Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation
8-2024
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph. D.
Department
Counseling and Human Development
Degree Program
Counseling and Personnel Services, PhD
Committee Chair
Leah, Mark M.
Committee Member
McCubbin, Laurie
Committee Member
Halford, Tyler
Committee Member
Higgins, George E.
Author's Keywords
race; religion; psychological distress; spiritual struggles, sense of community; church
Abstract
Religious practice and church membership have historically been protective and critical in Black communities in the United States and across the African diaspora. Demographic studies have shown a consistent decline in religious adherence and practice across racial and ethnic groups in the United States. However, the decline in religious practice and participation in religious communities has been less pronounced among individuals of African descent. Participation in one’s religious community is often a source of positive social engagement and can foster positive intrapersonal outcomes (e.g., wellbeing). However, religious communities and religious practice can also be the source of conflict and emotional distress. The present study was intended to evaluate the relationship between Black racial identity and psychological distress in a sample of self-identified Black Christian adults. A multiple mediator Structural Equations Model (SEM) was used to investigate the impact of sense of community in the church and spiritual struggles on the relationship between racial identity and psychological distress. The study explored the role of appraisals of one’s religious community and spiritual struggles in mediating the relationship between racial identity and psychological distress among Black Christians living in the United States. The hypothesized racial identity latent variable, consisting of the Centrality, Private Regard, and Public Regard subfactors of the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI), failed to yield appropriate model fit indices due to like measurement issues and an insufficient sample size to detect a small effect size. Analyses were completed with alternative models and results supported the proposed mediation model. Participants’ sense of community in their church and spiritual struggles fully mediated the relationship between positive appraisal of their Black racial identity (Private Regard) and psychological distress. Sense of community and spiritual struggles also fully mediated the relationship between beliefs about how Blackness is regarded by other societal groups (Public Regard) and psychological distress. The findings of the study supported previous findings regarding the negative relationship between racial identity regard and psychological distress. Findings also indicated that, for Black Christians, positive appraisals of religious community accounts for part of that relationship through its negative relationship with spiritual struggles. Furthermore, results reinforced previous findings about the connections between well-being and distress across multiple facets of one’s life. Spiritual struggles and psychological distress were consistently highly related, suggesting that, for Black Christians, addressing religious/spiritual struggles and psychological distress may be an appropriate form of intervention for clinicians. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.
Recommended Citation
Ajibade, Adebayo, "Racial identity & psychological distress: The mediating role of sense of community and spiritual struggles among Black Christians." (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 4430.
Retrieved from https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd/4430
