Religious Coping as a Predictor of Positive Affect and Life Satisfaction during Epidemic Conditions of COVID-19

Abstract

The present study is conducted to investigate the impact of positive and negative religious coping on life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect during the times of COVID-19 pandemic in Punjab, Pakistan. The hypotheses formulated are 1) Positive religious coping predicts positive effect during epidemic conditions of COVID-19 in residents of Punjab. 2) Positive religious coping has a significant impact on life satisfaction during epidemic conditions of COVID-19 in citizens of Punjab. 3) Negative religious coping predicts negative effects during COVID-19 conditions in citizens of Punjab, Pakistan. The study adopts the observational design and gathers data through demographic sheets, Subjective Well-Being Scale and Brief Religious Coping Scale (RCOPE). The population for the study is the residents of Punjab, Pakistan with data being gathered online. 200 participants were recruited online through convenience sampling. Data was statistically analyzed through the Statistical Package for Social Science version 22, and to test the research hypotheses descriptive statistics and Linear Regression Analysis were used. The Linear Regression results indicate that Positive Religious Coping significantly predicts Positive Affect (R²⁼ .239, F = 61.093, p<.00) and life satisfaction (R²⁼ .239, F = 61.093, p<.00) while Negative Religious Coping is significantly correlated with negative affect (R²⁼ .310, F = 87.568, p<.00).  Positive religious coping is positively correlated with life satisfaction and positive affect while negative religious coping is positively correlated with negative affect. These findings can be used to educate people about RC in Pakistan as it is a Muslim country and there is a culture of seeking help through religion in various stressful situations.