Spiritual well-being is a well-established predictor of mental health, yet the potential mechanisms of this association are relatively unexplored. We examined the influence of spirituality, including religious and existential well-being, on depressive symptoms, and the potential mediating effect of optimism and pessimism, in a sample of 66 African American female suicide attempters. Participants were recruited from a large, urban hospital and completed the Spiritual Well-Being Scale, Life Orientation Test-Revised, and the Beck Depression Inventory-II. The association between spiritual well-being and depressive symptoms was mediated indirectly through both optimism and pessimism; greater religious and existential well-being was related to more optimism, and less pessimism and, in turn, to fewer depressive symptoms. Historically, spiritual well-being has been important to the African American community, and its beneficial effects on mental health might be explained, in part, by their effect on cognitive-emotional functioning.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:etsu-works-1676 |
Date | 01 January 2014 |
Creators | Hirsch, Jameson K., Nsamenang, Sheri A., Chang, Edward C., Kaslow, Nadine J. |
Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
Detected Language | English |
Type | text |
Source | ETSU Faculty Works |
Page generated in 0.0013 seconds