Well-being and religious coping in three Italian groups: Catholics gays, Charismatics and other Catholics

The goal of this research is to study the relationship between religiosity/spirituality, religious coping and well-being in 3 Italian religious groups (N=135): Catholics gays, Charismatics and other Catholics (as control group). The instruments used are the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the General Health Questionnaire, the Satisfaction With Life Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Scale and the Psychological Well-Being Scale, the Brief RCOPE, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale and some items from IE-R Scale. The study tests how belonging to a religious group influences self-esteem, well-being, and health, and how this varies when one feels religious/spiritual, has an intrinsic/extrinsic/search religious orientation, or uses positive/negative religious coping. Religious group belonging was found to be an important protective factor resulting in higher well-being. Charismatics showed higher levels of well-being and use of positive religious coping and intrinsic orientation. Homosexuals tended towards quest oriented religiosity and those who consider themselves spiritual show higher scores in the positive affect than the religious. Distress was found associated with worse physical and mental health, while having a purpose, personal growth, Positive Relations and Competence contributed to psycho-physical well-being.