title: Does negative religious coping accompany, precede, or follow depression among Orthodox Jews?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cross sectional research suggests that negative religious coping (e.g., anger at God and religious disengagement) strongly correlates with depression and anxiety. However, causality is difficult to establish as negative coping can accompany, cause, or result from distress. Among Orthodox Jews, some studies have found correlations between negative religious coping and anxiety and depression, while others found that high levels of negative coping related with decreased distress. We therefore examined longitudinal relationships between negative coping and depressive symptoms among Orthodox Jews.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants (80 Orthodox Jews) completed the Jewish Religious Coping Scale and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies' Depression Scale at two times. Using Structural Equation Modeling, we compared four models describing possible causal patterns.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Negative religious coping and depressive symptoms were linearly related. Furthermore, a model including negative coping as a predictor of future depression fit the data best and did not significantly differ from a saturated model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This research was limited by reliance on self-report measures, an internet sample, and examination of only negative religious coping.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Consistent with a "primary spiritual struggles" conceptualization, negative religious coping appears to precede and perhaps cause future depression among Orthodox Jews. Clinical interventions should target spiritual struggles, and more research integrating this construct into theory and practice is warranted.
authors: Department of Clinical and Counseling Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, United States. sp2813@columbia.edu
authors: Steven
authors: S
authors: Pirutinsky
authors: David H
authors: DH
authors: Rosmarin
authors: Kenneth I
authors: KI
authors: Pargament
authors: Elizabeth
authors: E
authors: Midlarsky
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007585:Jews / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders; D008875:Middle Aged; D012067:Religion; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D029181:Spirituality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult