Profiles of coping: Religious and non-religious coping strategies, emotional intelligence and psychological distress

The present study generated religious and non-religious coping profiles in order to investigate individual differences in emotional intelligence, religion usage, life satisfaction, and psychological symptoms given the various ways in which people cope and utilize coping strategies. Coping was conceptualized as an ongoing series of complex processes that allow individuals to manage personal resources and stressful situations. During times of hardship or the experience of stressors, individuals must rely upon their personal resources and initiate coping responses that increase their chance of overcoming the stressor. Three heterogeneous coping profiles were derived from a general online sample using a series of cluster analyses, one-way ANOVAs, Chi Square analyses, and independent sample t tests.;Results showed that the majority of participants identified as religious; specifically, they were predominately African American women and Baptist. One of the generated profiles resulted in linking highly religious individuals who were satisfied with their lives and generally had less psychological distress and increased positive religion usage. A contrasting profile also emerged from the data. Profiles differed on several demographic variables as well as broad coping, religious coping, extent of religious usage, perceived emotional intelligence, life satisfaction, and distress. The findings of the study provide tentative support for fostering certain types of coping strategies (e.g., religious coping) within particular individuals in order to optimize life satisfaction, emotional intelligence, extent of positive religious usage, and decrease psychological distress.