Healing Pathways: Longitudinal Effects of Religious Coping and Social Support on PTSD Symptoms in African American Sexual Assault Survivors

Abstract

African American women are at slightly increased risk for sexual assault (Abbey, Jacques-Tiaura, & Parkhill, 2010). However, due to stigma, experiences of racism, and historical oppression, African American women are less likely to seek help from formal agencies when compared to White women (Ullman & Filipas, 2001; Lewis, Resnick, Smith, Best, & Saunders, 2005) and/or women of other ethnic backgrounds (Ahrens, Abeling, Ahmad, & Himman, 2010). Therefore, the provision of culturally appropriate services, such as the inclusion of religion and spiritual coping, may be necessary when working with African American women survivors of sexual assault. The current study, controlling for age and education, explores the impact of religious coping and social support over one year for 252 African American adult female sexual assault survivors recruited from the Chicago metropolitan area. Results from hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed high endorsement of religious coping and social support at Time 1 does not predict a reduction of PTSD symptoms at Time 2. However, high social support at Time 2 does predict lower PTSD at Time 2. Also it is significant to note, survivors with high PTSD at Time 1 and Time 2 endorse greater use of social support and religious coping. Clinical and research implications are explored.

Religiosity and the psychological outcomes of trauma: A systematic review of quantitative studies

“…Some of the studies focusing on general religious coping (without differentiating between positive and negative coping) showed positive associations between this variable and good psychological functioning: Currier et al ()—positive association with PTG and negative with distress; Hawthorne, Youngblut, and Brooten ()—negative associations with grief, depression, PTSD (only in women), and positive with PTG (only in women); Maschi, Viola, and Morgen ()—positive link with global mental health; Saxon et al (), and negative links with mental disorders (only in women). Nevertheless, no significant links with symptoms of PTSD were demonstrated in a longitudinal study (Bryant‐Davis et al, ; all participants were women); prayer as coping was not linked with symptoms of depression in Ai et al (). Positive links between religious coping and mental disorders were found in Adofoli and Ullman () and Bryant‐Davis, Ullman, Tsong, and Gobin ().…”

“…Some longitudinal studies showed the buffering role of adaptive religious constructs on mental health (or religious struggle on the greater severity of symptoms). The only exception was Bryant‐Davis et al (), who found no significant links in a sample of female survivors of sexual trauma. To a certain extent, papers that assess general religious affiliation (especially if the assessment is conducted not long after the event) can also provide some information about potential causality, as this variable is less volatile in time than other religiosity measures.…”

“…The results are also mixed in the case of sexual trauma : general religiosity predicted the greater severity of symptoms in Kucharska () and Adofoli and Ullman (), and religious behavior in Lilly et al (). Moreover, out of the studies that showed a nonsignificant or detrimental effect of general religious coping and mental health, most of them focused on sexual trauma (including the longitudinal Bryant‐Davis et al, paper). Negative religious coping was a predictor of mental disorders in five studies concerning sexual trauma.…”

Posttraumatic stress disorder and somatic symptoms among child and adolescent survivors following the Lushan earthquake in China: A six-month longitudinal study

“…Furthermore, the prevalence of PTSD was 35.7% among the surviving children in the Municipality of Peristeri six to seven months after the 1999 Athens earthquake [8]. Variations in the prevalence of PTSD have been noted and attributed to differences in study measurements and assessing times, as well as different age, race and cultural background of the samples [8][9][10].…”

Building Towards Common Psychosocial Measures in U.S. Cohort Studies: A Qualitative Assessment of Principal Investigators’ Views regarding the Role of Spirituality in Human Health

“…To date, studies on church attendance have produced the most robust evidence, with several prospective studies demonstrating a significant protective effect of church attendance on mortality and depression (13)(14)(15)(16)(17). Self-assessed spirituality and religious coping have also been found to have a significant prospective associations with hypertension (18,19), colon cancer (20), HIV outcomes (21), cognitive functioning and mental health (22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29), change in pulmonary function among adolescents with cystic fibrosis (30,31), and CD4 levels and viral load among HIV/AIDS patients (32)(33)(34).…”