Religious struggles and mental health in the Polish population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mediation effects of resilience as an “ability to bounce back”

ABSTRACT

The pandemic may manifest itself in the spiritual-existential sphere by activating various forms of religious-spiritual struggles. The purpose of the study was to assess the relationship between religious struggles and mental health in the Polish population during COVID-19. We assumed that the ability to bounce back could minimise the negative impact of religious struggles on mental health therefore we tested the mediating role of resilience as an ‘ability to bounce back’ in the relationship between these religious struggles and mental health. We also tested the mediating role of resilience as an ‘ability to bounce back’ in the relationship between religious struggles and mental health. The study involved 688 individuals (74% female) aged 20–68 years. The procedure involved filling out questionnaires to measure resilience, negative religious coping, religious struggles, mental health (depression and mental well-being). The results demonstrated significant relationships between resilience and both mental health indicators. As expected, resilience was a significant mediator of the decreasing effect of religious struggle and negative religious coping on depression and well-being. Resilience as a capacity is valuable for psychosocial functioning of individuals. Strong psychological resources can help protect mental health from religious struggles and negative religious coping.

KEYWORDS:

• Mental health
• well-being
• religious-spiritual struggles
• resilience

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karol Konaszewski

Karol Konaszewski, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education at the University of Bialystok. His research focuses on the relationship between health psychology and the psychology of religion. He has done postdoctoral research internships in Germany (the Katholischen Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt), the USA (Ramapo College of New Jersey), and Czech Republic (Tomasz Bata University in Zlín). He was a research project manager in projects financed by the National Science Centre of Poland and the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Sebastian Binyamin Skalski

Sebastian Binyamin Skalski, Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences. His research interests include emotions, trauma effects, and psychophysiology. He is a member of the Polish Social Psychology Society. He was a research project manager in projects financed by the European Regional Found.

Małgorzata Niesiobędzka

Małgorzata Niesiobędzka, Professor at the Faculty of Education at the University of Bialystok. Her research interests focus on the relationship between health psychology and the social. She has authored monographs and scientific articles on economic psychology, quality of life, and well-being. Member of the Academic Association for Economic Psychology.

Janusz Surzykiewicz

Janusz Surzykiewicz is a Social Scientist, Professor at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, and the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw. His main research areas focus on resource-oriented health and social behaviour issues. He combines educational and psychological aspects to analyse current questions regarding the role of positive psychology, spirituality, well-being, and social inequality, and social change. He has been involved in the development of various applied projects to support assessment and intervention. His research is multidisciplinary and internationally networked. He is a member of multiple international organisations as a specialist and coach of the global coaching associations ICI and EASC.