Life Experiences. Spirituality. Sleep (L.E.S.S)

Past research suggests that religious beliefs and practices predict positive coping and adaptation to stressful life events. However, certain aspects of religion, such as religious doubt and negative religious coping (e.g., the perception that negative life experiences are a punishment from God) have been linked with poor psychological adjustment. There is a rich body of research examining the roles of religiosity and spirituality in relation to both risky behaviors and various indices of positive youth development. Surprisingly, however, few studies have investigated religiosity and spirituality in relation to subjective sleep characteristics. The Life Events, Spirituality, and Sleep study was designed to:

a) Examine the relationship between religiosity/spirituality and sleep characteristics among a sample of emerging adults and older adults in the U.S.

b) Assess whether socio-demographic variables (e.g., age, gender) and contextual variables (e.g., life events, social support, ethnic identity, world assumptions, political attitudes) moderate the relationship between religiosity/spirituality and sleep.

c) determine whether certain profiles of religiosity and sleep subgroups differ on indices of psychosocial adjustment (e.g., religious coping, life satisfaction).