Coping with an Evil World: Contextualizing the Stress-Buffering Role of Scripture Reading
This research note advances the religious coping literature by testing whether belief in an evil world conditions the stress-moderating role of scripture reading. Hypotheses are tested with original data from a survey of black, Hispanic, and white American churchgoers from South Texas (2017–2018; n...
| Authors: | ; ; ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
2021
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| In: |
Journal for the scientific study of religion
Year: 2021, Volume: 60, Issue: 3, Pages: 645-652 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
USA
/ World
/ Evil
/ Bible reading
/ Religiosity
/ Church attendance
/ Mental health
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| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy CB Christian life; spirituality CH Christianity and Society HA Bible KBQ North America |
| Further subjects: | B
Religious Coping
B religious and spiritual struggles B stress process B major life events B Mental Health B scriptural coping |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This research note advances the religious coping literature by testing whether belief in an evil world conditions the stress-moderating role of scripture reading. Hypotheses are tested with original data from a survey of black, Hispanic, and white American churchgoers from South Texas (2017–2018; n = 1,115). Our findings show that reading scripture for insights into the future attenuates the positive association between major life events and psychological distress, but only for congregants who do not believe the world is fundamentally evil and sinful. For congregants who believe the world is evil, scripture reading amplifies the association between life events and distress. Whether scriptural coping is beneficial for mental health could be contingent on a believer's broader assumptions about the nature of the world we live in. |
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| ISSN: | 1468-5906 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12728 |