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Religious Integration and Psychological Distress: Different Patterns in Emerging Adult Males and Females

  • John W. Lace
  • Kristen A. Haeberlein
  • Paul J. Handal
Original Paper
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Abstract

This study examined differences between male and female emerging adults on low, moderate, and high levels of religious integration in relation to psychological distress. Participants were recruited from undergraduate courses at a religiously affiliated, Midwestern university and completed the integration scale of the Personal Religious Inventory and the Langner Symptom Survey. Due to significantly higher reports of religious integration in female participants, the sample was separated by sex. A significant, negative correlation between religious integration and psychological distress was found only for females. Similarly, females in the low religious integration group reported significantly higher levels of psychological distress than females high in religious integration, while no differences were found among males. This study corroborates previous research suggesting a general link between religion and mental health, but further suggests religious integration and psychological distress are uniquely related for males and females. Possible reasons and future areas of study are noted.

Keywords

Emerging adults Religion Psychological distress Sex differences 
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Notes

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  • John W. Lace
    • 1
  • Kristen A. Haeberlein
    • 1
  • Paul J. Handal
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of PsychologySaint Louis UniversitySt. LouisUSA

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