Assessing the Role of Attachment to God, Meaning, and Religious Coping as Mediators in the Grief Experience

Abstract

Research has examined the relationship of styles of attachment to others and meaning with grief and the stress-related growth process. Less has been written on styles of attachment to God and patterns of religious coping and how these constructs may impact adjustment in persons dealing with loss. This study examines the roles of attachment to God, meaning, and religious coping as mediators in the grief experience for a sample of 93 individuals who experienced a significant death in the prior year. Results suggest that a more secure style of attachment to God was directly and indirectly associated with lower depression and grief and increased stress-related growth for this sample. Meaning, defined as a sense of purpose and coherence, also emerged as an important construct in this process. Overall goodness-of-fit statistics were examined for competing models using structural equation modeling. Secure attachment to God, meaning, and positive religious coping were found to have significant direct and indirect effects on grief and stress-related growth. For some individuals, attachment to God may be an important construct in the experience of meaning following a significant death and may have tremendous potential in its direct and indirect effects on overall outcomes.

Notes

¹In this article, God largely describes the monotheistic deity of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Although the findings presented may well have relevance for adherents of other faith traditions, a consideration of such is well beyond the scope of this article. Further, most of the research to date in the area of attachment to God has used Christian subjects (Kirkpatrick, 2005).

Note. CES-D = Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale; ICG-R = Inventory of Complicated Grief–Revised; ECR = Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory; LAP-R = Life Attitude Profile–Revised; Brief RCOPE = Brief Religious Coping Scale; SRGS = Stress-Related Growth Scale.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Note. RMSEA = root mean square error of approximation; NFI = normed fit index; NNFI = nonnormed fit index; CFI = comparative fit index; CN = critical N; RMR = root mean squared residual; GFI = goodness-of-fit index; AGFI = adjusted goodness-of-fit index.

^aInitial model where positive religious coping predicts depression (Beta = 0.57) and stress-related growth (Beta = 1.70).

^bModified model where depression predicts positive religious coping (effects reported in Table 5).

^cModified model where meaning predicts secure attachment to God (Beta = 0.55).

^dModified model where the error variances for meaning and secure attachment to God are allowed to correlate (Psi = 0.44).

^eThis p value should be >.50.

*Total indirect effects represent a composite of all indirect effects from the predictor variable to the outcome variable.