ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of religious coping among persons with persistent mental illness and to gain a preliminary understanding of the relationship between religious coping and symptom severity and overall functioning. METHODS: A total of 406 individuals who were diagnosed as having a mental illness and who were patients at one of 13 Los Angeles County mental health facilities completed a survey consisting of the Religious Coping Index, the Symptom Checklist 90-R (SCL-90), the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale, and a 48-item demographic questionnaire. RESULTS: More than 80 percent of the participants used religious beliefs or activities to cope with daily difficulties or frustrations. A majority of participants devoted as much as half of their total coping time to religious practices, with prayer being the most frequent activity. Specific religious coping strategies, such as prayer or reading the Bible, were associated with higher SCL-90 scores (indicating more severe symptoms), more reported frustration, and a lower GAF score (indicating greater impairment). The amount of time that participants devoted to religious coping was negatively related to reported levels of frustration and scores on the SCL-90 symptom subscales. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study suggest that religious activities and beliefs may be particularly compelling for persons who are experiencing more severe symptoms, and increased religious activity may be associated with reduced symptoms. Religion may serve as a pervasive and potentially effective method of coping for persons with mental illness, thus warranting its integration into psychiatric and psychological practice.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological/classification , Mental Disorders/psychology , Religion and Psychology , Adult , Female , Humans , Los Angeles/epidemiology , Male , Mental Competency , Mental Disorders/prevention & control , Middle Aged , Prevalence , Psychiatric Status Rating Scales , Severity of Illness Index , Socioeconomic Factors , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
In the present study, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) prevalence rates were compared among 50 battered women and 37 maritally distressed women who had not experienced battering (N = 87). Participants were administered R. Spitzer and I. B. S. Williams's (1985) Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-III-R (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [3rd ed., rev.]) to assess PTSD status and previous traumatic experiences in addition to other standardized measures of PTSD and violence exposure. Battered women exhibited significantly higher rates of PTSD than maritally distressed women (58% vs. 18.9%). Although both groups had similar rates of previous trauma experiences, women with a PTSD-positive status (both battered women and maritally distressed women) were significantly more likely to have experienced self-reported childhood sexual abuse and a higher overall number of previous traumas than those with a PTSD-negative status. Battering exposure and childhood sexual abuse predicted 37% of the variance in overall PTSD intensity levels.
Subject(s)
Child Abuse/psychology , Marriage/psychology , Personality Development , Spouse Abuse/psychology , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Female , Humans , Life Change Events , Marital Therapy , Middle Aged , Personality Assessment/statistics & numerical data , Psychometrics , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/diagnosisABSTRACT
The sexual coercion literature has suggested numerous factors related to aggressive sexual behavior. The present investigation explores a number of these factors in a community sample. Data collected from 189 volunteers from the community included measures of sexual arousal, social perception, personality variables, attitudes toward women, and self-reported likelihood to rape. Multiple-regression analyses were used to determine the relative association of these factors to coercive sexual behavior. The present findings suggested that social perception, Extraversion and Neuroticism from the Eysenck Personality Inventory, sexual arousal, and self-reported likelihood to rape all contributed to the multiple regression. Rape Myth Acceptance, although not contributing significantly to the multiple regression, did show a significant zero-order correlation with coercive sexual behavior. Additional analyses were performed in an attempt to replicate an earlier predictive study by Malamuth and Check (1983) that found self-reported sexual arousal to be predicted by a combination of self-reported likelihood to rape, Psychoticism and Neuroticism from the Eysenck Personality Inventory, power motivation, and sexual experience. In the present study, both self-reported sexual arousal and penile tumescence measures were significantly related to attitudinal measures, social perception measures, and self-reported likelihood to rape. Limitations of the present study and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Subject(s)
Aggression/psychology , Rape/psychology , Sexual Behavior , Violence , Adolescent , Adult , Arousal , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , PersonalityABSTRACT
The temperatures of 587 children were taken before and after diphtheria/tetanus/pertussis (DTP) or diphtheria/tetanus (DT) vaccine. Only slight temperature increases were found but these were notably more frequent after plain than adsorbed DTP vaccine preparations and the frequency increased with each successive dose.
