Background

Research to date has suggested that religion might be a source of comfort and strength in times of crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it may also be a form of stress if spiritual struggles are experienced. We posit the discussion of religious and spiritual matters as a potential feature of religious life that may be helpful or harmful for dealing with the impacts of spiritual struggles.

Purpose

This study has two objectives. First, we assess the association between religious/spiritual struggles and both perceptions of psychological distress and self-rated health, affording attention to the prevalence of religious struggles during this time. Second, drawing from social penetration theory, we consider both the potential helpful and harmful role of discussing religion with friends and family members for the well-being of those experiencing various degrees of religious/spiritual struggles.

Methods

Using data from a nationally representative sample of Americans collected in January 2021, nearly a year after the onset of the pandemic (N = 1,711), we conduct a series of OLS and ordinal logistic regression models.

Results

Results suggest that religious/spiritual struggles were somewhat common among Americans during COVID-19 and were associated with greater psychological distress and worse perceived self-rated health during the pandemic. In the context of high R/S struggles, both psychological distress and perceived self-rated health were more favorable when religious and spiritual matters were discussed very frequently, several times a week or more. Unlike for psychological distress, however, we found no evidence that discussion of religious matters in the face of greater R/S struggles exacerbated their ill effect on health. Supplemental analyses showed that these findings are not being driven by religious denominational differences across our focal variables.

Conclusions and implications

Encouraged by discussions of faith with close network confidants, people experiencing R/S struggles might seek help in the form of counseling in both secular and/or religious settings. Exploring potential resilience factors, such as religious discussion, may help inform broader or more local strategies aimed at economic recovery. Our results therefore invite future investigation into the role of religious coping in mitigating the health effects of pandemic hardship.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 大流行期间的宗教/精神斗争和福祉：“谈论宗教”是帮助还是伤害？

背景

迄今为止的研究表明，在 COVID-19 大流行带来的危机时期，宗教可能是一种安慰和力量的来源，但如果经历了精神斗争，它也可能是一种压力形式。我们将讨论宗教和精神问题视为宗教生活的一个潜在特征，可能对处理精神斗争的影响有帮助或有害。

目的

本研究有两个目标。首先，我们评估了宗教/精神斗争与对心理困扰和自评健康的看法之间的关联，关注了这一时期宗教斗争的普遍性。其次，从社会渗透理论出发，我们考虑了与朋友和家人讨论宗教对于那些经历不同程度的宗教/精神斗争的人的福祉的潜在有益和有害作用。

方法

使用在大流行发生近一年后（N = 1,711）于 2021 年 1 月收集的具有全国代表性的美国人样本的数据，我们进行了一系列 OLS 和序数逻辑回归模型。

结果

结果表明，在 COVID-19 期间，宗教/精神斗争在美国人中有些普遍，并且与大流行期间更大的心理困扰和更糟糕的自我评估健康状况有关。在高 R/S 斗争的背景下，当宗教和精神问题被非常频繁地讨论时，心理困扰和自我评价的健康都更有利，每周几次或更多次。然而，与心理困扰不同的是，我们没有发现任何证据表明在面对更大的 R/S 斗争时讨论宗教问题会加剧它们对健康的不良影响。补充分析表明，这些发现并不是由我们焦点变量中的宗教教派差异驱动的。

结论和影响

在与亲密的网络知己讨论信仰的鼓舞下，经历 R/S 斗争的人可能会在世俗和/或宗教环境中以咨询的形式寻求帮助。探索潜在的弹性因素，例如宗教讨论，可能有助于为旨在经济复苏的更广泛或更本地化的战略提供信息。因此，我们的结果邀请未来调查宗教应对在减轻流行病困难对健康的影响方面的作用。