Thirteenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

As reported in a recent U.S. surgeon general’s advisory, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly worsened the mental health crisis that young people were already experiencing. College students, in particular, are experiencing alarming levels of decreased psychological well-being and life satisfaction coupled with increased loneliness and anxiety. As a result, demand for psychological services has overwhelmed the existing mental health system. The surgeon general’s advisory urges finding a wider variety of resources to help people cope with the pandemic. While there is much attention directed to how religious beliefs might hinder efforts to fight the pandemic, the role that religious coping might play in increasing psychological health and life satisfaction during the pandemic has not received enough attention. Previous research has indicated that positive religious coping is a predictor of life satisfaction and psychological wellbeing. My research focuses on the intersection of faith and health in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. We designed a survey to assess religious coping and key mental health outcomes in adult college students. This poster presents findings from our research study pertaining to the correlations between positive religious coping and various mental health outcomes, including life satisfaction, anxiety, and loneliness. Implications for potential interventions that might help enhance positive religious coping in young adults to increase their psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed.