Religiosity And Anxiety Research

The Correlation Between Religiosity and Anxiety Among College Students Overwhelmingly, throughout the past decade there has been a dramatic increase in the number of college students who are diagnosed and treated for anxiety related issues (American College Health Association, 2015). Currently, around 15.8% of college students in the United States have been diagnosed or treated for some form of anxiety, while an increasing 21.9% report that anxiety has negatively affected their schooling within the past year (American College Health Association, 2015). It is this increase in anxiety related symptoms that calls for better and effective coping methods for college aged adolescents in order to reduce the level of perceived stress. One method
Their comprehensive literature review found that out of the ten studies analyzed, only 40% of the studies indicated that religiosity was a factor in reducing generalized anxiety, and only 10% of studies demonstrated the negative correlation between religiosity and post traumatic stress, personality disorders, and phobias. Meanwhile, their analysis also found that the other studies indicated either no significant correlation between religiosity and the decrease in anxiety or even demonstrated a positive correlation between the
The researchers employed this study by selecting 12 Catholic college students that prayed the Rosary everyday and 18 Catholic students who did not pray the Rosary on a daily basis. Next, these two groups were given the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and after words they were asked to either pray the rosary or watch a religious video, dependent on their previous experience. Lastly, students were again given the STAI, and then their results were compared. The problem with this study is that it is not generalizable to the total population due to its relatively small sample size and the fact that all participants were Catholic