Attachment to God in a collectivistic context and its impact on perceived stress

Abstract

Introduction: Research indicates that attachment to God is correlated with parental attachment and perceived stress. However, these relationships have not been studied outside the Western context. The present research evaluated the relationship between attachment to God and attachment to parents within different family systems and the impact of these attachments on perceived stress. Methods: A sample of 284 Christian undergraduate students in Pakistan was surveyed. The data were collected from the participants through convenience sampling. Relationships between attachment to parents, attachment to God, religiosity, and perceived stress were studied. Results: A significant positive relationship between attachment to parents and to God was found for the nuclear family system on the anxiety subscale. For the avoidance subscale, both nuclear and joint family systems had significant positive relationships between parental attachment and attachment to God; however, it was stronger for joint family systems. The multiple regression analysis showed parental avoidance (β = .256, p