Book Description

This is the first study to investigate the relationship of perceived stress, religious coping styles, and mental health symptoms in university students within a single, faithbased institution. Students face a variety of stressors that may be directly, indirectly, or not related to the college experience. If these stressors are left unmanaged, there are multiple implications including reduced retention, declines in academic performance, physical health concerns, and mental health symptoms. University personnel are reporting increases in the number and severity of mental health symptoms presented by university students. This study investigated whether religious coping strategies provide a mediating effect on the relationship between stress and mental health symptoms. The sample was comprised of 209 undergraduate students, between the ages of 18-32, from a single faith-based university. Four religious coping styles: self-directing, deferring, collaborative, and surrender, were investigated to determine if the coping styles function in mediating the relationship between college student stress and mental health symptoms. The relationship between college student stress and subsequent mental health symptoms was investigated to determine the nature of relationship. This study utilized Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to examine the relationships between stress, as measured by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), mental health symptoms, as measured by the Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45.2), and religious coping styles. SEM was utilized to determine if there is a mediating effect of each coping style, as measured by the Religious Problem Solving Scales (RPSS) and the Surrender Scale (SS), on the relationship of stress and mental health symptoms in college students in both simple and multiple mediation models. The results of the analysis indicated that college students do experience perceived stress and mental health symptoms. Although all religious coping styles were found to be significant partial mediators in the simple models, none of the coping styles were found to be significant as mediators in the full mediation model. Secondary analyses indicated that denominational affiliation, age, and gender were all correlated with specific religious coping styles. The implications to theory and practice based on these results are discussed.