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People commonly report positive changes following stressful experiences (perceived posttraumatic growth; PPTG), yet whether PPTG validly reflects positive changes remains unestablished.We tested the extent to which COVID-19 pandemic-related PPTG relates to positive changes in corresponding psychosocial resources in a national US sample participating in a five wave study (T1-T5), focusing here on T2-T5:Associations between change scores and occasion-specific PPTG were sparse, providing limited evidence of PPTG validity. Associations between change scores and stable PPTG tended to be positive and stronger than associations for occasion-specific PPTG.Perceptions of growth were largely unrelated to experienced positive changes and thus appear to be largely illusory. However, a personality-like tendency to believe one grows from stressful experiences relates more strongly to actual resource growth. These results suggest that people are not accurate reporters of positive changes they experience and that interventions aimed at promoting post-traumatic growth may be premature.

Social media use increased early in the Covid-19 pandemic, but little information is available about its impact. The present study examined associations of frequency of use of different social media and the motives for use with subsequent social well-being and mental health. Data were gathered on a nationwide sample of 843 Americans during the first wave of lockdowns and infections in mid-April 2020, and again five weeks later. Participants were adults ages 20 to 88 years old (

Resilience is highly relevant in the context of cancer, and understanding how survivors adapt and potentially thrive following their diagnosis and treatment may provide insights into better supports and interventions to promote healthier survivorship. In this paper, we characterize two different ways to conceptualize and study resilience in cancer survivorship, as a trait and as a process. We focus specifically on the transition from active treatment to post-treatment survivorship. We present data from 225 cancer patients transitioning from active treatment (baseline assessment) to early survivorship (6-month follow-up). Results demonstrate that resilience assessed as a trait at baseline was unrelated to changes in survivors’ mental or physical wellbeing at follow-up, but did predict a decline in social satisfaction and spiritual wellbeing over time. However, when resilience is conceptualized as a dynamic process, the sample showed substantial resilience on multiple aspects of wellbeing. We suggest that different ways of conceptualizing resilience--as a trait versus as a dynamic process--may lead to very different conclusions and discuss future research directions for cancer survivors and for science of resilience.

Intrinsic and extrinsic (I/E) religious motives remain a perennial topic of interest within the psychology of religion. Yet, the status of this construct remains unclear despite many decades of res...

Purpose Internalized weight stigma (IWS) is common in the United States of America across body weight categories, and is implicated in the development of distress and unhealthy eating behaviors (e.g. overeating, disordered eating) that can foster poor cardiometabolic health. While emerging intervention research shows early promise in reducing IWS, long-term efficacy is unclear and novel strategies remain needed. This analysis examined whether participation in a mindful yoga intervention was associated with reduced IWS and increased intuitive eating, an adaptive eating behavior, and whether these changes correlated with each other or with changes in mindfulness and self-compassion. Methods Participants were stressed adults with low fruit and vegetable intake (N = 78, 64.1% White, M. Body Mass Index 25.59 ± 4.45) enrolled in a parent clinical trial of a 12-week mindful yoga intervention. Validated self-report measures of IWS, intuitive eating, mindfulness, and self-compassion were administered at pre-treatment, mid-treatment (8 weeks), post-treatment (12 weeks), and 4-month follow-up (24 weeks). Results Linear mixed modeling revealed significant improvements in IWS and intuitive eating across the four timepoints (p

Religious beliefs are generally linked with less distress and higher psychological well-being, but few studies have been conducted with non-Christian samples or outside the United States. We examin...

OBJECTIVE: Few studies have examined relations between college sporting events and maladaptive health behaviors among non-athlete college students. PARTICIPANTS: 97 college students METHODS: Completed nightly surveys (alcohol, eating, physical activity, sexual risk taking, smoking) for 11 days around a National Championship game. RESULTS: Baseline stress and rumination was related to worse health behavior; mindfulness was related to better health behavior. Hierarchical linear modeling showed that all maladaptive health behaviors significantly increased the day of the sporting event compared to individuals’ baseline levels. Rumination significantly predicted a spike in alcohol use and sexual risk taking behavior on on the day of the Championship game. CONCLUSIONS: Risk factors for maladaptive health behaviors include stress and rumination, while mindfulness is protective. Interventions may work to make sports events on campus safer for students (e.g., condoms, reminder emails, mindfulness interventions for at risk groups); more research is needed.

The enormous amount of information on wisdom gathered and synthesized in the target article provides a strong base for future research on wisdom, and new or refined lines of inquiry will surely fol...

Emotion dysregulation, a risk factor for suicide ideation and attempts, has not been studied in U.S. veterans of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn (OEF/OIF/OND). Data were collected through standardized telephone interviews and computer-based surveys from 278 OEF/OIF/OND veterans (70.6% male, 29.4% female). Bivariate analyses indicated that emotion dysregulation was associated with suicidal ideation during the past-three-months (r = 0.30, p < 0.05) and lifetime suicide attempts (r = 0.21, p < 0.05). When PTSD and depression symptoms were added to a sequential logistic regression model, emotion dysregulation was no longer significantly associated with ideation or attempt. Emotion dysregulation was associated with suicidal ideation and attempt; however, current distress had greater associations. Dysregulation is one of several factors in veteran suicide risk.

People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) often face significant stress, ranging from perceiving identity changes to encountering barriers to daily health behavior engagement. To manage these experiences, many people use positive reappraisal coping (including benefit finding and perceiving growth). Effective coping is highly important for PLWHA; stress reduction has salutary effects on multiple indicators of health. The present systematic review, conducted in PubMed, PsycINFO, and CINAHL, synthesises findings from 33 studies of PLWHA, addressing effects of positive reappraisal on health-related outcomes for adults living with HIV as a chronic illness. Studies were evaluated based on methodological considerations, measurement of key variables, and implications for specific aspects of health. Results suggest that positive reappraisal is often beneficial when dealing with the implications of a potentially traumatic HIV diagnosis on one's identity, although effects may be contextually bound. Implications of these findings are reviewed, emphasizing the importance of positive reappraisal for enhancing health promotion and self-management of HIV. Although the present review is limited by inclusion of multiple disparate outcomes and exclusion of non-English-language articles, these findings inform a comprehensive model of direct and indirect effects of positive reappraisal on emotional, functional, physiological, and behavioural aspects of health useful for guiding future research.

Chronic illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, and chronic pain often create intense and pervasive stress. Although much research has focused on the importance of coping in managing chronic illness, the importance of controllability appraisals in determining the efficacy of various coping strategies (i.e., the 'goodness-of-fit hypothesis') for individuals living with chronic illness has yet to be established. To evaluate support for the goodness-of-fit hypothesis, we conducted a systematic literature review, identifying and synthesising results of 15 studies that reported on conditional effects of problem-, emotion-, and meaning-focused coping strategies, depending on controllability appraisals. Results across studies were mixed, with some coping strategies but not others demonstrating significant interaction effects with controllability appraisals in models predicting psychological and physiological markers of health. Studies demonstrated considerable heterogeneity in design and measurement, with the majority reliant on cross-sectional design and thus unable to infer temporality in the effects of coping on adjustment. In addition, lack of consensus regarding the measurement and categorisation of coping precluded definitive conclusions regarding contextual effects of many strategies. To better understand these patterns of coping as they unfold in daily experience, future work should incorporate contemporary methods such as experience sampling and multilevel statistical modeling.

Educational attainment is increasingly recognised as a unique dimension of socioeconomic status (SES) and a powerful determinant of health behaviour-and thus physical health and mortality. However, very little is known about the specific pathways through which education influences these health behaviours.The present study used a nationally representative US survey to test three potential psychosocial pathways (perceived control, health literacy and social support) through which education might influence intake of fruits and vegetables (FV), physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB), controlling for other aspects of SES (income, health insurance status) and demographics (age, gender, race/ethnicity).Both aspects of perceived control (locus of control, cancer fatalism) mediated the impact of education on FV and PA while only locus of control mediated the impact of education on SB. Further, only one aspect of health literacy (ability to understand recommendations) mediated education's effect on any health behaviour (FV). Social support did not mediate any of the effects of education on health behaviors.Future work explicitly assessing and testing these mediational pathways is needed to better understand how education influences people's health behaviours throughout their lives.

The goal of this longitudinal qualitative study was to develop a grounded theory of religious meaning making and attachment in a disaster context. At 1-month (T1; n = 36) and 6-months postdisaster ...

Managing stress is very important for first-year college students adjusting to undergraduate life. Aspects of emotion regulation, including mindfulness and the ability to regulate distressing emotion adaptively, often correlate positively with well-being. However, little research has examined overlapping and/or distinct effects of these constructs in predicting changes in adjustment over a stressful transition. Thus, the present study examined the contributions of mindfulness and adaptive emotion regulation abilities in maintaining well-being during the transition to college. We further examined experience with mind-body practices, which may promote mindfulness and positive adjustment.Online surveys were administered to 158 undergraduates near the beginning and end of their first semester.Near semester start and end, students reported levels of mindfulness, adaptive emotion regulation abilities, emotional and spiritual well-being, and experience with mind-body practices.Compared to mindfulness, adaptive emotion regulation abilities largely demonstrated stronger cross-sectional and longitudinal associations with well-being. However, mindfulness uniquely protected against changes in depression for students with greater emotion regulation difficulties. Over half of participants reported having tried mind-body practices, but just 1% reported current use.Promoting mindfulness practices and adaptive emotion regulation abilities at the start of college may build resilience in undergraduate students.

The aim of the present study is to examine religious coping and depression as predictors of suicide risk in a large U.S. veteran sample from recent conflicts. Demographic, military history, depressive symptomatology, positive and negative religious coping and self-reported suicidal behavior were analyzed in a sample of 772 recently returned veterans. Suicide risk was computed as a continuum of risk across 4 separate categories. Negative religious coping was significantly associated with suicide risk, even after statistically controlling for depressive symptomatology and other variables. The present analysis did not find any significant relationships for positive religious coping. No significant gender interaction effects were found. The present findings support the importance of understanding veteran experiences of religious coping, particularly negative religious coping, in the context of suicide prevention efforts.

Spiritual issues are often implicated in trauma, yet little research has examined the specific pathways through which trauma may affect spiritual well-being or relations between spiritual well-being and other aspects of adjustment following trauma. Such information would be helpful in developing psychological interventions for trauma recovery. In a sample of 436 college students who had survived a traumatic experience, a transactional stress and coping perspective were used to examine both predictors of three components of spiritual well-being (faith, meaning, and peace) and relations between spiritual well-being and other aspects of psychological adjustment. Results suggest that different patterns of appraisals and coping predict each component of spiritual well-being and that all three components-particularly those of meaning and peace-are related to psychological adjustment. These results suggest that spiritual well-being is an important posttraumatic outcome warranting future research and clinical attention.

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to clarify the associations between meaning in life and physical health using random-effects models. Conceptualisation of meaning (order in world vs. purpose in life), type of health indicators, participants' health status, and age issues were investigated as moderators. Systematic searches of six databases resulted in inclusion of k = 66 studies (total N = 73,546). Findings indicated that meaning in life and physical health formed weak-to-moderate associations (the overall estimate of the average effect = 0.258). Conceptualisation of meaning, participants' health status, and their age did not moderate these associations. Operationalisation of health moderated the relationship between meaning in life and health. The strongest associations were found for subjective indicators of physical health. Significant albeit weak associations between meaning in life and objective indices of health were found. Furthermore, stronger effects were observed when the measures of meaning combined items referring to meaning in life and meaning-related sense of harmony, peace, and well-being, compared to measures focusing solely on meaning in life. Overall, the results point to the potential role of meaning in life in explaining physical health.

Compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) is defined as difficulties in controlling inappropriate or excessive sexual fantasies, urges, or behaviors that cause subjective distress or impairment in important...

‘Cancer is a tremendous opportunity to have your face pressed right up against the glass of your mortality.’ (Jason Shinder, New York Times, 24 December 2008)While people in many parts of the world...

The need for brief, low-cost, easily disseminable and effective interventions to promote healthy lifestyles is high. This is especially true for mental health providers. We developed two studies to compare the impacts of Cognitive Behavioral Stress Management (CBSM) and Yoga Based Stress Management (YBSM) interventions for healthcare professionals. Study 1 offered an 8-week YBSM intervention to 37 mental healthcare participants and collected health data pre and post. Study 2 offered YBSM and CBSM classes to 40 randomly assigned mental healthcare providers and collected mental and physical health data at four time points. In Study 1, using t-tests, the YBSM intervention affected a number of mental and physical wellbeing indices pre to post. In Study 2, using linear mixed modeling, both YBSM and CBSM groups improved significantly (p

Little information is available about HF patients' desires regarding having their healthcare providers address their spiritual concerns, feeling constrained in doing so, and the extent to which their spiritual needs go unmet. Nearly half of our sample reported high levels of unmet spiritual needs and reported moderately strong desires to have their doctor or other healthcare professional attend to their spiritual needs, and moderately strong feelings of constraint in doing so. Spiritual constraint and unmet spiritual needs were associated with poorer spiritual, psychological and physical well-being, but these effects varied, depending on patients' desire to discuss spiritual needs. These findings have important implications for clinical management of HF patients.

We examined whether (1) fear of cancer recurrence was related to lower health-related quality of life and (2) perceived growth moderated the link between fear of recurrence and health-related quality of life. About 292 adolescent and young adult cancer survivors (diagnosed with cancer at ages 15–34) completed a cross-sectional survey. Fear of recurrence was related to poorer physical and mental health-related quality of life. The negative association between fear of recurrence and mental health-related quality of life was moderated by perceived growth. Fostering perceived growth may mitigate the adverse associations of fear of recurrence and health-related quality of life.

To address conceptual difficulties and advance research on meaning in life (MIL), it may be useful to adopt a tripartite view of meaning as consisting of comprehension, purpose, and mattering. This paper discusses the development of the Multidimensional Existential Meaning Scale (MEMS), which explicitly assesses these three subconstructs. Results from three samples of undergraduates showed the MEMS to have favorable psychometric properties (e.g. good factor structure and reliability) and demonstrated that it can effectively differentiate the three subconstructs of meaning. Regression and relative importance analyses showed that each MEMS subscale carried predictive power for relevant variables and other meaning measures. Additionally, the MEMS subscales demonstrated theoretically consistent, differential associations with other variables (e.g. dogmatism, behavioral activation, and spirituality). Overall, results suggest that the MEMS may offer more conceptual precision than existing measures, and ...

Many theorists posit that religiousness/spirituality (RS) may change after trauma. However, empirical findings regarding RS following trauma are inconclusive. The present study examined the relationship between potentially traumatic events (PTEs) and current RS by considering the cumulative effect of PTEs and multiple dimensions of RS. In our sample of 245 undergraduates (60% female, 79% White), there were no differences in RS between participants who did and did not have PTEs. When analysed as a continuous variable, the number of PTEs was positively correlated with many RS dimensions (i.e., daily spiritual experiences, religious strain, religious comfort, provident and challenging God images, belief in God) but not all (i.e., organised religious involvement, belief in afterlife, benevolent God image). These results suggest that PTEs relate distinctly to different aspects of RS and that examining multiple dimensions of RS may be a more informative way of studying this association.

This article continues the dialogue begun during the First Congress on the Construction of Personal Meaning by addressing specific questions generated at the Congress. I argue that it is desirable to move toward consensus in understanding existential meaning, that it is useful to reframe the human “need for meaning” as the “need for a functional meaning system,” and that it is important to consider the functionality of individuals’ meaning systems as determining when and how they may change. I describe a model of global meaning as comprising beliefs (cognitions), goals (motivation), and a subjective sense of meaning (emotion); and meaning making as aligning one's appraisals of situations with one's global meaning. I highlight the unique role that spirituality plays in the meaning systems of many people. I conclude by strongly encouraging future researchers to develop and use strong measures of meaning-related constructs. My aim in this article is to help foster consensus and advance the science of human m...

In an effort to provide some integration to the commentaries in this special issue on existential meaning, this article explores some of the tensions expressed within and across the commentaries regarding how conceptualization and research on meaning should proceed. These tensions include (a) mystery versus science, (b) situational versus global focus, (c) boundaries versus boundlessness, (d) subjective versus objective phenomena, (e) cognitive versus affective aspects, and (f) universal versus culturespecific meanings. Each of these tensions warrants considerable exploration and discussion; future advances in our understanding of existential meaning depend on our successful resolution of these tensions. The commentaries in this special issue on the prospects for advancing our understanding of meaning in life contain many great insights and ideas. Collectively, these commentaries provide much wisdom and many directions for future theory development and empirical research. To provide some integration, I hi...

Stress affects students in multiple ways. This article provides a conceptual overview of the direct (e.g., psychoneuroimmunological, endocrine) and indirect (health behavior) pathways through which stress affects physical health, the psychological effects of stress on mental health, and the cognitive effects of stress (e.g., attention, concentration) on academic success. We review relevant literature highlighting these links and suggest directions for future research and interventions.

Research increasingly demonstrates that trauma exposure can have cumulative effects, yet much remains to be learned about effects of cumulative trauma, particularly regarding longer term adjustment. One such trauma, combat exposure, is insufficiently understood, especially for women, who are increasingly engaged in professional combat activities.The study comprised a cross-sectional survey assessing multiple aspects of current well-being in women approximately 25 years after their service in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.Participants were 1374 women (78% military and 22% nonmilitary; mean age = 59.7). This study investigated the relations between three separate categories of trauma exposure (childhood, adulthood, and combat) and well-being and examined whether perceived social support at return from Vietnam moderated the association between combat exposure and well-being.While both childhood and adulthood trauma exposure related to midlife well-being, combat exposure still uniquely predicted outcomes. Further, postdeployment perceived social support moderated the association of combat and well-being: recollected higher perceived social support at homecoming buffered participants from the links between combat exposure and well-being.These results may have important implications for interventions to reduce the impact of traumatic experiences, particularly in light of the increasing exposure of women to direct combat events.

The first edition of the Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (Paloutzian & Park, 2005a) was well received, as evidenced by its extensive use as a major research resource by coll...

Theory and research on meaning has proliferated in recent years, focusing on both global meaning and processes of making meaning from difficult life events such as trauma and serious illness. However, the measurement of meaning constructs lags behind theoretical conceptualizations, hindering empirical progress. In this paper, we first delineate a meaning-making framework that integrates current theorizing about meaning and meaning making. From the vantage of this framework, we then describe and evaluate current approaches to assessing meaning-related phenomena, including global meaning and situational meaning constructs. We conclude with suggestions for an integrative approach to assessing meaning-related constructs in future research.

Existing empirical literature has typically treated meaning and purpose as identical. Based on previous theoretical propositions of these two constructs as distinct, we hypothesized that meaning (defined as a sense of comprehension and significance in life) and purpose (defined as a sense of goals, aims, and direction in life) would have different predictors and correlates. We utilized a longitudinal design and collected data from 167 cancer survivors at two time points one year apart. Although meaning and purpose were strongly correlated, they had different predictors and correlates. Regression analyses showed Time 2 meaning was predicted by Time 1 spirituality, whereas Time 2 purpose was predicted by Time 1 social support. At Time 2, meaning was positively correlated with posttraumatic growth and negatively with posttraumatic depreciation, whereas purpose was negatively correlated with intrusive thoughts pertaining to cancer. Implications of an understanding of meaning and purpose as distinct constructs...

The effect of emotional approach coping (EAC) varies by gender. However, this gender difference has not yet been investigated in cancer survivors. We investigated whether the effects of two kinds of EAC--emotional processing (EP) and emotional expression (EE)--vary by gender and whether EAC has effects above and beyond the effect of other coping strategies.EAC and other coping strategies were assessed at baseline in a sample of 248 young to middle-aged adult (between the age of 22 and 55) cancer survivors. One hundred and sixty-six survivors responded to psychological adjustment one year later.EAC had different relationships with Time 2 adjustment in men and women. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that for men, EE predicted lower intrusive thoughts and, for women, EP was associated with higher positive affect when other coping strategies and EE were controlled.Gender differences held true in cancer survivors, and EAC was effective when other coping strategies were controlled. Further, EE was effective in reducing negative adjustment in men while EP was helpful in promoting positive adjustment in women.

Using the meaning making model as our framework, we examined relations among global and appraised meaning and well-being in a sample of 189 college students who had experienced a highly stressful event in the past 5 years. Results suggested that elements of both global meaning (especially self-esteem beliefs) and situational meaning (especially appraisals of the event as violating one's goals) were independently related to a range of well-being outcomes, including depression, anxiety, stress, subjective happiness, and life satisfaction. However, relations varied by specific aspect of well-being. Neither control nor religious beliefs were consistently related to well-being. These results demonstrate the importance of both global and situational meanings in adjusting to life stress. Counselors should attend to both global and situational meanings in the context of helping clients deal with stressful experiences; such attention may focus on bolstering adaptive global beliefs such as self-esteem while also re...

During their college years, students experience a variety of life transitions, including significant gains and losses. Spiritual transformations and struggles surrounding religious faith are also common during college. Despite its prominence, little is known about how spiritual struggle influences college students' adjustment to loss and whether the relationship differs by religious denomination. In a longitudinal study of college students dealing with personally significant losses, the authors assessed how spiritual struggle was related to negative (symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression) and positive (stress-related growth and life satisfaction) aspects of adjustment and whether denomination moderated these relationships. Results indicated that struggle has a powerful adverse impact on adjustment. Further, denomination moderated the relationship of struggle with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms concurrently and after a 2-month lag, such that spiritual struggle appeared particularly toxic ...

Our earlier study of U.S. prisoners of war in Vietnam (King et al., 2011) examined personal and military demographics and aspects of the stressful experience of wartime imprisonment as they related to psychological well-being shortly after homecoming in 1973. Research with repatriated prisoners of war (RPWs) from other military eras suggests that the severity of captivity stressors might predict long-term distress. However, the extent to which effects of the captivity experience persisted for Vietnam-era RPWs is unknown. The present study extended our previous analyses by examining the associations of demographic factors, captivity stressors, and repatriation mental health with subsequent symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depressive symptoms (measured nearly 30 years later) in a sample of 292 Vietnam-era RPWs. Results indicated that although most of the men in our sample were within normal limits on anxiety and depressive symptoms, a substantial minority reported experiencing clinically significant levels. Levels of PTSD symptoms were generally low, with only a modest proportion demonstrating elevations. Multiple regression analyses showed that age at capture and posttraumatic stress symptoms at repatriation predicted all three long-term mental health outcomes. In addition, physical torture predicted long-term PTSD symptoms. Findings highlight the potential long-term effects of wartime captivity, and also suggest that most Vietnam-era RPWs demonstrate remarkable resilience to extraordinarily stressful life experiences.

According to the meaning making model, traumatic events disrupt global meaning systems, and meaning making coping helps restore congruency between global meaning and appraisals of traumatic events. We examined the contextual and coping predictors of two specific meanings made: having made sense and perceiving post-traumatic growth in a nationally representative sample of 1004 adults approximately six weeks after the September 11th terrorist attacks in the United States. Although the two meanings made were positively correlated, they had very different predictors: having made sense was primarily predicted by some aspects of meaning focused coping as well as other typically adaptive coping (e.g., active coping), but perceived growth was predicted by nearly all types of coping. Further, having made sense was related to less distress, but perceived growth was related to more distress. These results suggest that having made sense is a product of meaning focused and active coping and appears adaptive, while pos...

Both positive and negative changes are commonly reported by cancer survivors, and both may impact quality of life. Yet few studies have directly compared the associations of positive and negative changes across multiple life domains with multiple aspects of well-being. This study examined positive and negative changes and their conjoint relation to a range of well-being indices. We used correlational and regression analyses of data from 237 young to middle aged (X = 45.3 years) cancer survivors, several years after treatment. Measures included demographic and medical variables, medical post-cancer positive and negative changes on multiple life domains, and a range of positive and negative adjustment indices. Demographic factors, especially income, related to both positive and negative outcomes. On average, participants reported no change on most life domains, although modest amounts of both positive and negative changes were reported. Negative change, rather than positive change, was closely associated with cancer survivors' adjustment. Detailed measurement of both positive and negative changes - as well as lack of change - is important to advance understanding of cancer's impact on survivors.

The goodness-of-fit coping hypothesis posits that problem-focused (PF) coping is particularly helpful under high controllability conditions, while emotion-focused (EF) coping is more helpful in low controllability situations. However, little research has examined whether the goodness-of-fit hypothesis applies to religious coping, a distinct set of coping resources and efforts. Further, little goodness-of-fit research has been conducted in the context of life-threatening illness. We tested coping goodness-of-fit for PF and EF as well as religious coping resources and strategies in 202 congestive heart failure (CHF) patients. Multiple regression analyses examined the extent to which each type of coping, health locus of control (HLOC) regarding their CHF, and their interactions related to subsequent depressed affect. Neither religious coping efforts nor religious resources were related to depressed affect. However, when examined in conjunction with internal HLOC, active coping and organized religious commitment were related to less depression for those higher in internal HLOC, while daily spiritual experience was related to less depression for those lower in HLOC. These results partially support the goodness-of-fit hypothesis and indicate a need to consider the perceived controllability of situations when examining the associations of religious coping resources and activities on depressive symptoms in the context of illness.

Many studies have shown that expressive writing about a traumatic event leads to better outcomes. One explanation is that writing allows participants to successfully process the trauma. Pronoun use may be an important variable: One study demonstrated that pronoun usage in participants' narratives correlated with physical health. Results from the present study indicated that use of the pronoun I was initially related to poor adjustment, but increased use of “I” by the final journal entry was linked to several aspects of better psychological adjustment. “I” may indicate self-focus, which may facilitate efforts at processing traumatic events.

In a sample of 154 college students, prevalence of religious belief change and its relationship to religiosity and coping variables were examined twice over the course of one month. Students who reported belief change (62%) scored higher than those who did not on measures of religiosity and fared worse on adjustment measures. Significant differences in coping strategies were noted, with the change group using more religious coping and alcohol and drugs to cope. Within the change group, a higher degree of change was related to higher levels of religiousness and religious coping, and poorer adjustment at baseline and follow-up.

Background: Although adherence to medical treatment is often posited as a pathway through which religion exerts its effects on health, this notion has rarely been examined. We assessed associations between dimensions of religiousness and adherence with medical advice regarding health behaviors relevant to their illness in a sample of 202 congestive heart failure (CHF) patients. We hypothesized that participants with higher levels of religious support and commitment and positive religious coping would have higher levels of adherence to health behaviors prescribed to manage their illness, whereas negative religious coping would be related to poorer adherence. Method: Participants were assessed through questionnaires twice over a six month period. Dimensions of religiousness assessed included religious social support, religious commitment, and positive and negative religious coping. Adherence was based on self-report and consisted of three factors measuring CHF-related behaviors, diet, and substance...

The meaning-making framework of trauma and recovery is presented. The following specific topics are discussed: (a) the meaning-making coping framework and the processes of meaning that typically occur following traumatic encounters; (b) empirical support for the meaning-making model; (c) the possibility that growth may result from this making of meaning; (d) methodologies for examining meaning making, including both quantitative and qualitative research; and (e) clinical implications of the meaning-making framework.

Depression is a serious and pervasive concomitant of congestive heart failure (CHF). The aim of the present study was to expand on Holahan et al.'s model of social support and active coping as determinants of depression in individuals with cardiac illness. We examined social support, appraisals, and coping as subsequent predictors of depression in a sample of 163 community-dwelling individuals with diagnosed CHF. The results of structural equation analyses indicated that the satisfaction with social support and percentage of active coping employed were prospectively related to lower levels of depression, and that appraisals of one's illness as threatening were a strong predictor of higher levels of depression. These findings suggest that focusing on social support and coping processes may be a useful avenue for alleviating depression in those living with CHF.

This study examines how religiousness is related to the appraised meaning of stressful encounters and whether meaning appraisals are related to adjustment. Participants were 83 older adults (61 women, 22 men; mean age 77.9 years) who reported on their current most stressful experience and their most stressful life experience, their appraisal of these events, and their personal and public religiousness, and religious coping style. One month later, 69 participants reported on their adjustment (depressive symptoms, subjective health, stress-related growth from a current stressor, and from their most stressful life experience). Religiousness was associated with appraised meanings of stressors (e.g., to higher appraised challenge and making of meaning) and with subsequent adjustment. Further, appraised meanings were related to some aspects of positive as well as negative adjustment to both current stressors and most stressful life experiences, but little support was found for the notion that appraised...

The past three decades have seen an explosion of research into how people cope with stress; over 33,000 articles have been published. Despite the initial theoretical justification for research into coping – that it would moderate the adverse effects of stress on physical health – relatively few published studies have actually examined this hypothesis. This special issue is an attempt to redirect researchers' attention to focusing on this issue. The results re-emphasize that there is no “magic bullet” in coping research; rather, the effects of coping are highly complex, and vary as a function of the type of stressor as well as the individual's characteristics. More complex theoretical and analytical models are needed to fully understand the impact of coping on physical health.

This article integrates findings from a wide variety of research to describe the roles of death-specific religious beliefs in the course of stress and coping in bereavement. First, a meaning-making approach to the stress-coping process is presented and used to illustrate how death-specific beliefs provide meaning to the appraisal of a death and influence the process of coping with that death. Then, the constructs of belief in an afterlife and continued attachment are introduced as death-specific beliefs influential in the process of coping with bereavement. Finally, the meaning-making stress-coping framework is used to review and integrate available literature on these beliefs, their correlates, and their possible functions in the course of bereavement. We suggest that death-specific religious beliefs are vital determinants of adjustment to bereavement, and that these beliefs should be regarded as a legitimate focus of investigation. We conclude with suggestions for future research.