Call for Faith: Religiousness, Religious Coping and Psychological Disturbance of Chinese Christians During COVID-19

This study is aimed at investigating the relationships between religious practice, religious coping strategies, and mental health among Chinese Christians in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.

A total of 915 participants from several cities in China completed online questionnaires, including sociodemographic data, mental disorder history, and years as a Christian, as well as frequency of weekly religious practice, Religious Coping Scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7).

The result of multivariate analysis indicated that during the COVID-19 pandemic, among Chinese Christians without a history of mental disorder, negative religious coping were associated with depression, and anxiety symptoms. Among Chinese Christians with a history of mental disorders, comorbidity with 1 mental disorder, comorbidity with 2 or more mental disorders, negative religious coping, and positive religious coping were associated with depression symptoms. Comorbidity with 2 or more mental disorders, negative religious coping, and positive religious coping were associated with anxiety symptoms.

Christians with a previous history of mental illness are more likely to experience anxiety during the epidemic. In the future, mental health services during disasters may put more attention on certain religious groups and provide more spiritual care to maintain their well-being accordingly.