The Effects of Religious Coping and Drinking to Cope on the Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms and Alcohol-Related Problems

<p>The present research examined the moderating effect of religious coping (positive or negative) on the relationship between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related problems. Furthermore, the current study examined the moderating effects of positive and negative religious coping in the context of the confirmed mediation of drinking to cope on depression and alcohol related problems (i.e., moderated-mediation). The study consisted of 294 religious undergraduate student drinkers from a large southeastern university. The majority of participants identified themselves as Christian (<em>n</em> = 257, 87.4%), were female (<em>n</em> = 218, 74.1%), and reported a mean age of 21.85 (<em>SD</em> = 5.57) years. Participants completed measures of depressive symptoms, alcohol use, alcohol-related problems, drinking to cope, and religious coping. The present study found partial support for the Maladaptive Coping Hypothesis among religious college student drinkers. In particular, negative religious coping moderated the relationship between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related problems. In addition, negative religious coping affects another maladaptive coping strategy (i.e., drinking to cope) by moderating the meditating effects of drinking to cope on the relationship between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related problems. However, positive religious coping was unrelated to all major study variables. The implication of this study may be important for future interventions to tap into improving coping strategies for religious individuals who report high levels of depressive symptoms.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Bravo, Adrian J.

Contributors dc:contributor

• James M. Henson
• Michelle Kelley
• Ivan Ash

• Alcohol-related problems
• Depression
• Drinking to cope
• Religious coping
• Applied Behavior Analysis
• Quantitative Psychology
• Social Psychology

Statement dc:rights

• <p>In Copyright. URI: <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).</p>

Identifier

9781321346817

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.odu.edu:psychology_etds-1110