Attachment, Religiosity, and Perceived Stress Among Religious Minorities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Impact of Cultural Context

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on stress levels around the world. In developing nations such as Pakistan, lack of resources and socioeconomic inequalities have compounded the negative impact of the pandemic, especially for minorities. Religion in the developing, collectivistic, Muslim-majority nation of Pakistan is a powerful identity marker inherited at birth and reflected in all identifying documents. A well-developed conceptual framework for religion is attachment to God, which has demonstrated strong predictive value for perceived stress in Western samples. Given the importance of other attachment relationships as well, this study has examined the predictive value of attachment to parents, attachment to God, and religiosity on perceived stress in Christian minorities within a Pakistani context. The sample consisted of 183 adult Christian Pakistanis. Multiple regression indicated that religiosity, attachment to father, and attachment to God were the strongest predictors of perceived stress, though not in the same pattern as expected in Western contexts. This finding demonstrates the importance of the impact of culture, attachment relationships, and religious context on perceived stress, indicating a need to consider both religion and culture in psychological care, as well as local and international public policy, to mitigate stress along minorities in developing nations in such uncertain times.

Can Fear of COVID-19 Be Predicted by Religiosity and Trust in Institutions among Young Adults? A Prospective Cross-National Study

“…During the COVID-19 pandemic, several studies found that religiosity helped people to deal with stressful life events [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. In contrast, other studies have not found significant associations between religiosity and mental health outcomes [ 23 , 24 ] or have found religiosity to be a small but significant predictor of higher stress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic [ 25 , 26 ]. Early meta-analyses reported small-to-moderate positive relationships between religiosity and mental health [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ].…”

“…Considering the relationship between religiosity and mental health issues [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ] and trust in institutions [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ] during the COVID-19 pandemic, we expected that these variables would be predictors of change in fear of COVID-19 over a three-month period during the change in the pandemic situation. The number of total vaccinations visibly increased while the stringency of restrictions and mortality rate due to COVID-19 decreased over the three months in each country [ 50 , 54 ].…”

Age Differences in Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Assessing the Moderating Role of Attachment to God

“…One study from a sample of 419 American Orthodox Jews found that trust in God and intrinsic religiosity were strongly associated with less stress during the initial peak of the pandemic ( Pirutinsky et al, 2020 ). More germane to the current study, a study based on a sample of 183 Christian minorities in Pakistan found that attachment to God was a strong predictor of perceived stress in the early stage of the pandemic ( Schwaiger et al, 2021 ). These studies are limited, however, because they covered only the early stages of the pandemic or used a small sample of religious minorities to examine an outcome only tangential to mental health.…”

“…While many dimensions of religiosity could be considered for their utility to help people cope with stress, a secure attachment to God may be particularly helpful in fostering a sense of hope and wholeness for believers during periods of trial and tribulation. As Exline and colleagues note (2017, pg.507), “when people see God as all-powerful but benevolent in intention toward people (e.g., suffers with us, helps us to overcome suffering), such beliefs could help promote positive thoughts and feelings.” Recent research has illustrated that attachment to God is often a more robust predictor of distress than other dimensions of religiosity ( Leman et al, 2018 ; Stulp et al., 2019 ), including during the COVID-19 pandemic ( Schwaiger et al, 2021 ). Moreover, the benevolent support and kindness of a divine being may be especially pertinent during the pandemic, when public dimensions of religiosity (e.g., attendance at religious services) were shut down to curb the spread of the virus.…”

Saúde mental na segunda onda da pandemia de Coronavirus Disease 2019 no Brasil*

“…Nevertheless, this influence may depend on a favorable cultural context, as demonstrated by a study on Christian minorities in Pakistan, which indicates a positive relationship between perceived stress and religiosity. 50 Citizens of large towns, such as state capitals or cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, reported more PACP than those who lived in cities under 50,000 inhabitants. Further, state capitals stand out with elevated fatigue levels.…”