Studies show faith has positive effect on people in stressful events

Published: 2006-08-28

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- People who had any religious belief coped better with the stresses associated with Sept. 11, 2001, than nonbelievers did, according to the principal author of two studies on that topic. Amy L. Ai, an associate professor of psychology in the University of Washington's health sciences department and a researcher for the University of Michigan Health System, also has tested her theory beyond the terrorist events of Sept. 11 to include such stressful situations as Hurricane Katrina and the Kosovo war in the Balkans as examples of communal stress, and open-heart surgery as an example of individual stress. Because about 90 percent of the people interviewed for an earlier study professed belief in some strain of Christianity or Judaism, there was no basis for comparison as to whether adherents to one faith fared better than members of another religion, Ai said in response to written questions from Catholic News Service. "The 9/11 and Kosovar studies suggest the similar effect of different faiths," she added. Ai's reports on post-Sept. 11 trauma were titled "Prayers, Spiritual Support and Positive Attitudes in Coping With the Sept. 11 National Crisis" and "Hope, Meaning and Growth Following the Sept. 11, 2001, Terrorist Attacks."

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