The Roles of Religious Coping, World Assumptions, and Personal Growth in College Student Bereavement
DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/V0FP-KS69
Defense Date
2010
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Sandra Gramling
Abstract
The field of bereavement research is currently lacking empirical studies examining grief in adolescent and young adult populations. Furthermore, the roles of religion (Hays, & Hendrix, 2008), meaning-making (Park, 2005) and post-bereavement personal growth (Davis, 2008), all of which are critical to understanding the loss experiences of people in these age groups (Balk, & Corr, 1996), have yet to be enumerated in a reliable way in the literature. Stroebe (2004) has emphasized the need to improve methods and measurement tools by including more thorough measures of religious coping and bereavement experience. The current study aimed to clarify the process of meaning-making following the loss of a loved one by testing a mediational model in which the use of positive religious coping methods influence the maintenance or development of adaptive core beliefs, which in turn produce favorable outcomes. Data were collected in a survey format from 222 college students, and analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the data against Baron and Kenny’s (1986) criteria for mediation. The data do not support a mediational model of meaning-making for the current sample, but an acceptable model of the effects of world assumptions on outcome variables was developed. The data suggest that while all core beliefs are important to the process of personal growth following a loss, beliefs regarding self-worth are the strongest predictors of positive outcomes and stronger beliefs in the randomness of events are problematic.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
May 2010