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Self-Clarity and Ways of Coping Among Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Adolescents and Emerging Adults

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Abstract

Existing literature supports the notion that adolescent’s level of self-esteem is significantly related to negative health outcomes and that this relatedness is mediated by the adolescent’s way of coping. However, the role of self-clarity, rather than the level of self-esteem, is still understudied. The current study explored the relationships between level of self-clarity and preferred ways of coping among three religious groups—Jews (N = 245), Muslim Arabs (N = 244), and Christian Arabs (N = 241), with each of these groups comprised of two age cohorts—adolescents (N = 383) and emerging adults (N = 347)—living in either mixed-religion (N = 376) or non-mixed-religion residential areas (N = 344). Study findings indicate that across religion and age-groups, lower self-clarity is associated with a higher tendency to use disengagement as a way of coping. It is suggested that interventions to promote adolescents’ active coping and resilience (e.g., as part of an effort to prevent health problems) should firstly pursue the promotion of adolescents’ self-clarity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Guidance, David Yellin College, Jerusalem, Israel

    Helen Kakounda-Moullem

  2. School of Education, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Moshe Israelashvili

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  1. Helen Kakounda-Moullem
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  2. Moshe Israelashvili
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Correspondence to Moshe Israelashvili.

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Kakounda-Moullem, H., Israelashvili, M. Self-Clarity and Ways of Coping Among Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Adolescents and Emerging Adults. J Relig Health 59, 1766–1781 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00871-1

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