cowden
Human Flourishing Program, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University
Search for more papers by this authorVictor Counted
School of Psychology and Counseling, Regent University
Search for more papers by this authorEdward B. Davis
School of Psychology, Counseling, and Family Therapy, Wheaton College
Search for more papers by this authorSandra Y. Rueger
School of Psychology, Counseling, and Family Therapy, Wheaton College
Search for more papers by this authorEverett L. Worthington Jr.
Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University
Search for more papers by this authorAll data related to this study are publicly available on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/2anvx).
Abstract
In this prospective study of US adults with chronic illness (n = 302), we examined the associations of subjective suffering and religious/spiritual (R/S) resources (i.e., religious coping, religious commitment, and spiritual fortitude) with the subsequent experience of R/S struggles. Using a rigorous analytic approach that involved adjusting for numerous covariates and prior values of all exposures and the outcome assessed in Wave 1, we found that suffering assessed in Wave 2 was associated with an increase in subsequent R/S struggles assessed 3 months later (Wave 3). There was modest evidence suggesting that religious commitment and spiritual fortitude (but not religious coping) moderated the association between suffering and subsequent R/S struggles, such that there was a stronger positive association between suffering and R/S struggles at higher levels of each moderator. This study provides preliminary evidence that R/S struggles may be commonly experienced by those with high religious engagement in the face of suffering.
Supporting Information
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
| jssr12808-sup-0001-tables.pdf366.1 KB | Table S1. Baseline sociodemographic characteristics of participants who remained in the cohort and participants who were lost to follow-up Table S2. Associations of participant characteristics assessed at baseline (T1) with religious/spiritual struggles 3 months later (T3) Table S3. Hierarchical regression models for the associations of suffering, religious coping, religious commitment, and spiritual fortitude with religious/spiritual struggles in the subsample of religious adherents |
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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