THE MODERATING AND MEDIATING EFFECTS OF RELIGIOUS COPING ON RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRESS AND MENTAL HEALTH IN ARABIC COMMUNITY

Religious coping is identified as having a potentially significant influence on mental health in times of stress. This study examines the role of religious coping as a mediator variable between stress and the mental health indicators anxiety and depression. Quantitative data were collected from a sample of 221 adolescents from the Hail region of Saudi Arabia. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Models (SEM). The results suggest that religious coping styles (deferring, self- directing and collaborative) have a partial mediation effect on the relationship between stress and mental health indicators (anxiety and depression). After correcting the model and deleting paths that did not achieve statistical significance it was found that the deferring style variable mediates the relationship between stress and anxiety and depression. To determine whether a moderated mediation model exists, we made pairwise comparisons of paths between two groups of demographic variables (gender, age, residence, and employment) in the proposed mediation model. Results found no difference between the groups, though differences were found in some paths of the model.