The role of spiritual fortitude in meaning and mental health symptoms following a natural disaster.

Abstract

In the face of traumatic events, people often draw on their religious or spiritual resources to cope with their struggles. Spiritual fortitude (SF) refers to one's ability to draw consistently on spiritual resources to transcend and endure negative emotions in the face of stressors (Van Tongeren et al., 2019). In this article, we present data from a study of 274 participants who lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana during the 2016 Louisiana flood. Nine and 18 months after the flooding, participants completed measures of resource loss, SF, search for and presence of meaning, depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. SF buffered the deleterious relationship between disaster-related resource loss and future search for meaning, and search for meaning mediated the relationship between resource loss and SF on subsequent mental health symptoms (i.e., anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms). We discuss areas for future research and implications for practice.

Religious and spiritual struggles and mental health following a disaster: The moderating role of spiritual fortitude.

“…For example, Exline et al (2000) found that religious strain was associated with higher depression and suicidality, suggesting that internal factors such as religious strain could provide plausible explanations for mental or religious distress. Future studies could adopt a longitudinal design (such as in Zhang et al, 2021) or experimental design (e.g., assess the effect of an SF-based training program for student counselors) to further explore how the role of SF unfolds over time or in a causal fashion.…”

“…First, in their effort to validate the SF Scale (SFS), Van Tongeren et al (2019) discovered a protective role of SF against adversity-related anxiety. Second, following the 2016 Baton Rouge flood, Zhang et al (2021) found that resource loss was positively associated with search for meaning and mental health symptoms, but SF buffered these relationships. Third, in a recent study exploring the mental health impact of COVID-19, Zhang et al (2020) found that resource loss due to COVID-19 was positively associated with anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-symptoms, but SF buffered these relationships.…”

“…Spiritual fortitude (SF) is one form of utilizing religious resources that have demonstrated beneficial outcomes in adverse contexts. For example, SF buffered the negative mental health impact of disasters on survivors’ mental health symptoms during the 2016 Baton Rouge flooding (e.g., Zhang et al, 2021) and the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic (Zhang et al, 2020). According to Van Tongeren et al (2019), SF refers to the belief that one has enough spiritual resources to face and grow from adversity.…”

Do Religious/Spiritual Resources Moderate the Association Between Suffering and Religious/Spiritual Struggles? A Three‐Wave Longitudinal Study of US Adults with Chronic Illness

“…2009) and fortitude and commitment have likewise been shown to act as buffers (Koenig, King, and Carson 2012; Rew and Wong 2006; Zhang et al. 2022). Yet, our findings did not support religious coping as an attenuator of suffering on R/S struggles, and further, both religious commitment and spiritual fortitude modestly amplified the association.…”

“…At the outset, these findings may appear somewhat counterintuitive. Some evidence indicates that religious coping buffers against deleterious outcomes (Counted, Possamai, and Meade 2018;Park et al 2018;Van Dyke et al 2009) and fortitude and commitment have likewise been shown to act as buffers (Koenig, King, and Carson 2012;Rew and Wong 2006;Zhang et al 2022). Yet, our findings did not support religious coping as an attenuator of suffering on R/S struggles, and further, both religious commitment and spiritual fortitude modestly amplified the association.…”