A growing body of research suggests that people who are more deeply involved in religion may be more likely to adopt beneficial health behaviors. However, religion is a complex phenomenon, and as a result, religion may affect health behaviors in a number of ways. The purpose of the current study was to see whether a sacred view of the body (i.e.,…

Theory suggests that relationship inequity will be associated with less marital and personal distress among the more religious, and that this interaction effect will be stronger for women than men. Data are from 178 married couples experiencing the third trimester of pregnancy of their first biological child. Five outcome variables were assessed…

This study examined the role of three spiritual responses to divorce for psychological adjustment: appraising the event as a sacred loss/desecration, engaging in adaptive spiritual coping, and experiencing spiritual struggles. A sample of 100 adults (55% female) was recruited through public divorce records. Most appraised their divorce as a sacred…

Culture may particularly influence community attitudes towards mental illness, when the illness itself is shaped by a cultural context. To explore the influence of culture-specific, religious symptoms on Orthodox Jewish community attitudes, the authors compared the attitudes of 169 Orthodox Jews, who randomly viewed one of two vignettes describing…

In this paper, we offer a way to understand the spiritual dimension of clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse. Spirituality is defined as a search for the sacred--a process of discovery, conservation, and transformation that evolves over the lifespan. We describe the ways in which clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse impacts negatively on the individual's…

Examines advantages and disadvantages of four helping orientations counselors can use to address religious and spiritual issues in psychotherapy: rejectionism, exclusivism, constructivism, and pluralism. Advocates constructivist and pluralist approaches as being best suited to work with diverse clients and religious beliefs, and flexible enough to…

This study assessed the role of religion in the coping of 45 parents of children with autism. All parents completed a questionnaire and 21 parents were interviewed. Positive religious coping was associated with better religious outcome and greater stress-related growth, whereas negative religious coping was associated with greater depressive…

This study examined the degree to which religion is perceived as a source of stress and as a coping resource among Jewish students. Subjects, 75 sixth- through eighth-grade students in a Midwestern city, completed a survey in Sunday school. Twenty of the students also responded to a structured interview about their stressors and coping strategies.…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of 2 versions of an 8-session forgiveness group intervention for divorced individuals. Participants (randomized, n = 192; analyzed, n = 149) were randomly assigned to a secular forgiveness condition, a religious forgiveness condition, or a no-intervention comparison condition. Measures of forgiveness and…