The Psychological Outcome of Religious Coping with Stressful Life Events in a Swiss Sample of Church Attendees

Background: Recent research suggested thatreligious coping, based on dispositional religiousness and spirituality (R/S), is an important modulating factor in the process of dealing with adversity. In contrast to the United States, the effect of R/S on psychological adjustment to stress is a widely unexplored area in Europe. Methods: We examined a Swiss sample of 328 church attendees in the aftermath of stressful life events to explore associations of positive or negative religious coping with the psychological outcome. Applying a cross-sectional design, we used Huber’s Centrality Scale to specify religiousness and Pargament’s measure of religious coping (RCOPE) for the assessment of positive and negative religious coping. Depressive symptoms and anxiety as outcome variables were examined by the Brief Symptom Inventory. The Stress-Related Growth Scale and the Marburg questionnaire for the assessment of well-being were used to assess positive outcome aspects. We conducted Mann-Whitney tests for group comparisons and cumulative logit analysis for the assessmentof associations of religious coping with our outcome variables. Results: Both forms of religious coping were positively associated with stress-related growth (p < 0.01). However, negative religious coping additionally reduced well-being (p = 0.05, β = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.27–0.99) and increased anxiety (p = 0.02, β = 1.94, 95% CI = 1.10–3.39) and depressive symptoms (p = 0.01, β = 2.27, 95% CI = 1.27–4.06). Conclusions: The effects of religious coping on the psychological adjustment to stressful life events seem relevant. These findings should be confirmed in prospective studies.

Letters from John Hubbard Church to William Jenks, 1795-1798

John Hubbard Church wrote these twelve letters to his friend and classmate William Jenks between 1795 and 1798. Church wrote the letters from Boston, Rutland, Cambridge, and Chatham in Massachusetts and from Somers, Connecticut; they were sent to Jenks in Cambridge and Boston, where for a time he worked as an usher in Mr. Vinall's school and Mr. Webb's school. Church's letters touch on various subjects, ranging from his increased interest in theology and his theological studies under Charles Backus to his seasickness during a sailing voyage to Cape Cod. Church also informs Jenks of what he is reading, including works by John Locke, P. Brydone, James Beattie, John Gillies, Plutarch, and Alexander Pope. He describes his work teaching that children of the Sears family in Chatham, Massachusetts, where he appears to have spent a significant amount of time between 1795 and 1797. Church's letters are at times very personal, and he often expresses great affection for Jenks and their friendship.

Notes on the twenty-five articles of religion, as received and taught by Methodists in the United States; in which the doctrines are carefully considered, and supported by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures.

Mode of access: Internet.

The Covenanters, a history of the church in Scotland from the Reformation to the Revolution,

Mode of access: Internet.

Church music,

Mode of access: Internet.

A book on building, civil and ecclesiastical : including church restoration : with the theory of domes and the great pyramid, and dimensions of many churches and other great buildings /

Includes index.

The abbey church of St. Albans,

Mode of access: Internet.

A double anniversary sermon of the thirty year's episcopate of Bishop Samuel David Ferguson, June 24, 1885-1915 : fifty years of his ministry, December 31, 1865-1915, preached in St. Mark's Church, June 27, 1915 /

Cover title.

Monograph series - United States Historical Society.

Vol. 19 never published.

The Roman Catholic Church as a factor in the political and social history of Mexico.

Bibliography: p. 187-188.

The problem of the world and the church reconsidered in three letters to a friend /

With an introduction by James Booth, C. B.

An address in memory of William Seymour Tyler : delivered in the college church at Amherst, May 29, 1898 /

On cover: William Seymour Tyler.

The records of the commissions of the general assembly of the Church of Scotland holden in Edinburgh in the years 1646-16 /

Mode of access: Internet.

The old Peabody pew : a Christmas romance of a country church /

Title page has decorative border and publisher's device printed in green; text throughout within green decorative border.

A concise statement of the principles of the only true church of Christ /

"A letter from James Whittaker": p. 16-23.