2017/02/01 by Nicole Da Silva, Frank R. Dillon, Toni Rose Verdejo +2 · 1 citation
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Acculturation #Anxiety #Clinical psychology #Coping (psychology) #Demography #Distress #Ethnic group #Faith #Immigration #Migration, Health and Trauma #Population #Psychiatry #Psychological distress #Psychological intervention #Psychology #Racial and Ethnic Identity Research #Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
paper · doi:10.1177/0011000017692111
openalex publication_date 2017/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Religion is a source of strength in Latina/o culture during challenging life transitions, such as the immigration process. Guided by a sociological stress-process model, this study examines relations between dimensions of religious coping, acculturative stress, and psychological distress among 530 young Latina women (ages 18-23 years) who recently immigrated to the United States (i.e., approximately 12 months prior to assessment). Higher levels of acculturative stress were associated with higher levels of psychological distress. Negative religious coping (i.e., the tendency to struggle with faith) moderated the relation between acculturative stress and psychological distress. Participants experiencing higher levels of acculturative stress reported greater psychological distress when they indicated more negative religious coping. Positive religious coping (i.e., the tendency to relate to faith with comfort and certainty) was not linked with acculturative stress or psychological distress. Implications for culturally tailored counseling interventions for this underserved and understudied population are discussed.