Illinois Wesleyan University Digital Commons @ IWU Honors Projects Psychology 2003 Enduring Deep Sorrow: Depression Among Religious College Women Kara E. Wolff '03 Illinois Wesleyan University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.edu/psych_honproj Part of the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Wolff '03, Kara E., "Enduring Deep Sorrow: Depression Among Religious College Women" (2003).edu/psych_honproj/31 This Article is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Commons @ IWU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this material in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use.
For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This material has been accepted for inclusion by faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@iwu. ©Copyright is owned by the author of this document.
• Depression and Conceptions of Happiness 1 RUNNING HEAD: DEPRESSION AMONG RELIGIOUS COLLEGE WOMEN Enduring Deep Sorrow: Depression Among Religious College Women Kara E. Wolff and Dr. Vicki Magee Illinois Wesleyan University 201 E. Emerson Bloomington, IL 61701 (309) 556-2883 • Depression and Conceptions of Happiness 2 Abstract The transition into college can lead to stress which can lead to depression in both men and women (e.
Depression cripples both men and women. The lifetime risk of major depression is 10-25% for women and 5-12% for men (Greenspan, 2001). Mild symptoms rob men and women of energy needed for academic and social pursuits (Beeber, 1999). Depression results in poor over-all functioning, emotional behavioral problems and low self-esteem (Reinherz, Giaconia, Hauf, Wasserman & Silverman, 1999).
Individuals with depression also have more problems in intimate relationships with friends and family (Reinherz et al. This exploratory study, which launches a more in-depth investigation of Magee's (2001) unexpected finding about prayer journals, ultimately seeks to understand how to promote resiliency against threats to healthy development among religious college-aged women. This is a narrow inquiry guided by the research question: Among college-aged 'NOmen with a Christian beliefsystem, what relationship exists, if any, between their conceptions ofhappiness and belief in God? Selected findings, based on survey data from college-aged women who self-identify as Christian, provide a framework to more fully understand the role that one's spiritual beliefs play in young adult women's psychological and social development. The findings from this study suggest that depressed women who are religious do personal writing relating to social justice/change and to break the isolation of feeling alone more often than religious women who are not depressed.
The findings further suggest that religious women's conceptions ofhappiness relate to themselves and their relationships. Their conceptions of happiness do not include a relationship to the world. The researchers present three explanations to examine these findings. • Depression and Conceptions of Happiness 3 Enduring Deep Sorrow: Depression Among Religious College Women A great deal of psychological research has been conducted on the causes and prevention of major depressive disorders.
Depression is widely understood as a disorder that causes serious and lingering psychological problems. Even mild symptoms of depression are associated with negative effects on social development (Beeber, 1999), self-esteem (Reinherz, Giaconia, Hauf, Wasserman & Silverman, 1999), and intimate relationships (Reinherz, et al. One consistent variable found across studies of depression is gender -- women, when compared with men are more likely to be diagnosed with depression. For example, Greenspan (2001) shows that among women, between 10-25% will be diagnosed with major depression at some point in their life compared with men who have a lifetime risk of being diagnosed with major depression at a rate of 5-12%.
Additionally, even among college students there is a gender divide related to depression. For example, growing numbers of students are seeking help at college counseling centers, yet more women, compared with men, as presenting with symptoms of depression (Beeber, 1999). This finding is consistent with research showing that stress associated with college entrance can trigger depressive responses, particularly among women (e. This study further explores depression among college-aged women by analyzing their conceptions of happiness.
Specifically, this study looks at conceptions of happiness among religious college-aged women, and the role, if any, that personal writing (i., writing in a diary or journal for the purpose of reflecting on one's life) plays in strengthening psychological resiliency against depression or enhancing happiness. • Depression and Conceptions of Happiness 4 Recent research on factors associated with college-aged women's resiliency against threats to emotional health, such as depression, suggests that personal writing may foster immunity against depression (Magee, 2001). These findings are consistent with other research which shows that disclosure of personal problems through writing reduces stress and improves emotional health (Pennebaker, 1999). In fact, Magee's research on the relationship between personal writing and women's emotional health yielded an unexpected result related to spiritual life.
Using her Personal Writing Questionnaire-R (PWQ-R) (2001), a data collection instrument administered to college students about their personal writing habits and reasons for engaging in personal writing, she found that women are more likely to write for the purpose of speaking with God. Among the 394 college students who completed the PWQ-R, represented by 39.4% women (n=238), respondents indicated their reasons for personal writing by selecting from a list of thirteen reasons. When a Pearson chi-square test was applied to these data in order to determine if gender was a significant variable associated with one's reasons for engaging in personal writing, one of the thirteen reasons was statistically significant, i., writing to God. Among the tota1394 college students who completed the PWQ-R, 81 students reported that their personal writing is done in order to "write to God".
Of these 81 respondents, 28.4% were men (n=23) and 71. The results of a statistical comparison of these results, using the Pearson Chi-Square test, revealed statistically significant results (x2(1, n=394)=3. Thus, with 95% certainty these findings are not due to chance, but instead gender does appear to playa role in whether one's personal writing is directed to God. Considering these results, it seems somewhat reasonable to say that at least among one large • Depression and Conceptions of Happiness 5 sample of college students, when compared with men, women are more likely to report that one reason for their personal writing is to write to God.
This discovery generates numerous questions about the connection between spiritual health and mental health among college women such as: Are college women who believe in God happier than those who do not? Are college women who write diaries to God happier than those who don't? If so, what role does religiosity play in college women's conceptions ofhappiness? To begin to more fully understand such questions, we administered The Women and God Survey (see appendix A) to women enrolled at a small liberal arts college in the Midwest. Because the scope of this paper limits our ability to report entirely on our results, only selected findings and analyses from these survey data will be presented. Eighty college-aged women at this small liberal arts college (i., nearly 10% of the female student body) who self-describe as Christian, completed The Women and God Survey which consisted of 125 questions about conceptions of happiness, the role of faith in their lives, and personal writing practices. Additionally, respondents completed the CES-D1 depression scale which is a 20 question standardized test· widely used as a depression screening tool.
The CES-D was included to anecdotally support or refute claims made by women taking this survey about happiness. For this paper, our inquiry is narrowed to the following overall research question: Among college-aged women with a Christian beliefsystem, what relationship exists, if any, between their conceptions ofhappiness and beliefin God? Although the results of this study are not generalizable to larger populations, our findings provide a beginning framework for considering the role that spiritual beliefs play in mediating depression among religious college-aged women. 1 The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) is one of the most common methods for determining an individual's depression quotient It was developed by Lenore Radloff during research at the National Institute of Mental Health. • Depression and Conceptions of Happiness 6 Selection criteria for college women participants in this study were limited to three main criteria: full time enrollment in the above mentioned college, regular participation in religious activities, and full or partial agreement with the following Christian statement of belief: There is one true God, who has created all things, and who exists eternally in three persons-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
That the Bible is an authority and divinely inspired. That all people are valuable and created in God's image. However they are alienated from God and each other because of their sin and guilt, and subject to God's wrath. That Jesus Christ was fully human and fully divine.
That he lived as a perfect example, assumed the judgement due to humans by dying in our place, and was bodily raised from the dead and ascended into heaven. There is salvation by God's grace to all who repent and put their faith in Jesus Christ alone. That the Holy Spirit gives believers new life in obedience through his indwelling and transforming power (adapted from the statement of faith of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship). Our survey research is focused on actively involved, religious college women with the above Christian beliefs for five reasons.
Women who are both religious and enrolled in college: 1) are an understudied population; 2) provide a logical starting point to explore questions about the role of spiritual health and mental health among college-aged women; 3) are likely to have considered the relationship between their beliefs and happiness; 4) are likely to engage in personal writing directed to God; and 5) are able to provide insights into strategies, such as personal writing, use to promote happiness. Additionally, we had relatively easy access to this population. One of this study's investigators is presently enrolled in the college where these data were collected, adheres to the statement of Christian beliefs, as shown above, is an active campus leader across several Christian cohorts, and has regularly kept a diary directed to God since adolescence. The design of this survey research reflects seven predicted outcomes: 1) the majority of respondents will agree with the statement of Christian beliefs, as shown above; 2) the majority ofrespondents will regularly participate in religious activities; 3) the rate of self-reported • Depression and Conceptions of Happiness 7 depression among respondents (using the CES-D depression scale) will be higher than the rate of self-reported depression among the female student body (i., from the college survey site's assessment data); 4) the rate of women's personal writing to God among respondents will be higher than the rate of personal writing to God in the Magee study of personal writing among the female student body; 5) respondents will agree with the statement: Women who believe in God are happier than m?men who do not believe in God., mid and high scorers on the CES-D) reasons for doing personal writing would vary from the reasons reported by non-depressed women (i., low scorers on the CES-D); and 7) respondents' conceptions for why college women believers are happier than non-believers will reflect a psychological theory that mental health is measured by the degree to which a person is in relationship to him/herse1f, to others and to the world (Gilligan, 1982).
In conclusion, the results from this study of religious college women's conceptions of happiness have implications for college administrators, clinicians, and psychological researchers. Theoretical and Contextual Framework This study of religious college women's conceptions ofhappiness is informed by, and contextualized within three domains: 1) institutional assessment data on self-reported religiosity and depression among the female student body at the college where participants were enrolled; 2) feminist research on adolescent girls and women psychological and social development; and 3) theological perspectives on the relationship between spiritual and mental health.
