THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN COPING WITH THE LOSS OF A FAMILY MEMBER TO HOMICIDE

This study investigated the role of religious coping among 150 family members of homicide victims. Six types of religious coping activities were examined: Spiritually Based Coping, Religious Support, Avoidance, Pleading, Good Deeds, and Discontent. We hypothesized that high level s of religious coping would be reported by the sample and that religio us coping generally would be related to less posthomicide distress. Re sults indicated that the sample engaged in high amounts of religious c oping activities, with the exception of Discontent. Contrary to hypoth esis, religious coping activities largely were related to more distres s. Whereas Religious Support was positively related to well-being, Ple ading, Deeds, and Discontent were related negatively. These findings s uggest that although religious coping activities are prevalent among h omicide survivors, these activities may be related to poorer mental he alth outcomes when coping with loss of a family member to homicide.