Religious Coping Across a Spectrum of Religious Involvement among Jews

The present study examined the extent to which general religiousness moderated the relationship between religious coping and mental health in a sample of 572 Jewish adults. Hierarchical linear regression was utilized to examine interactions between religiousness and positive/negative religious coping and their effects on mental health. Results indicated that positive religious coping predicted higher subjective well-being, but not (higher or lower) depression or anxiety, and negative religious coping predicted lower subjective well-being, greater depression, and elevated anxiety. Surprisingly, general religiousness-regardless of how it was measured (e.g., religious practices, intrinsic religiosity, religious affiliation)-did not moderate relationships between religious coping and mental health. These findings suggest that religious coping associates with mental health across the entire spectrum of religious involvement for Jews, highlighting that religious coping is an important mental health variable in this population, irrespective of individual religious differences.