Disappointment with and Uncertainty about God Predict Heightened COVID-19 Anxiety among Persian Muslims

Mohammadamin Saraei, Kathryn A. Johnson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Religiosity is often associated with positive mental health outcomes. Religiosity may also mitigate COVID-19 concerns. In a sample of 553 Persian-speaking Muslims, we investigated the extent to which specific beliefs about God (Allah) were associated with four negative mental health outcomes: depression, anxiety, stress, and COVID-19 anxiety. Consistent with the results of English-speaking samples, we found that religiosity, belief in God’s benevolence, psychological closeness to God, and positive attitudes toward God were negatively correlated with depression, stress, and anxiety yet uncorrelated with COVID-19 anxiety. Belief in God’s authoritarian attributes was positively correlated with depression, stress, and anxiety yet, again, uncorrelated with COVID-19 anxiety. In contrast, uncertainty about God’s attributes and negative attitudes toward God were positive predictors of COVID-19 anxiety, even after controlling for general religiosity, depression, stress, anxiety, and sex. We conclude that, whereas religiosity and belief in God had very little influence, uncertainty about and disappointment with God were likely associated with greater anxiety about COVID-19.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number74
JournalReligions
Volume14
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2023

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • God representations
  • Muslim

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Religious studies

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