Predictors of self-reported growth following religious and spiritual struggles: Exploring the role of wholeness

Abstract

Religious and spiritual (r/s) struggles have been robustly linked to negative outcomes, such as greater psychological distress, reduced well-being, and difficulty finding meaning in life. R/s struggles, however, do not inevitably lead to decline. Many people report post-traumatic and spiritual growth through their r/s struggles, even though correlational studies linking r/s struggles to perceptions of growth have produced mixed results. How do we make sense of this overall pattern of findings? Perhaps growth following r/s struggles occurs under certain conditions. Prior conceptual work by Pargament suggests that specific aspects of one’s orienting system (i.e., the confluence of r/s, dispositional, and psychosocial factors which help guide people in their search for significance and purpose) may play a pivotal role in predicting growth or decline in the wake of an r/s struggle. In the present empirical study, we expected to find that among r/s strugglers, those with orienting systems marked by greater wholeness would be more likely to report growth and less decline. Four dimensions of greater wholeness (purposiveness, breadth and depth, life affirmation, cohesiveness) were measured by the presence of meaning in one’s life, self-control, universality, optimism, compassion, openness to change while tolerating doubt, and a collaborative problem-solving relationship with God. We tested these hypotheses using data from a crosssectional study (N = 1162) of undergraduates at three universities. Results generally supported our hypotheses, with a few exceptions. Greater wholeness was associated with reports of more growth and less decline after an r/s struggle.