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Religious and Secular Coping Strategies and Mortality Risk among Older Adults

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Abstract

Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, the purpose of this study is twofold. First, the study identifies coping strategies used by older adults. Second, the study examines the impact of older adults’ chosen coping strategies on mortality reduction. The study focuses specifically on differences in the use of religious and secular coping strategies among this population. The findings suggest that although coping strategies differ between those who self-classify as religious and those who self-classify as nonreligious, for both groups social approaches to coping (e.g., attending church and volunteering) are more likely than individual approaches (e.g., praying or active/passive coping) to reduce the risk of mortality. The most efficacious coping strategies, however, are those matched to characteristics of the individual.

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Notes

  1. It should be noted that the use of active and passive approaches to secular coping are not mutually exclusive to the use of religious coping strategies. In fact, many religious coping strategies can be either active or passive in nature (e.g., using prayer as an avoidant way of directly dealing with a particular situation). However, for the purposes of this research, we focus on active and passive approaches to coping that are more secular in nature.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, USA

    Lindsey McDougle

  2. Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Sara Konrath

  3. School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Marlene Walk & Femida Handy

Authors
  1. Lindsey McDougle
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  2. Sara Konrath
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  3. Marlene Walk
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  4. Femida Handy
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Femida Handy.

Appendix: Full Text of Coping Strategy Items

Appendix: Full Text of Coping Strategy Items

Coping strategy

Item(s)

Religious

 Attending religious services

When you have problems or difficulties in your family, work, or personal life, how often do you seek comfort through attending a religious or spiritual service?

 Prayer

When you have problems or difficulties in your family, work, or personal life, how often do you seek comfort through praying?

Secular

 Active coping

Generally, when you experience a difficult or stressful event…

…how often do you concentrate your efforts on doing something about the situation you’re in?

…how often do you take actions to try and make the situation better?

…how often do you try to see it in a different light or to make it seem more positive?

…how often do you try to come up with a strategy about what to do?

…how often do you look for something good in what is happening?

…how often do you accept the reality of the fact that it has happened?

…how often do you learn to live with it?

…how often do you think hard about what steps to take?

 Passive coping

Generally, when you experience a difficult or stressful event…

…how often do you say to yourself ‘this isn’t real’?

…how often do you give up trying to deal with it?

…how often do you refuse to believe that it has happened?

…how often do you say things to let your unpleasant feelings escape?

…how often do you criticize yourself?

…how often do you give up the attempt to cope?

…how often do you do something to think about it less, such as going to the movies, watching TV, reading, daydreaming, sleeping or shopping?

…how often do you express your negative feelings?

…how often do you blame yourself for things that happened?

 Volunteering

How important or accurate, for you, is the following reason for why people engage in volunteer activities…

…Volunteering helps me work through my own personal problems?

…Volunteering is a good escape from my own troubles?

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McDougle, L., Konrath, S., Walk, M. et al. Religious and Secular Coping Strategies and Mortality Risk among Older Adults. Soc Indic Res 125, 677–694 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-014-0852-y

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