PRACTICE OF RELIGION AS A PREDICTOR OF RESILIENCE AND THRIVING AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS OF KARACHI

Abstract

Stress has become a pervasive issue in modern times, increasingly affecting individuals’ wellbeing. This highlights the importance of identifying protective factors that help individuals remain functional and productive during crises or daily stressors.  Among many protective factors, there has been a plethora of literature favoring religion and its customs as an important anchor in a person’s life. So, the purpose of the research was to study Practice of religion; both Public and Private, as important dimensions of religiosity that may result in better adaptation to stress (Resilience and Thriving) in University students of Karachi. To test this, it was hypothesized that Public practice and Private practice would have a predictive relationship with stress adaptation (resilience and thriving). Two hundred Muslim students fulfilling the inclusion criteria were contacted online due to Covid-19 lockdown. A Google Doc form including Informed consent, Demographic sheet and the standardized scales was designed and sent to students from different universities of Karachi. Scales included were (i) Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRS; Huber, S. & Huber, O., 2012), (ii) Brief Resilience Scale (Smith et al., 2008), and (iii) Brief Thriving Scale (Smith, 2018, in press). Descriptive statistics, correlation and Regression were computed via SPSS (version 26.0) to explore the relationship of Public and Private Practice with Resilience and Thriving. Results indicated that Public practice had a negative predictive relationship with Resilience, whereas it positively predicted Thriving. Moreover, Private practice predicted Thriving. In conclusion, university students often find themselves in a better state after facing stressors, instead of merely returning to their previous level of functioning when they choose practicing religion as a coping strategy.