Attachment, Religiosity, and Perceived Stress Among Religious Minorities During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Impact of Cultural Context

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on stress levels around the world. In developing nations such as Pakistan, lack of resources and socioeconomic inequalities have compounded the negative impact of the pandemic, especially for minorities. Religion in the developing, collectivistic, Muslim-majority nation of Pakistan is a powerful identity marker inherited at birth and reflected in all identifying documents. A well-developed conceptual framework for religion is attachment to God, which has demonstrated strong predictive value for perceived stress in Western samples. Given the importance of other attachment relationships as well, this study has examined the predictive value of attachment to parents, attachment to God, and religiosity on perceived stress in Christian minorities within a Pakistani context. The sample consisted of 183 adult Christian Pakistanis. Multiple regression indicated that religiosity, attachment to father, and attachment to God were the strongest predictors of perceived stress, though not in the same pattern as expected in Western contexts. This finding demonstrates the importance of the impact of culture, attachment relationships, and religious context on perceived stress, indicating a need to consider both religion and culture in psychological care, as well as local and international public policy, to mitigate stress along minorities in developing nations in such uncertain times.