Research suggests those with high religiosity have better social support and lower stress levels (Gao, 2015), and more frequent attendance of religious services is related to larger social networks and higher variety and perceived quality of social support (Ellison & George, 1994). Furthermore, research has shown that the quality of religious social support protects against symptoms of anxiety and depression (Desrosiers, 2012; Lewis, 2019). However, the relationship between perceived religious support in childhood and internalizing symptoms in adulthood have not been thoroughly investigated in the literature. Therefore, we hypothesize that perceived religious support in childhood correlates with lower levels of anxiety, stress, and depression in adulthood. Data was collected at a public university in rural Appalachia (N = 769, 70.9% female, M age = 20.43, SD = 4.51) using online, self-report survey. Pearson correlations indicated a significant inverse relationship between perceived religious support in childhood and depression (r(612) = -0.30, p = 0.01), anxiety (r(629) = -0.20, p = 0.01), and stress (r(630) = -0.26, p = 0.01). These findings suggest that perceived religious support during childhood may have a small protective effect against depression, anxiety, and stress in early adulthood and that religious support in childhood may be more of a buffer for depression in adulthood compared to stress and anxiety.

Children naturally seek support and comfort from birth on, especially when faced with negative life events. Support that comes from the primary care givers is necessary and useful but is not always available or the only considerably influential support the child receives. Other places support could come from include peers, school resources or religious resources and beyond. Religion and the support received from faith-based groups has been used in many ways to aid in coping with experienced trauma and times of adversity. Observing the perceived religious support that children feel they have allows for the support systems in a child’s life to understand the potentially useful practices in the resilience of adverse experiences faced by youth. Focusing on the relationship between how much religious support is perceived and the number of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) scores could lead to further research endeavors on religiosity’s role in coping with trauma and adversity. It is hypothesized that the more religious socialization support perceived by participants as children, the fewer ACE scores will be reported. Data collected from the REACH (Religion, Emotions, and Current Health) survey style study of the ARCH (Affect, Regulation, Coping and Health) research lab will be used. The college aged participant’s (N = 766) responses on reflective views of support perceived during youth in faith communities using the ARCH lab adapted version Faith Activities in the Home scale (FAITHS; Lambert & Dollahite, 2010) and number of ACEs will be analyzed. The proposed analysis to be conducted is a Pearson’s r correlation using SPSS. It is expected that there will be a negative correlation where the more religious support that is perceived during childhood, the fewer ACEs will be reported. Previous research has not directly observed the relationship of retrospective religious support and ACEs, so this study could direct to new investigations of coping through religious support for children. If the results are not statistically significant, past perceived religious support may not affect ACEs directly, and would lead to other ways of investigating the relationship of coping through religious means during adverse experiences.

There exists a severe deficit of studies exploring the psychological aspects of Christian worship experiences despite worship’s importance in Christianity and in many people’s lives. Transformational worship experiences can have lasting effects on one’s outlook and psychological functioning (Chou, 2008; Cutler, 1976; Ellison & George, 1994; Fife, Adegoke, McCoy, & Brewer, 2011; Salsman, Brown, Brechting, & Carlson, 2005), yet very few studies have investigated these experiences. The current study sought to explore the effects of group size and style of worship on participants’ feelings of deindividuation and focus on others within the congregation. Seventy-six middle aged adults from a range of ethnicities and denominations took part in an interview that included measures of religious support, social support, style of worship service, and a number of free-response questions about a transformational worship experience in the participant’s past. It was predicted that a more ceremonial worship style and that higher scores in religious and social support would be associated with less focus on specific others, that a more ceremonial worship style would be associated with more religious and social support, and that, depending on the level of religious and social support, the relationship between ceremonial style and focus on other would vary. Except for a significant positive correlation between ceremonial worship style and religious support, the proposed hypotheses were not supported.

The beneficial effects of religion and spiritual factors on cardiovascular functioning have become an area of increasing research. Similarly, considerable research has also investigated the negative effects of marital distress on cardiovascular functioning. Little is known, however, about potential protective factors against the deleterious effects of marital distress on cardiovascular functioning. Social support has been identified as a potential buffer against the negative effects of marital distress on ambulatory blood pressure, and the current study hypothesized that spirituality, religiosity, and religious support would also buffer the negative effects of marital distress on ambulatory blood pressure. Fifty-eight married couples were recruited from both marital therapists and the community surrounding Brigham Young University. Participants wore ambulatory blood pressure monitors for 24 hours and completed questionnaires which measure marital distress, spirituality, religiosity, religious support and social support. It was found that for normotensive individuals (SBP < 120) spirituality, religious support, and social support have an additive effect of lowering blood pressure on individuals with high marital quality. No effect was found for spirituality, religiosity, or religious support buffering the negative effects of marital distress on ambulatory blood pressure. It was also found that men and women view the relationships between religiosity and social support, and religious support and social support differently. Specifically, social support is more highly related to religiosity and religious support in women compared to men. It appears that for happily-married individuals, spirituality, religious support and social support have an additive effect in lowering blood pressure.

Effective spiritual care is difficult to define and evaluate objectively. As chaplains and Religious Support Teams endeavor to provide care in the highly mission-focused and objective-driven context of the United States military, this difficulty becomes uniquely problematic. The author demonstrates this reality using an exemplar Air Force Reserve chapel team as a case study. Blending transformational leadership, situational leadership, and John Kotter’s change model, the author constructs a vision for change culminating in a base level Operating Instruction that offers specific objectives, measurable tasks, and qualification metrics. Alongside this instruction, he crafts an Implementation Strategy designed to strategically inspire and motivate teams toward change. In doing so, he provides a path forward to allow chaplains to not only evaluate ministry effectiveness but also enhance communication with leaders at the base level and up into the highest levels of the Department of Defense.

The present questionnaire study examined attachment-religion connections among 175 believers from Christian congregations within the Læstadianism revival movement in Sweden and Finland. Results generally supported the study’s hypotheses, thus partly replicated, and extended previous research. Replicating previous research, reports of secure attachment predicted the adoption and transmission of Christian beliefs and values. Reports of relative insecure attachment was linked to aspects of religious changes and predicted religious changes occurring in a life-context of emotional turmoil. Results for emotional compensation were, however, not consistent with previous research. Reports of secure attachment predicted emotionally-based religiosity and insecure attachment did not predict the intensity/suddenness of the religious change. Extending previous research, reports of secure attachment predicted the adoption and transmission of the congregation's Christian standards and perceived religious support from one's congregation. Findings are discussed in the context of the Læstadian population of the study.