Mental Health Dynamics of Interfaith Spirituality in Believers and Non-Believers: The Two Circuit Pathways Model of Coping with Adversities: Interfaith Spirituality and Will-to Exist, Live and Survive

Abstract

Objective: The study was designed to examine the differential effects of spirituality on the mental health of believers and non-believers coping with adversities. Method: Spirituality, “will-to-exist-live-and-survive (WTELS)”, cumulative traumas, perceived posttraumatic growth, psychopathology, existential anxieties, self-esteem, and reappraisal were measured in two samples of main believers (Egypt, Turkey, and Kuwait, N = 1210) and mostly non- believers (UK, N = 178). The study used path analysis supplemented by PROCESS macro and multigroup invariance to analyze the data. Results： identified two positive invariant coping paths for believers, one through WTELS and the other through spirituality. A similar positive path of WTELS, but not spirituality, was found in the non-believers. Conclusion: While believers and non-believers utilize their WTELS pathway to cope with adversities, the believers utilize the additional pathway of spirituality. The non- believers still utilize self-transcendence strategies of non-theistic or secular spirituality. The results have conceptual and clinical implications for developing differential prevention and intervention strategies.

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