STRESS AND COPING RELIGIOUS / SPIRITUAL AMONG STUDENTS OF PSYCHOLOGY

Abstract

The word stress comes from the English stress, having been used initially in physics to translate the degree of deformity suffered by a material when submitted to an effort or tension, later being transposed to medicine and biology, with the meaning of effort and adaptation of the organism to face situations that it considers threatening to its life and its internal balance, and its confrontation together with religion is part of the individual's behavior, creating an interest of Psychology in its study. This work sought to identify the religious / spiritual coping strategies among 35 psychology students in a quantitative approach through the Religious Attitude Scale, Religious-Spiritual Coping Scale and Lipp's Stress Symptoms Inventory for Adults. A visible influence of religion was found on the students' behavior and way of thinking, with more used coping strategies related to the subject's proactive behavior. In the sample studied, the less stressed students used religious / spiritual coping strategies, emphasizing the protective characteristic of this form of coping.