Page 82 - JCBP-3-2

Journal of Clinical and
Basic Psychosomatics Coping with a crisis

Table 5. Comparison of faculty/staff respondents to students on social media, spiritual coping, and DASS‑21 Scales using
Mann–Whitney U‑test
Scale Mean rank U z P r
Faculty/Staff Students
Spiritual Coping 143.79 136.69 7983.50 −0.69 0.490 N.S.
Religious Coping 142.14 142.67 8798.50 −0.05 0.960 N.S.
Non-Religious Coping 149.09 134.83 7636.00 −1.39 0.170 N.S.
Brief Resilience 167.55 130.50 6527.50 −3.57 0.001 −0.21
Social Media Intensity 113.46 155.75 6160.00 −4.08 0.001 −0.24
DASS-21 Anxiety 88.45 167.79 3859.50 −7.67 0.001 −0.46
DASS-21 Depression 107.52 157.56 5628.50 −4.87 0.001 −0.29
DASS-21 Stress 106.56 160.65 5539.00 −5.21 0.001 −0.31
Social media hours 53.54 130.34 1394.50 −7.92 0.001 −0.54
Social media friends a 102.28 134.11 4984.00 −3.31 0.001 −0.21
Note: Logarithmic transformed variable.
a
Abbreviations: DASS-21: Depression, anxiety, and stress scales; N.S.: Not significant; r: Measure of effect size.
many definitions and interpretations and little consensus both were more strongly correlated with better outcomes
exist among the literature. Rev. Stephen Ryan defined than having just one or neither. Further, Rosmarin et al.
31
spirituality as “the lens through which people interpret noted that a plethora of research worldwide has connected
their universe. It is the basis for how they understand spirituality with reduced depression, suicide, and substance
themselves; their multi-dimensional needs; the manner use. Spirituality can also promote emotional wellness, as
in which they relate to other people; and that which they evidenced by its associations with greater life satisfaction
perceive as transcending themselves. This spirituality may and self-esteem. 32
or may not be expressed in religious terminology.” 28,p.16 Results from our study indicate that the genders are
Therefore, religion and spirituality are not necessarily the
same thing and according to Smith about three in ten U.S. more alike than different regarding many variables of
29
adults are religiously unaffiliated. Our sample population mental health, resilience, spirituality, and social media use.
seemed to align well with this broad view of spirituality, However, a few key differences did emerge. Specifically,
where some reported religious (e.g., attending church) females reported higher levels of non-religious spiritual
and others reported non-religious (e.g., connecting with coping, higher levels of anxiety, and lower levels of resilience
nature, art, etc.) coping skills. compared to males. These findings align with previous
34
research by King et al. and Leurent et al. suggesting
33
Results from our study determined that relationships that individuals who are spiritual, but not affiliated with an
clearly exist between spiritual coping strategies and mental established religion, may have a heightened risk of mental
health as measured by depression, anxiety, stress, and illness.
resilience. We found that among the overall sample, higher
spiritual coping strategies were associated with lower Like spirituality, resilience is another term with varying
depression, anxiety, and stress scores and higher resilience. definitions in the scientific literature, but for the most
These findings appear to align with other studies. 10,30 part, there is agreement that resilience is connected to
35
Findings in the literature are mixed and much depends positive mental health. Results from our overall sample
on whether one is assessing “spirituality (S),” “religiosity showed that participants who demonstrated higher
(R),” or both (S/R). But according to Kao et al., 61% of resilience had lower levels of depression, anxiety, and
30
444 studies on S/R show an inverse relationship between stress. Similar to our findings, studies show that resilience
S/R and depression and 49% of studies show an inverse is negatively correlated to negative indicators of mental
10
relationship between S/R and anxiety. Vitorino et al. health and positively correlated to positive indicators of
36
investigated how different levels of spirituality and mental health. Resilience appears to act as a protective
religiousness were associated with quality of life, depressive factor in overall mental health and can prove to be very
symptoms, anxiety, optimism, and happiness among adults. powerful in helping individuals bounce back from adverse
While differences existed among levels of spirituality and experiences. In our study, resilience was twice as strongly
religiousness, their results revealed that higher levels of correlated with reduced depression, anxiety, and stress

Volume 3 Issue 2 (2025) 76 doi: 10.36922/jcbp.4563