Adolescent Religious Coping, Gratitude, and Emotional Functioning.

摘要

Previous research has demonstrated that both gratitude and religious coping, as separate variables, have respectively shown strong associations with emotional functioning, but few studies have considered these two constructs concomitantly. In addition, research in each of these areas has been primarily focused on adults, and studies examining these two constructs in adolescents are scarce. Thus, adolescents were the focus of the current study, in which the effects of religious coping and gratitude on emotional functioning were examined over time. Gratitude was related to the increased use of positive religious coping strategies and decreased use of negative religious coping strategies. Both gratitude and religious coping uniquely related to adaptive emotional functioning, even after controlling for religiousness, spirituality, age, gender, and church attendance. No significant interactions were found, neither were there significant prospective findings. Implications for the current results and directions for future research are discussed.