Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2014, Higher Education Administration

The purpose of this collective case study was to explore how six college students described the influence of their study abroad experience on their spirituality. I situated this study in a constructivist research paradigm because the inquiry focused on how the participants constructed meaning about and understood the influence of study abroad on their spirituality. I utilized a staged, semi-structured interview protocol consisting of up to three separate interviews. Interviews took place before participants departed for their study abroad experience, while they were abroad, and after returning home from studying abroad. Students studied abroad for at least eight weeks during the summer of 2012. Through a better understanding of their described experience, I gained insight into the impact of study abroad, how study abroad affected specific spiritual practices, and which specific elements of study abroad ignited spiritual development. From the data, six major themes emerged to indicate how students described the influence of studying abroad on their spirituality. Students became more aware of their own and others' spirituality. Spiritual coping was utilized by many participants in reaction to feeling isolated, uncomfortable, and homesick. Participants enacted spiritual and religious practices while abroad to help cope with being abroad or to enact their spirituality. Participants engaged in dialogue about spirituality and spiritual questions. Finally, participants expressed that, after studying abroad, their spiritual identity was strengthened.

Committee: Dafina-Lazarus Stewart Ph.D. (Advisor); Ellen Broido D.Ed. (Committee Member); Stefan Fritsch Ph.D. (Committee Member); Patrick Pauken Ph.D., J.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; Religion; Spirituality

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2018, Psychology/Clinical

To my knowledge, this is the first longitudinal study to examine how college students' use of religious/spiritual strategies to cope with being the target of verbal aggression by a romantic partner may change the frequency of verbal aggression by both partners over the following year and contribute to whether the couple split up or stayed together. Predictor variables included religious/spiritual resources to cope effectively with partner aggression as well as religious/spiritual struggles in response to being the target of verbal hostility by a partner. The sample was comprised of 60 college students who indicated at Time 1 (T1) that that they were in a current romantic relationship were they had been the target of at least once incident of verbal aggression from a romantic partner in the prior year and who then completed measures one year later at Time 2 (T2; 21% retention rate of eligible participants). At both T1 and T2, participants reported the frequency of verbal aggression by both partners and whether the relationship was intact. Correlational analyses did not yield any significant links between religious/spiritual strategies to cope with verbal aggression by the partner at T1 and subsequent verbal aggression by either partner or relationship status. Possible reasons for the non-significant results could be the very low base rates of verbal aggression among couples in this sample and low levels of religious coping. Follow-up analyses indicated that subjects who participated in both waves of data collection reported attending more religious services and praying more often, but utilizing collaborative R/S coping mechanisms less often at T1 to deal with verbal aggression from their partner compared to T1 subjects who did not participate in T2 data collection .

Committee: Annette Mahoney PhD (Advisor); Stephen Demuth PhD (Other); Kenneth Pargament PhD (Committee Member); Anne Gordon PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2010, Psychology/Clinical

Pregnancy is a time of heightened stress for husbands and wives undergoing the transition to parenthood for the first time. Working with a sample of 178 married couples, the present research examined how husbands'and wives'use of positive and negative religious coping strategies predicted pregnancy, psychological, and marital related adjustment variables. After controlling for demographic variables and secular coping methods in separate analyses for husbands and wives, hierarchical linear regression revealed that positive religious coping predicted positive outcomes such as increased stress related growth and spiritual emotions, while negative religious coping predicted negative outcomes such as increased depression, anxiety, and ambivalence in marriage for both husbands and wives. Pregnancy stressors moderated the relationship between positive religious coping and love in marriage for wives but not for any other outcomes for either husbands or wives.

Committee: Kenneth Pargament PhD (Advisor); Annette Mahoney PhD (Committee Member); Alfred DeMaris PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Behaviorial Sciences; Gender; Personal Relationships; Psychology; Public Health; Religion

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2013, Psychology/Clinical

One area of workplace spirituality ripe for investigation is use of religion and spirituality (R/S) to cope with job insecurity. Pertinent literature on transactional coping, R/S coping, sanctification of work, workplace spirituality, and job insecurity is reviewed. Using Mechanical Turk, 467 individuals from the United States who were experiencing some type of job insecurity in their full-time jobs participated in this study. Participants had worked at their respective companies for approximately 4.31 years. The sample was 52.9% male, 77.5% Caucasian, with a mean age of 30.22 years. Approximately 38.5% of the participants stated they never attended R/S services and 35.5% denied having any R/S affiliation. Positive R/S coping moderated the relationship between an individual's organizational commitment and job satisfaction. There was a stronger positive relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction for people who use less positive R/S coping relative to greater use of positive R/S coping. Negative R/S coping separately moderated the relationships between total job insecurity and cognitive/affective job insecurity with psychological distress and health respectively. For those individuals who reported greater use of negative R/S coping, the relationship between either form of job insecurity with psychological distress was more strongly positive than for people who used lower levels of negative R/S coping. For those who reported greater use of negative R/S coping, the connection between either form of job insecurity and poorer health was stronger. Sanctification of work moderated the relationships between organizational commitment and health, organizational support and psychological distress, as well as organizational support and health. In each of these cases, greater use of sanctification was tied to stronger relationships between the organizational and adjustment related variable: positive relationships between organizational var (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kenneth Pargament (Advisor); Annette Mahoney (Committee Member); Alfred DeMaris (Committee Member); Steve Jex (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Business Administration; Clinical Psychology; Management; Occupational Health; Occupational Psychology; Organizational Behavior; Psychology; Religion; Spirituality

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2017, Psychology/Clinical

This cross-sectional study examines the relations among college students' experiences of parental psychological aggression, spiritual and psychosocial coping, psychological adjustment, and parent-offspring relationship satisfaction. Separate analyses were conducted to examine participants' relationships with their current mother (N = 307) and father (N = 210) figures. Parental psychological aggression (PPA) is relatively common, with 59% and 40% of students reporting at least one incident of some type of non-physical aggression from mothers and fathers, respectively, over the past year. Higher levels of PPA with both parents were consistently correlated with less relationship satisfaction and greater depression, anxiety, trauma-related distress, and use of coping strategies. Spiritual struggles in coping consistently predicted greater psychological maladjustment, with unique effects on anxiety (father dataset) and trauma-related distress (mother dataset) that persisted after controlling for PPA and psychosocial struggles. Interestingly, spiritual struggles in coping also uniquely predicted greater mother-offspring relationship satisfaction. In accordance with stress mobilization, spiritual resources were also uniquely predictive of greater anxiety (father dataset), trauma-related distress (both datasets), and mother-offspring relationship satisfaction, after controlling for PPA and psychosocial resources.

Committee: Annette Mahoney (Advisor); Kenneth Pargament (Committee Member); Dara Musher-Eizenman (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2017, Psychology

A growing body of research has illustrated the prevalence of religious and spiritual (r/s) struggles among adults in the U.S. In response to this new line of research, there is now a growing interest in examining those factors that might predispose one to experience r/s struggles, One such factor is psychological entitlement, which has emerged as a robust predictor of certain struggles. The present work sought to build upon this finding, examining how spiritual entitlement, a domain specific manifestation of psychological entitlement, predicted a variety of religious and spiritual struggles. Using a large, cross-sectional sample of adults (N = 747), the structure of the Spiritual Entitlement Scale was tested using both confirmatory factor analyses and item response theory, revealing two dimensions of spiritual entitlement. The first dimension—Positive Expectations— reflected an optimistic attitude toward one's spiritual life and was wholly unrelated to r/s struggle when psychological entitlement was held constant statistically. The second dimension — Maladaptive Spiritual Entitlement— reflected demanding attitudes toward deity and a sense of unmerited deservingness in one's spiritual life. This second dimension was robustly predictive of r/s struggles with the divine, but not with any other r/s struggles. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Committee: Julie Exline Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Arin Connell Ph.D. (Committee Member); Heath Demaree Ph.D. (Committee Member); Timothy Beal Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Mental Health; Personal Relationships; Personality; Personality Psychology; Psychology; Religion; Social Psychology; Theology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2015, Psychology/Clinical

Despite burgeoning interest among researchers in the psychology of emerging adults, very little research has explored the helpful or harmful psychosocial and R/S coping strategies emerging adults employ as a means to cope with non-marital romantic relationship dissolution. This study longitudinally examined the role of psychosocial coping methods, religious/spiritual appraisals, and religious/spiritual coping methods in the long-term adjustment of emerging adults to non-marital romantic breakup. One-hundred and thirteen undergraduate university students completed measures at Time 1 about their experience of the breakup of their most recent mutually exclusive non-marital romantic relationship, and they completed follow-up measures one year later at Time 2. Principal component analyses were conducted to ensure that psychosocial coping methods and religious/spiritual coping methods were appropriately grouped into helpful versus unhelpful categories for the post-breakup context with this particular sample. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that participants' psychosocial coping methods at T1 were longitudinally associated with some areas of post-breakup adjustment and growth at T2. In addition, regression analyses indicated that sacred loss/desecration appraisals of the breakup at T1 and religious/spiritual coping methods at T1 were longitudinally associated with some areas of post-breakup adjustment and growth at T2. Finally, mediation analyses highlighted that religious/spiritual coping resources mediated longitudinal links between T1 sacred loss/desecration appraisals of the breakup and T2 adjustment and personal growth. This study is the first of its kind to provide longitudinal evidence that religion and spirituality are relevant to emerging adults' adjustment to non-marital breakup.

Committee: Annette Mahoney (Advisor); Kenneth Pargament (Committee Member); Anne Gordon (Committee Member); Karen Benjamin Guzzo (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Clinical Psychology; Counseling Psychology; Developmental Psychology; Pastoral Counseling; Psychology; Religion; Religious Congregations; Social Psychology; Spirituality; Theology; Therapy; Womens Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2012, Psychology/Clinical

This study examined a model of religious/spiritual (R/S) coping with nonmarital breakup in a sample of college students. More specifically, the impact of college students' R/S appraisals and coping on their psychological and spiritual adjustment was investigated, with special attention given to ways that sexuality and other pre-breakup relationship variables may be involved in these dynamics. Two-hundred and seventy-six undergraduate university students completed measures about the dissolution of a romantic relationship within the past 48 months (M = 14, SD =12.23) that they reported left them “heartbroken.” Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that participants' R/S appraisals of the breakup predicted post-breakup anger, subjective distress, posttraumatic growth, and spiritual growth; R/S coping methods predicted post-breakup subjective distress, posttraumatic growth, and spiritual growth. Regression analyses revealed that positive and negative R/S coping methods offered unique contributions to individuals' post-breakup adjustment above secular coping methods. Mediational analyses highlighted that R/S coping mediated links between religious appraisals and positive post-breakup adjustment. Additionally, greater certainty of belief that participants would marry their ex-partner was found to predict greater sacred loss and desecration appraisals. This study was the first of its kind to systematically assess a model of R/S coping with nonmarital breakup, accompanied by a preliminary exploration of relationship variables that may impact the R/S coping model.

Committee: Annette Mahoney PhD (Committee Chair); Kenneth I. Pargament PhD (Committee Member); Anne K. Gordon PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Counseling Psychology; Personal Relationships; Psychology; Religion; Spirituality

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2011, Psychology/Clinical

Using a rigorous longitudinal design, this dissertation examined whether spiritual beliefs and practices centered on marriage are resources that predict 164 married, first time parents' sexual satisfaction and intimacy from pregnancy to their child's first birthday. Spiritual resources were defined using the conceptual frameworks of sanctification of marriage, and individual and joint positive spiritual coping to handle marital difficulties. Contrary to expectations, greater sanctification of marriage, and the use of positive individual and joint spiritual coping did not predict sexual functioning from the third trimester of pregnancy to one year later after accounting for demographics, initial levels of sexual outcomes, and global religiousness. Some direct effects were found when only the given spiritual resource was entered in regression analyses. Analyses also supported the unique roles of initial levels of sexual functioning, biblical conservatism, and conflict about sex as predictors of spouses' future sexual quality. Both wives and husbands reported very high marital and sexual functioning across time, and thus indicated little to no stress that may have otherwise necessitated coping processes and impacted negatively their sexual bond during this transition. Therefore, while sanctification and coping have been found to be helpful in predicting individual and relational functioning, they did not emerge as particularly advantageous for these reportedly very happy, married couples. Several directions for future research are discussed.

Committee: Annette Mahoney (Advisor); Kenneth Pargament (Committee Member); Alfred DeMaris (Committee Member); Anne Gordon (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2010, Psychology/Clinical

Research has demonstrated that spiritual struggles are related to deleterious effects on psychological well-being, and can lead to a wide range of addictive behavior in college students (Bryant & Astin, 2008; Pargament et al., 1998; Exline, Yali & Sanderson, 2000; Johnson, Sheets & Kristeller, 2006; Astin & Astin, 2004; Faigin & Pargament, 2008). Some promising studies have found that small-group interventions can diminish the negative effects of spiritual struggles (Oemig et al., 2008; Tarakeshwar, Pearce, and Sikkema, 2005; Avants et al., 2005; Murray-Swank & Pargament, 2005); while computer-based psychoeducation interventions have proven effective in addressing other psychological or behavioral problems (Braithwaite & Fincham, 2007; Orbach, Lindsay, & Grey, 2007; Low et al., 2006). The current project is the first of its kind to assess the impact of a computer-based psychoeducation intervention for spiritual struggles that can be applied to a large group of people. Findings indicate that a spiritually sensitive intervention does not appear to protect students from the negative effects of spiritual struggles (e.g., psychological distress, addictive behavior, stigma related to spiritual struggles) more than a secular (stress reduction) intervention or no intervention. These results indicate that this one-time, computer-based psychoeducation intervention does not protect freshmen college students from negative outcomes associated with spiritual struggles. However, there is reason to believe that changes in the administration and intervention design could prove effective in future studies. Suggestions for future research are provided; limitations and practical implications are discussed.

Committee: Kenneth Pargament Ph.D. (Advisor); Roudabeh Jamasbi Ph.D. (Committee Member); Michael Zickar Ph.D. (Committee Member); William O'Brien Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology; Religion

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2009, Psychology/Clinical

Psychological research has demonstrated links between religion and physical health and well-being. Although religion is generally beneficial for individuals, spiritual struggles can be detrimental for physical health. Studies have linked spiritual struggles with poor physical health, such as declines in somatic recovery (Fitchett, Rybarczyk, DeMarco, and Nicholas, 1999) and increased risk of mortality (Pargament, Koenig, Tarakeshwar, and Hahn, 2001). Given that spiritual struggles have been tied to harmful health consequences, it is important to understand the biological mechanisms underlying this relationship. Research has demonstrated that life stress causes cardiovascular reactivity, which in turn, is related to cardiovascular problems. The present study explored whether the same mechanism holds true for spiritual struggles and health problems; specifically, whether spiritual struggles were associated with increased cardiovascular reactivity. In addition, the study investigated whether the experiences of spiritual and life struggles were associated with different levels of cardiovascular distress.Undergraduate students experiencing both spiritual and life struggles were identified. Using a counter-balanced experimental design, participants (n = 80) were prompted to talk about neutral topics, spiritual struggles, and life struggles. Cardiovascular distress, heart rate and blood pressure, were monitored continuously during the study while mood and subjective distress were assessed after each condition. The results partially supported the hypotheses, though significant order effects made it difficult to interpret the differences between spiritual struggles and life struggles. Nevertheless, the results suggest that spiritual struggles were related to increased cardiovascular reactivity, particularly blood pressure, when compared to baseline functioning. Implications for future studies and limitations of this study are discussed.

Committee: Kenneth Pargament (Advisor); Anne Gordon (Committee Member); Annette Mahoney (Committee Member); William O'Brien (Committee Member); C. Carney Strange (Other) Subjects: Health; Mental Health; Psychology; Religion

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2008, Psychology/Clinical

Research has provided robust evidence that religious/spiritual variables can serve as protective factors against developing addictive behaviors, such as substance-related abuse (see review by Booth and Martin, 1998). However, there is a dearth of empirical data investigating religious/spiritual variables as risk factors in the development of addictive behaviors. One such variable, spiritual struggles, is receiving increased attention and has been linked empirically to various negative psychological and physical outcomes (see review by Ano and Vasconcelles, 2005). Additionally, the majority of addiction research has focused on substance-related abuse and has largely overlooked other behavioral expressions of addiction (e.g., addictions to shopping, sex, gambling, etc.). The current study longitudinally examined spiritual struggles as a predictor in the development of addictive behaviors among a sample of freshmen college students. Findings indicate that spiritual struggles predicted a statistically significant increase in 11 of 15 measures of addictive behavior. Additionally, specific domains of spiritual struggle (e.g., divine, interpersonal, and intrapersonal) were shown to predict change in addictive behavior over time. These results suggest that spiritual struggles may be a risk factor in the development of a wide range of addictive behaviors for first-year college students. Limitations and practical implications are discussed.

Committee: Kenneth Pargament PhD (Committee Chair); Michael Zickar PhD (Committee Member); William O'Brien PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2008, Nursing

The purpose of this study was to explore relationships among spiritual well-being, perceived stress, and coping in female African Americans with consideration to their smoking status. African American women, compared to all other groups, experience significantly more negative health outcomes in the leading causes of death related to cigarette smoking. In spite of the health outcomes, African American women as less likely to stop smoking than Caucasian women, and they worry about managing stress if they do. Because smoking, an activity cited by smokers as a stress reducer, is subject to personal control, smoking cessation is a target in health care prevention and promotion interventions. Spiritual well-being has been identified as an important resource for coping with stress for African American women. In this cross-sectional, descriptive study, spiritual well-being was measured using the Spiritual Well-being Scale; Perceived stress was measured by the Perceived Stress Scale; and coping was measured by the Ways of Coping Questionnaire. The convenience sample of 125 community-dwelling African American women from included 25 current smokers, 42 ex-smokers, 58 and never smokers. Most women in the study were unmarried or widowed attended college, had a yearly income of $30,000 or more, and had health insurance coverage. Significant relationships were found between the study variables in all subjects using Pearson Product Moment Correlations. Participants who reported higher levels of perceived stress were more likely to report greater use of Positive Problem Solving, Wishful Diversions, and External Social Support coping. A multivariate analysis of covariance was used to statistically control for the pre-existing differences among the three smoking groups on age, yearly income, marital status, education and incentive status. Never smokers reported higher levels of spiritual well-being compared to ex-smokers and current smokers, while current smokers utilized more Extern (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: N. Margaret Wineman PhD (Advisor); Diana Biordi PhD (Committee Member); Harriet Coeling PhD (Committee Member); Richard Steiner PhD (Committee Member); Christine A. Wynd PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Nursing