The Sense of Quality of Life and Religious Strategies of Coping with Stress in Prison Inmates

J Relig Health. 2018 Jun;57(3):915-937. doi: 10.1007/s10943-017-0455-4.

Abstract

The aim of the presented research was to analyze differences in religious strategies of coping with stress in a group of prison inmates characterized by different levels of the sense of quality of life-general, psychophysical, psychosocial, personal, and metaphysical. The participants were 390 males, aged 19-68 years, serving sentences in prisons in Poland. The measures used were the Sense of Quality of Life Questionnaire by M. Straś-Romanowska and K. I. Pargament's RCOPE Questionnaire. As expected, individuals with a high sense of quality of life-both general and pertaining to specific dimensions-more often chose positive religious strategies, whereas participants with a low sense of quality of life more often chose negative strategies. The exception was the metaphysical aspect of the quality of life: individuals with a high intensity of this dimension more often chose some of the positive as well as negative religious strategies.

Keywords: Offenders; Quality of life; Religious coping.

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Psychological*
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Poland
  • Prisoners / psychology*
  • Quality of Life*
  • Religion*
  • Stress, Psychological*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Young Adult