The Association between Religious Coping and Depressive Symptomatology in Puerto Rico: A Cross-Sectional Study

Religious coping (RC) is a situation management strategy that uses religious and behaviors belief to prevent and alleviate negative consequences of stressful events. The objective of this research was to assess whether high levels of RC are negatively associated with the risk of suffering depressive symptoms in a sample of Puerto Rican adults. To this end, we conducted a cross-sectional study to examine whether people with high levels of RC exhibit significantly less symptoms associated with depression than those with low levels of RC. The results showed that people with higher levels of RC reported less depressive symptomatology than people with low levels of RC. On the other hand, it was evidenced a negative association between high levels of RC and the risk of suffer symptoms of depression. The results suggest the importance of considering RC to cope stressful events and emotional problems in people's lives.

Keywords: Coping, Depression, Religion, Religious Coping, Depressive Symptomatology, Puerto Rico.