| Description |
While there has been a well-documented negative correlation between religious coping and post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder in military samples, there has been little research in to potential reasons for this relationship. It has been proposed that in many ways religion works as a buffer to the full effects of war and has even been proposed as a possible intervention in those suffering from PTSD and depression; however, the data to back this claim are mostly missing. The current study provides an initial foray into understanding the effects of religious coping on military personnel by following a group of 194 Special Forces pararescue airmen both pre and post deployment. The airmen filled out a questionnaire at both time points that evaluated the use of religious coping in stressful situations along with depression and PTSD measures. Exposure to traumatic experiences during their deployments was measured as well. I hypothesized that higher levels of religious coping pre and post deployment would be affiliated with both lower levels of PTSD, insomnia and depression along with lower levels of reported combat exposure. I also hypothesized that religious coping would decrease over time as an effect of combat exposure. The results did not support my hypotheses. For pre-deployment there was a statistically significant negative relationship between religious coping and exposure to post battle traumas (e.g., human remains, injured people), but this correlation was not significant at follow-up. |
