Religious coping among the religious: The relationships between religious coping and well-being in a national sample of Presbyterian clergy, elders, and members

This study, examined whether the relationships between religious coping and well-being are moderated by the salience of religion to the individual's i dentity and social roles. As part of a national survey of Presbyterians, 1, 260 clergy, 823 elders, and 735 members completed measures of demographic v ariables, global religiousness, life stressors, positive and negative relig ious coping, and well-being (positive affect, depressive affect, religious satisfaction). Our predictions were largely, confirmed. First, clergy repor ted higher levels of positive religious coping than elders, who, in turn, i ndicated more positive religious coping than members. Second, positive and negative religious coping were associated with higher and lower levels of w ell-being respectively. Finally, positive and negative religious coping wer e more strongly related to well-being for clergy than for members. Furtherm ore, the drawbacks of negative religious coping for the clergy were not off set completely by the benefits of positive religious coping. Longitudinal s tudies of the longer term implications of positive and negative religious c oping are clearly warranted. The results also suggest the need for supporti ve and educational services to help clergy draw on their religious coping r esources and come to terms with their spiritual struggles.