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Religious coping moderates the relationship between emotional functioning and obesity.

Steven Pirutinsky¹, David H Rosmarin, Cheryl L Holt

¹Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. sp2813@columbia.edu

Health Psychology : Official Journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association

|December 14, 2011

Summary

Positive religious coping may help prevent obesity by mitigating the link between poor emotional functioning and unhealthy eating habits, particularly within the Jewish community.

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Area of Science:

Psychology
Public Health
Sociology of Religion

Background:

Poor emotional functioning is a known predictor of obesity.
The maladaptive coping hypothesis suggests unhealthy eating is used for emotional regulation, contributing to obesity.
Religion is often used as a coping mechanism for distress.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if positive and negative religious coping moderate the relationship between emotional functioning and obesity.
To examine the relevance of religious coping in the Jewish context concerning obesity.

Main Methods:

A study involving 212 Jewish participants.
Participants completed self-report measures for health, emotional functioning, and the Jewish Religious Coping scale.

Main Results:

Negative religious coping did not significantly moderate the relationship.
Positive religious coping significantly moderated the link: poor emotional functioning predicted increased obesity only in individuals with low positive religious coping.
This effect was substantial and persisted after controlling for confounding factors.

Conclusions:

Findings support the maladaptive coping hypothesis, suggesting positive religious coping can be an alternative to maladaptive eating for emotional regulation.
Religious coping may explain the correlation between religiosity and better health outcomes.
The study highlights the importance and relevance of religious coping strategies within the Jewish community for health.