The mediating effect of positive and negative religious coping, compassion and resilience on the relationship between negative life events and wellbeing among women in Kenya, the Philippines, Nicaragua and Spain

Abstract

The current study explores the mediating effect of positive and negative religious coping on the relationship between negative life events and wellbeing, via its link with compassion and resilience among women who are involved in women’s empowerment programs run by a US faith-based non-profit humanitarian and disaster relief organisation, Convoy of Hope. The sample includes women from four countries (N = 1041), Kenya, the Philippines, Nicaragua and Spain, who took part in a digital survey. A mediation analysis was used, and the results revealed a full mediation effect, so that the number of negative life events was linked to wellbeing via an increase in both positive and negative religious coping strategies, compassion and then resilience. It also revealed other mediation paths via religious coping and resilience. Positive religious coping was linked to higher resilience and then higher wellbeing, whereas negative religious coping was linked to lower resilience and then lower wellbeing. The results highlight the role of compassion in adaptive religious coping and delineate the overall benefits of religious coping in the context of adversity.