The Effect of Religious Coping Practices On the Acculturation Stress of Recent Latino Immigrants

Purpose: Acculturation stress negatively impacts the physical and mental health of Latino immigrants. Acculturation stress is usually brought about by factors including legal and economic status, language barriers, and perceived discrimination. The highest levels of acculturation stress among Latinos are usually experienced within the first two years of immigration. Little is known about the relationship between acculturation stress and the use of religious coping mechanisms among recent immigrants. Within the Latino culture, religiosity has been found to be a pervasive force, guiding attitude, behavior, and social interactions. When controlling for education and socioeconomic status, Latinos have been found to use religious coping mechanisms more frequently than Non-Latino Whites. The use of religious coping is even more prominent among less acculturated Latinos. Given its prominent role in Latino culture, it appears probable that this mechanism may prove to be influential during difficult life transitions, such as those experienced during the immigration process. The present study examines the association between pre-immigration religious coping and post-immigration acculturation stress. Specifically, we expected higher levels of pre-immigration religious coping to be associated with lower levels of post-immigration acculturation stress.

Methods: Present analyses were conducted with baseline data from an ongoing longitudinal investigation on the influence of pre-immigration factors on the health behavior trajectories of recent Latino immigrants. The sample consists of 531 Latinos between the ages of 18-34 who immigrated to the United States less than one year ago. It is a multi-ethnic sample consisting of immigrants from 17 Latino countries. Participants were administered a face-to face interview that included the measures used in the current study. Demographic information including current personal income, education level, and legal status were collected. Religious Coping was measured through the Ways of Religious Coping Scale, which measures internal/cognitive and external/behavioral religious coping (Boudreaux et al., 1995). Acculturation stress was measured through the immigration subscale of the Hispanic Stress Inventory Scale–Immigrant Version (Cervantes et al., 1990).

Results: Path analyses were conducted examining the association between pre-immigration religious coping and post immigration acculturation stress. After controlling for participant socioeconomic status (SES) and legal status (legal or illegal immigrant), high rates of pre-immigration external religious coping were associated with high levels of post-immigration acculturation stress. No relationship was found between internal religious coping and acculturation stress. Illegal immigrant status and lower SES were associated with high levels of pre-immigration external religious coping and post-immigration acculturation stress.

Implications: Unexpectedly, pre-immigration religious coping could make Latino immigrants more vulnerable to acculturation stress. Results indicate that Latino immigrants who utilized more external religious coping (e.g., their church, clergy) in their home country, experience more stress during their first year in the U.S. This finding may be due to loss of critical religious resources after immigration. Results may also indicate counter-productive, avoidant religious coping styles indicative of an external locus of control. These findings expand scientific understanding as to the function and effect of specific religious coping mechanisms among Latino immigrants. Further research in this area could inform culturally relevant prevention/treatment programs with this population.