THE ROLE OF RELIGIOUS INVOLVEMENT IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EARLY TRAUMATIC STRESS AND HEALTH OUTCOMES OF ADVENTIST ADULTS

Early traumatic stress (ETS) has been documented as a predictor of adult negative mental and physical health. While ETS, including child abuse, neglect, and exposure to parental intimate partner violence (IPV), is linked to a range of negative health outcomes not all survivors of ETS develop such adverse results. Some studies suggest that religious involvement (RI) may be an important coping source, but only a handful of small studies examined ETS, RI and health. The studies that examined RI as a coping mechanism have further limitations, such as inadequate representation of gender and race, and confounding of socioeconomic status (SES) and education. This dissertation addresses these gaps. It is an original cross-sectional secondary analysis of data from the Biopsychosocial Religion and Health epidemiological study. Multiple linear regressions were conducted to analyze self-reported data of 10, 283 Seventh-day Adventists across North America. The study also includes an original analysis on a subset (n=496) of the sample, examining diabetes risk factors in conjunction with ETS data. Major findings were: 1) Higher early traumatic stress scores were associated with decreased mental health (B= -1.93 p<.0001) and physical health (B= -1.53 p<.0001); 2) The negative effect of early trauma on mental health was reduced by intrinsic religiosity (B=.52 p<.011), positive religious coping (B=.61 p=.025), forgiveness (B=.32 p=.025) and gratitude (B=.87 p=.001); 3) A reduction in negative association between ETS and physical health by RI was not statistically significant. 4) Differences by gender and race were identified; 5) High levels of ETS were not associated with increased diabetic risk factors in subsample, except for an association between childhood sexual abuse and fasting sugar (B=7.90, p=. 013). In conclusion, adult survivors of ETS experienced worse mental and physical health, but gratitude, positive religious coping, intrinsic religiosity, and forgiveness acted as protective factors in reducing this negative effect of ETS on mental health. The findings give evidence for the need to incorporate a holistic perspective in the nursing care of survivors