Perceived God support as a mediator of the relationship between religiosity and psychological distress

Abstract

This paper investigated whether perceived God support would mediate the negative relationship between religiosity and psychological distress. 253 Evangelical Christians completed the Patient Health Questionnaire for Anxiety and Depression, the Religiosity Inventory, and the Religious Support Scale. Mediation analyses revealed that perceived God support partially mediated the negative relationship between Evangelical religiosity and psychological distress. This meant that perceived God support could explain some of the negative religiosity-distress relationship. As such, Evangelical religiosity may be related to health benefits through adherents’ sense of support from God, corroborating a divine attachment theory of religion. We argue that God support should be considered as one of the theoretical mechanisms through which religions may be associated with better psychological health.