Religious and spiritual struggles arise in various forms and circumstances. The newly developed Religious and Spiritual Struggles (RSS) scale reveals a coherent, multidimensional structure in these domain-specific problems that applies to religious and nonreligious people alike. Thus new questions emerge. Do religious people struggle less with religion, or more? Struggles and stress seem likely to coincide, but might stressful life events give rise to fewer religious struggles among religious people? We tested this moderation hypothesis in a large sample of American undergraduates, who completed the RSS and measures of stressful life events, religious belief salience, and religious participation. Latent interaction factors for religiousness and stressful life events failed to predict additional variance in most RSS factors in a structural equation model using polychoric correlations, yielding no support for the moderation hypothesis. However, religiousness and stressful life events independently predicted higher scores on most factors of the RSS in most samples.

1. STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS
AND RELIGIOUSNESS
PREDICT STRUGGLES ABOUT
RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY
Nick Stauner1, Julie J. Exline1, Kenneth I. Pargament2,
Joshua A. Wilt1, & Joshua B. Grubbs2
1 Case Western Reserve University
2 Bowling Green State University

2. RELIGIOUSNESS, STRUGGLES, & DISTRESS
 Distinct from religiousness & distress, but related*
 Religiousness (rs = -.42–.74)  Distress (rs = -.11–.65)
* Stauner, Exline, Grubbs, et al. (2016). Religions, 7(6). DOI: 10.3390/rel7060068

3. PROBLEMS OF R/S STRUGGLERS
 Psychological problems*
 Distress: depression, anxiety, perceived stress, neuroticism
 Negative affect, pessimism, paranoid ideation, hostility, insecure attachment,
obsessive-compulsiveness, eating disorders; worse psychiatric prognosis & burden;
lower self-rated fitness, body image, confidence & competence, esteem/liking…
 Entitlement, spiritual entitlement, narcissism
 Physical problems†
 Worse health, illness symptoms, cognitive function,
rehabilitation outcomes, longevity
 More diagnoses & functional disabilities
* Stauner, Exline, & Pargament (2016). Horizonte, 14(41), 48–75.
† Exline (2013). APA handbook of psychology, religion, and spirituality

4. ENVIRONMENTS OF R/S STRUGGLERS
 Childhood physical/sexual/emotional abuse,1 especially by clergy2
 Adults: mood/substance disorders, PTSD, sexual problems, crime3
 Worse if trauma is more disruptive, unjust, uncontrollable,4 intense
 Posttraumatic stress may mediate effects on R/S struggles5
 Stressful life events (SLE) accumulate
 Exposure to different SLE predicts complexity of PTSD symptoms6
 Number of SLE predicts increases in R/S struggles over time7
 Which predicts more PTSD symptoms8…
1 Ganje-Fling & McCarthy, 1996 2 Benyei, 2014
3 Wolfe, Francis, & Straatman, 2006 4 Ano & Pargament, 2013 5 Bradley, Schwartz, & Kaslow, 2005
6 Cloitre et al., 2009 7 Haugen, 2011 8 Wortmann, Park, & Edmondson, 2011

5. 1 Park, 2013 2 Pargament, 1997, 2007
3 Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2013
4 McCullough & Willoughby, 2009 5 Sperry & Miller, 2011
RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY AS A BUFFER
 Religion/spirituality may provide:
 Existential meaning and life orientation1
 Orienting systems, comfort, and coping skills2
 Social bonds and attachment figures3
 Self-regulatory motives and skills4
 Spiritual counseling modalities5
 Religiousness–struggle correlations : median = 0, mode = -.18

6. PARTICIPANT SAMPLES (4 OF ‘EM)
 3 undergraduate samples
 N = 1,019 / 1,102 / 1,946 in each, mean age = 19, SD = 2
 1 sample of adult MTurk workers
 N = 1,397 mean age = 34, SD = 11
 59–66% women, moderate ethnic diversity
 56–83% white; 2–34% Asian / Pacific; 4–18% Latino, 3–13% black, all others 1–3%
 Mostly Christian / unaffiliated, few others
 Christian university on Pacific coast: 97 / 2 / 1%
 Public university near Great Lakes (N = 1,927): 70 / 25 / 5%
 Private university near Great Lakes, & MTurk sample: 45, 45 / 37, 47 / 16, 8%

7. PARTICIPANT SAMPLES (4 OF ‘EM)
 3 undergraduate samples
 N = 1,019 / 1,102 / 1,946 in each, mean age = 19, SD = 2
 1 sample of adult MTurk workers
 N = 1,397 mean age = 34, SD = 11
 59–66% women, moderate ethnic diversity
 56–83% white; 2–34% Asian / Pacific; 4–18% Latino, 3–13% black, all others 1–3%
Sample Christian None Others
West coastal university 97% 2% 1%
Public Great Lakes university 70% 25% 5%
Private Great Lakes U, MTurk 45, 45% 37, 47% 16, 8%

8. STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS*
 19 items rated “No”, “Yes, once”, or “Yes, more than once”
“Please indicate which of these events you have experienced.”
*Turner & Lloyd (1995). Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 36(4), 360–376.
• Illness/accident with hospitalization,
life-threatening or disabling
• Redo year of school
• Thought about scary event for years
• Sent away from home
• Witnessed violence/death, war,
political uprising
• Natural disaster
• Death of a child/parent / loved one
• Partner:
Unfaithful, divorce/breakup,
substance/physical abuse
• Parents:
Unemployment, divorce,
substance/physical abuse
• Sexual abuse

9. RELIGIOUS BELIEF SALIENCE & PARTICIPATION
Religious belief salience* (rated 0–10 or N/A):
1. “I allow my [R/S] beliefs to influence other areas of my life.”
2. “My [R/S] beliefs provide meaning and purpose to life.”
3. “My [R/S] beliefs lie behind my whole approach to life.”
4. “Being a [R/S] person is important to me.”
Religious participation† – how often in the past week?
 Prayer/meditation  Thought about R/S issues
 Attended services  Talked about R/S issues
 Read R/S books  Watched R/S programs
* Blaine & Crocker (1995). PSPB, 21(10), 1031–1041.
† Exline, Yali, & Sanderson (2000). Journal of Clinical Psychology, 56, 1481–1496.

10. THE RELIGIOUS & SPIRITUAL STRUGGLES SCALE*
 Brand new (2014), measurement model fits well
 26 items, 6 dimensions:
“Over the past few months, I have...”
Example itemDimension
“wondered if God really cares”Divine
“felt attacked by the devil or by evil spirits”Demonic
“had conflicts with other people about [R/S] matters”Interpersonal
“felt guilty for not living up to my moral standards”Moral
“questioned whether life really matters”Ultimate Meaning
“felt troubled by doubts or questions about [R/S]”Doubt
*Exline, Pargament, Grubbs, & Yali (2014). Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 6(3), 208–222.

11. RSS MEASUREMENT MODEL
Divine Demonic Interpersonal Moral
Ultimate
Meaning
Doubt
.91 .86 .90 .85 .88 .75 .88 .76 .66 .81.92 .90 .90 .92 .83 .86 .86 .82 .89 .88 .86 .82 .88 .91 .89 .87
.57 .43 .48 .52 .68
.58 .59 .55
.52
.58
.31
.62
.68 .39
.72

12. HYPOTHESES
1. Quantity of SLE will predict greater R/S struggles of all kinds
2. Religiousness will negatively moderate main effects of SLE
 (Effects will generalize across 4 samples)

13. STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODEL
Religious
& Spiritual
Struggles
Religiousness
(bifactor)
Hypothesis 1: (+)Known effects: (±)
Hypothesis 2: (−)
Stressful
Life
Events
 Polychoric correlations
 ULSMV estimation

14. STANDARDIZED LATENT REGRESSIONS
Religious
& Spiritual
Struggles
Religiousness
(bifactor)
Stressful
Life
Events
Hypothesis 1
ß = .08 – .24 = modest positive effect
Supported
ß = -.40 – .69
Hypothesis 2:
ß = -.04 – .08
No effect
Unsupported
 Scaled CFI = .96, RMSEA = .02
 Invariant loadings, regressions
 (Except religiousness)

15. THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS
 Quantity of stressful life events predicts greater R/S struggles
 Regardless of type of R/S struggle, sample, or differences in religiousness
 Worldview / god image mediators? Demographic/cultural moderators?
 Religiousness does not buffer (nor exacerbate) SLE effects on RSS
 What about god images/attachment, religious coping/support?
 What if religiousness frames SLE as R/S struggles, but helps coping too?
 Look forward to longitudinal results…

16.  Supported by funding from the John Templeton Foundation
 Grants #36094 and #59916
 Contact
NickStauner@gmail.com
 Article reference
Stauner, N., Exline, J. J., Pargament, K. I., Wilt, J. A., & Grubbs, J. B. (Under review).
Stressful life events and religiousness predict struggles about religion and spirituality.

17. B1 B2 B3 B4 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6
Religiousness
(R)
Religious
belief salience
(RBS)
Religious
participation
(RP)
1 1.01 1.00 1.01 .98 .84 .67 .75
1 1.09 1.03 1.00 1 3.11 3.92 3.15 1.53 2.78
.89 .76
X1 X2 X3 X4 Z1 Z2 Z3 Z4 Z5 Z6
R × SLE
interaction
RBS
×
SLE
RP
×
SLE
1 1.03 1.04 1.06 .43 .25 .17 .13
1 1.02 .85 .82 1 1.92 2.01 1.91 .95 1.51
.39 .27
Stressful life
events (SLE)
Religious
and Spiritual
Struggles
See next slide .02 .68
Predictors
Outcomes
Indicators
Controlled
group factors
Regression
coefficients
General factor
loadings
Group factor
loadings
Section
Standardized
ψ = -.12 – .13

18. STANDARDIZED LATENT MULTIPLE REGRESSION
COEFFICIENTS (INVARIANT LOADINGS ONLY)
RSS factor
Predictor
Religiousness (R) Stressful life events (SLE) R × SLE interaction
Divine -.33 / .05 / .31 / .18 .14 / .23 / .19 / .18 .00 / .00 / -.02 / .02
Demonic .15 / .60 / .69 / .64 .17 / .17 / .16 / .19 .08 / .02 / .04 / .03
Interpersonal -.19 / .06 / .22 / -.03 .21 / .24 / .19 / .22 .05 / -.01 / -.03 / .04
Moral -.06 / .42 / .48 / .35 .08 / .13 / .19 / .16 .06 / -.04 / -.02 / .03
Ultimate Meaning -.40 / -.12 / .08 / -.20 .13 / .22 / .22 / .20 .06 / .01 / .02 / .05
Doubt -.34 / .01 / .26 / .12 .08 / .17 / .15 / .14 .02 / .01 / -.01 / .03
Slashes divide coefficients by sample in this order:
West coastal Christian university / public Great Lakes U / private Great Lakes U / MTurk sample.
Effects only differed significantly across samples and RSS factors for religiousness. All |ß| ≥ .08 differed
significantly from zero (p < .01, except religiousness as a predictor of Ultimate Meaning struggle: p = .03).