The Relationship of Religious Orientation and Negative Coping with Religious Stress: A Pilot Study Among Young People in Kazakhstan

Abstract

This article provides an empirical analysis of the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation, positive and negative religious coping, and religious stress among young people in Kazakhstan. The pilot study draws on survey data collected from 101 respondents (28 men, 73 women). Data were gathered using five scales adapted from Allport and Ross’s Religious Orientation Scale (I-ROS, E-ROS) and Pargament’s religious coping instrument (PRC, NRC). All scales demonstrated satisfactory to high reliability (α = .82–.94). Correlation and regression analyses identified negative religious coping as the sole significant predictor of religious stress (β = .76, R² = .72), whereas intrinsic orientation and positive coping showed no association with stress. No differences in mean scores emerged between genders. Although several associations were significant among women, Fisher’s r-to-z test did not confirm any between-group differences. The findings indicate that the source of religious stress is not the degree of religiosity but rather negative religiousinterpretations and suggest that negative coping should be the primary target of psychological support programs. However, given the study’s limited sample, the results are presented as a basis for future research.