What's your religious coping profile? Differences in religious orientation and subjective sleep among religious coping groups in the United States

Objectives: To determine various profiles/subgroups of religious copers based on indices of positive and negative religious coping; and to determine whether religious copers differ in their religious orientations, subjective sleep characteristics, and strategies used to cope with sleep problems. Method: Six hundred and ninety-five adults (77.3% female, 70.4% White) in the United States completed a 20-minute online questionnaire in January 2020. Results: Results of a latent profile analysis, based on 8 indicators of positive and negative religious coping, indicated a 5-class solution: (i) “Absent” (n = 101, 14.5%); (ii) “Anxious” (n = 122, 17.6%); (iii) “Ambivalent” (n = 101, 14.5%); (iv) “Secure” (n = 200, 28.8%); and (v) “Conflicted” copers (n = 171, 24.6%). Results of MANOVA tests indicated that Secure copers reported the least religious doubt and highest religious-based social support. Conflicted and Anxious copers had the worst sleep quality, while Secure, Ambivalent, and Absent copers had healthier sleep profiles. In terms of strategies used to cope with sleep problems, Secure and Conflicted copers reported the greatest use of prayer and meditation, while the use of technology was most prevalent among Conflicted and Anxious copers. Conclusions: Individuals differ in their combined use of positive and negative religious coping, which is related to differences in their religious orientation, sleep characteristics, and strategies used to cope with sleep problems. Religious leaders should be mindful of the diverse ways in which religious coping strategies are harnessed to effectively cater to the unique religious and sleep needs of their members.