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Responding to Spiritual Struggles: Experiential Avoidance and Mindfulness in Adjustment

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Responding to Spiritual Struggles: Experiential Avoidance and Mindfulness in Adjustment RESPONDING TO SPIRITUAL STRUGGLES: EXPERIENTIAL AVOIDANCE AND MINDFULNESS IN ADJUSTMENT Carmen K. Oemig Dworsky A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2014 Committee: Kenneth I. Pargament, Advisor Pricilla K. Coleman Graduate Faculty Representative William H. O'Brien Michael J. Zickar © 2014 Carmen K. Oemig Dworsky All Rights Reserved iii Abstract Kenneth I. Pargament, Advisor Research and theory have demonstrated that spiritual struggles are robustly tied to distress and ill health. Growth and positive outcomes are also possible. However, there is little research illuminating the factors that contribute to growth or decline in the wake of spiritual struggles. Mindfulness and Acceptance, as conceptualized in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, have been tied to positive and negative adjustment, respectively. The present study was designed to examine the relationships between experiential avoidance, mindfulness, and adjustment in a sample of 307 adults experiencing spiritual struggles. The predictions were that experiential avoidance would be associated with poorer adjustment and that mindfulness would be associated with better adjustment. It was also predicted that the relationships between spiritual struggles and poorer adjustment would be stronger among people with higher than lower levels of experiential avoidance. Finally, it was predicted that the relationships between spiritual struggles and less problematic adjustment would be stronger among people with higher than lower levels of mindfulness. The findings generally supported the hypotheses that experiential avoidance is problematic for people experiencing spiritual struggles. With a few notable exceptions, mindfulness, as measured in the present study, was not significantly related to indices of adjustment. Some support was found for the hypothesis that the detrimental effects of spiritual struggles on adjustment would be greater among people with higher than lower levels of experiential avoidance. These findings were particularly robust for the measure of situation- specific experiential avoidance. These findings are discussed along with implications and future directions. iv I dedicate this project to the family I am from -- my Mom (Dee Oemig), my Dad (Frank Oemig), my sister (Tanya Oemig), and my brother (Eric Oemig), and the family I have chosen –my husband (Dryw Dworsky) and my son (Jax Dworsky). It is impossible to express my gratitude to them with words. They were with me through every part of this project and their love is written into these pages as much as my own –sharing it with them is my humble thank you. v Acknowledgments I am thankful for many people who have been important in this helping me see this project to completion. I would first like to express my deep gratitude and respect for my advisor, Kenneth I. Pargament, for his support, guidance, and encouragement throughout this process. He has been an amazing mentor in so many areas of my professional and personal development – I am truly lucky to work with him. Amy Wagner served as a great research and clinical mentor while I was on internship at the Portland VAMC and her encouragement and belief in me during an early iteration of this project echo through to this more recent version. William O’Brien was one of my first research advisors at BGSU and has also been integral to my clinical development. He supported me in finding my voice in the “tree house,” in the ACT community, and he continues to remind me to matter. I would also like to thank my committee members, William O’Brien, Michael Zickar, and Pricilla Coleman for their enthusiastic support and feedback. My mom deserves a special thank you for serving in any and every capacity she could through every stage of this document – she read drafts, cheered me on, and flew out to make meals and pick up my slack for our family during crunch times (among many other things). My husband has also worn many hats as my partner on this journey. He has made “Mommy’s dissertation time” special “Daddy-Jax” time for our son, believed in me, and supported our family. He has shown me what love and dedication are through this process – I love that man. Last but certainly not least, this project would not have happened without the support of my other family and friends, particularly Tanya Oemig, Eric Oemig, Lisa Backus, Carol Ann Faigin, Alexis Hamill, the former Treehouse gang, the Tuesday Morning Playdate moms, Kwan Um Zen Sangha, and FB peeps far and near. Thank you for all of your love, encouragement, and support! vi Table Of Contents Page Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Spiritual Struggles ...................................................................................................... 1 Experiential Avoidance .............................................................................................. 4 Mindfulness................................................................................................................ 8 Present Study ............................................................................................................. 14 Method ................................................................................................................................... 16 Participants and Procedure ......................................................................................... 16 Measures .................................................................................................................... 17 Grouping measure .......................................................................................... 17 Demographic and background information ................................................... 18 Spiritual Struggles ...................................................................................................... 18 Moderators ................................................................................................................. 19 Experiential avoidance – general ................................................................... 19 Experiential avoidance – spiritual struggle specific ...................................... 19 Mindfulness................................................................................................................ 20 Adjustment Indices .................................................................................................... 21 Somatic, anxiety, and depression symptoms ................................................. 21 Values-consistent living ................................................................................. 22 Struggle-related positive and negative affect ................................................. 22 Struggle-related difficulties with emotion regulation .................................... 23 Spiritual Well-Being ...................................................................................... 24 vii Spiritual Transformation ................................................................................ 24 Attention Check Items ............................................................................................... 25 Results .................................................................................................................................... 26 Preliminary Analyses ................................................................................................. 26 Main Effects Analyses ............................................................................................... 27 Moderation Analyses ................................................................................................. 30 Discussion .............................................................................................................................. 33 Experiential Avoidance and Adjustment ................................................................... 33 Mindfulness and Adjustment ..................................................................................... 38 Limitations, Implications, Future Directions ............................................................. 41 References .............................................................................................................................. 44 Appendix A: Recent Life Experiences Survey ...................................................................... 57 Appendix B: Demographic and Background Information ..................................................... 58 Appendix C: Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale ........................................................... 61 Appendix D: Acceptance and Action Questionnaire II ......................................................... 64 Appendix E: Spiritual Struggle Acceptance Questionnaire ................................................... 65 Appendix F: Toronto Mindfulness Scale – Trait ................................................................... 68 Appendix G: Physicians Health Questionnaire – Somatic, Anxiety, and Depression Symptoms .................................................................................................................. 69 Appendix H: Values-Based Activity Inventory ..................................................................... 72 Appendix I: Positive and Negative Affect Scale – Struggle Specific ...................................
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