Understanding the Influence of Spirituality and Meaning in Life on Stress Coping: A Study among the Residents of Shimla

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20052248

Muskan Verma and Shikha Sarna Chawla (Department of Psychology, Amity University Punjab, Mohali, Punjab)

For many people, life seems very fast-paced and difficult these days. Stress is a normal part of daily life because people frequently have to manage many duties, expectations, and uncertainties at once. Understanding what actually keeps people mentally strong becomes very important in such situations. In view of this, the present research aims to find out how certain internal variables such as spirituality and meaning in life, affect an individual’s ability to cope with stress. One hundred Shimla people between the ages of 18 to 50 took part in the survey. Spirituality, Meaning in life and ways to cope with stress were examined using standardized questionnaires. The outcome showed something very interesting. While there was certainly a positive relationship between spirituality and coping, it was not of statistical significance. But there was a significant and evident correlation between having a meaning in life and becoming ready to handle things well. This means that having a ruling alone may not be enough; what contributes most is the degree to which a person believes that their life has a purpose and direction (Frankl, 1963; Steger et al., 2006). Based on the study, spirituality may help people to cope with stress in a more indirect way, but meaning in life plays a more active role (Park, 2010; Krok, 2015).