Predicting Religious Coping Mechanisms in Firstborn Adults: Contributions of Religious Perfectionism and Impulsivity

Abstract

The study explored religious perfectionism and impulsivity as predictors of religious coping in 200 firstborn adults (18-24) in Pakistan. Through a cross-sectional correlational design, the respondents took the Religious Perfectionism Scale, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11, and the Brief RCOPE through Goggle Form. The multiple regression analyses found that religious perfectionism was a strong predictor of positive religious coping (b =.46, p <.001) but not negative religious coping. Impulsivity forecasted positive (b =.13, p =.048) and negative religious coping (b=.30, p<.001). The results indicate that religious perfectionism was a force that leads firstborns to the adaptive meaning oriented religious activity and that impulsivity is a force that promotes immediate regulation of affect and spiritual conflict. The clinical implications of the research are the integration of emotion regulation skills with self-compassion training to maintain adaptive religious engagement and minimize the risk of spiritual distress among firstborn adults.

Keywords: Religious Perfectionism, Impulsivity, Religious Coping, Firstborn Adults, Self-Regulation