The relationship of spirituality and existentialism with positive adult adjustment

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between spirituality, existentialism and positive adult adjustment. The study specifically examined "hope" as a key aspect to positive coping and its counterpart, "hopelessness" as a significant aspect of negative coping. The study also considered life stress, and its impact on coping. Because personality factors often are considered when examining coping, the specific personality factor of "absorption" or "openness to experience" was included. This factor was chosen because it is sometimes associated with the impact of life stress on individuals. Data collection was conducted among 60 adults of various religious background and practice. The Spiritual Well Being Scale with subscales, (Religiousness and Existentialism) was administered along with the Tellegen Absorption Scale, the Holmes Rahe Social Readjustment scale, and the Beck Hopelessness Scale. The results showed a statistically significant correlation (r=.66) between spiritual well-being and lower levels of hopelessness. The results also indicated that higher reported stress was not significantly correlated with either hopelessness or higher spiritual well being. Interestingly, the personality factor of "absorption" was not correlated with higher spiritual or hopelessness, however, there was a significant association (r=.26) between absorption and life stress.