Citation

Chan CS, Rhodes JE. J. Trauma. Stress 2013; 26(2): 257-265.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jts.21801

PMID

23529889

Abstract

Positive and negative religious coping strategies and their relation with posttraumatic stress (PTS), psychological distress, and posttraumatic growth (PTG) were examined in the context of Hurricane Katrina. Positive religious coping was hypothesized to be associated with PTG, whereas negative religious coping was hypothesized to be associated with PTS and psychological distress. Low-income mothers (N = 386, mean age = 25.4 years, SD = 4.43) were surveyed before, and 1 and 4 years after the storm. Results from structural regression modeling indicated that negative religious coping was associated with psychological distress, but not PTS. Positive religious coping was associated with PTG. Further analysis indicated significant indirect effects of pre- and postdisaster religiousness on postdisaster PTG through positive religious coping. Findings underscore the positive and negative effect of religious variables in the context of a natural disaster.

Language: en