The role of religion in youth exposed to disasters in Sri Lanka

ABSTRACT

Little research is available on the role of religious coping among youth exposed to disasters. This study examined the role of general and religious coping in a sample of 669 Sri Lankan Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, and Christian youth (mean age = 14). Youth completed a survey with measures of exposure to disaster-related stressors, psychological and psychosocial functioning, and general and religious coping. Exposure to stressors was the most consistent predictor of negative outcomes, while approach-related coping predicted better outcomes for Buddhist and Hindu youth. Religious coping was the highest reported type of coping for all four religious groups, but was not significantly associated with any of the measured outcomes. The results suggest that Sri Lankan youth of different religious backgrounds are probably more similar than different in the ways they cope with adversity.

KEYWORDS:

• Disaster
• psychological
• psychosocial
• religion
• Sri Lanka
• trauma
• youth

Notes

Following Fernando (2012), we avoid referring to cultures as “eastern/western” or “low-income/high-income” as these terms do not lead to accurate classifications. Instead the dimensions of power (high-low) and orientation of self (individualistic/collectivistic) are used to characterize cultures. In this terminology, the so-called “Western” or “high-income countries” of Europe and North America are characterized as high-power individualistic (HPI) cultures, while many “non-Western” or “low-income countries” are considered low-power collectivistic (LPCO) cultures.

Additional information

Funding

Thanks to the support from Minority Biomedical Research Support program 1R25 GM61331, at CSU Los Angeles; and to Mr. Jagath Ranawake and community members who helped with this study. Thanks also to Krystal Beltran, for editorial assistance.