Associations of general religiousness and specific religious beliefs with coping appraisals in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Are specific religious beliefs related to interpretations of stressful events and available coping resources? The present study addressed this by assessing appraisals, general religiousness, and two specific beliefs—verticality (deity-centered vs. person-focused approach to religion) and God image—in 63 Christian and Jewish undergraduates coping with the 2005 hurricane season. Primary appraisals (interpretation of the stressor as a challenge, threat, loss, and benefit) and secondary appraisals (perception of whether self, others, and God have control over the stressor) were related to religion. By controlling for general religiousness, unique associations of specific beliefs with appraisals were identified. General religiousness was positively associated with interpreting hurricane-related events as a loss for the Christian participants and as a benefit for the Jewish participants. For both groups, general religiousness and God image were related positively to perception that God was in control, and verticality was related negatively to the perception of self-control. For Jewish participants, verticality was associated negatively with others-control and positively with God-control. Overall, general religiousness was more related to primary appraisals (relevance), and specific beliefs were associated with secondary appraisals (resources). Investigation of finely grained distinctions in religious belief furthers understanding of the roles of religion in coping. Introduction During the 2005 hurricane season, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused nearly 2000 deaths, over $90 billion in direct damage, and hundreds of thousands to lose jobs (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005). The extent and proximity of these disasters also caused significant Such problems are not unexpected, as researchers have documented associations of exposure to natural disaster with posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, health status, resource loss, and other measures of distress (see Norris et al., 2002). Given the impact of such events, psychologists have explored factors that can help predict …