Predictors of Persecutory Ideation: Impact of Hell Anxiety and Demonic Struggle among 100 level Accounting Students of Nasarawa State University Keffi
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46799/ijssr.v3i12.642Keywords:
Hell, Demon, Paranoi, Anxienty, ReligionAbstract
Religion has been linked to mental health over the years, but its connection to persecutory ideation remains unclear. In this study, Nassarawa State University students' persecutory ideation is examined in relation to religious characteristics as predictors. A cross-sectional survey design was used in the study. In the study, a sample of 162 individuals was chosen at random from the student body. Both the independent and dependent variables were measured with three standardized tools. The use of multiple regression analysis was used to formulate and test two hypotheses. However, the researchers discovered that students' thoughts of being persecuted were jointly and significantly predicted by both hell anxiety and demonic conflict (F = 4.598, p=0.013, R2 = 0.105, r=0.325). Individually, that demonic struggle had significant contributions to the prediction of persecutory ideation. (R2= 0.342, t=2.844; P < 0.05). Hell, anxiety did not significantly predict persecutory ideation. (R2= -0.043, t=-0.360; P > 0.05). These findings recommended that religious authorities consider. minimizing satanic and hell themes in their sermon and focusing on angels, heaven, forgiveness, and other positive concepts that promote a favorable perspective of God, thereby improving the mental health of its congregation. Additionally, psycho-spiritual therapy on the guidance of one's life by good supernatural beings like angels may assist in lessening religiously insured persecutory thinking
References
Abel-Hamid A. A .A., Nasreldin M., Gohar S.M. , Saleh ,A. A. A .,& Tarek.M.(2019). Sexual and Religious obsession in relation to suicidal ideation in bipolar disorder. Suicide Life threat Behav . 2019; 49(6); 1552-1559.
Adeola R. (May 10 , 2023) Tension as gunmen at Nigerian university, school Nigeria. Legit Retrieved from www.legit.ng/Nigeria/1533953/-tension-gunmen-at-Nigerian-university-school-reacts
Amerongen-Meeuse, V., Joke C., Schaap-Jonker, H., Westerbroek, G.,, & Braam, A.W.,(2022. )‘Why Does This Happen to Me?’ Religious and spiritual struggles among psychiatricinpatients in the Netherlands: Narrative Analysis. Religions 13: 965.https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100965
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-V.Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association
Bazargan, M. Bazargan S & King N (2001) Paranoid Ideation Among Elderly AfricanAmerican Persons Gerontological Society of AmericaVol. 41, No. 3, 366–373
Benson, N. (2022) Gunmen kidnap Nassarawa state university student. The whistler retrieved from www.thewhistler.ng/just-in-gunmen-kidnap-nassarawa-university-students/amp
Cranney S, Leman J, Fergus A. T., & Rowatt W. C.(2018) Hell anxiety as non-pathological fear, Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 21:9-10, 867-883,DOI: 10.1080/13674676.2018.1443436
Exline, J. J., Pargament, K. I., Grubbs, J. B., & Yali, A. M. (2014). The Religious and SpiritualStruggles Scale: Development and initial validation. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 6(3), 208–222.
Exline J.J and wilt ,J.A.(2022) Supernatural attributions: Seeing god, the devil,demons, spirits, fate, and karma as causes of events Annual Review of Clinical Psychology clinpsy.annualreviews.org https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-
Freeman, D. (2007). Suspicious minds: The psychology of persecutory delusions. Clinical Psychology Review, 27, 425–457. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2006.10.004
Freeman D, Garety PA (1999). Worry, worry processes an dimensions of delusions : an exploratory investigation of a role for anxiety processes in the maintenance of delusional distress. Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapy27, 47–62.
Freeman, D., & Garety, P. A. (2000). Comments on the content of persecutory delusions: Does the definition need clarification? British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 39, 407?414. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466500163400
Ifeagwazi, C.M., Chukwuorji, J.C., & Onu, U. D.(2018). Death anxiety as a factor in health-related quality of life among people living with HIV/AIDS. Nigerian Journal of Psychological Research, 14, 2018
O’Donnell, S. J. (2020). The deliverance of the administrative state: Deep state conspiracism,charismatic demonology, and the post-truth politics of American Christian nationalism. Religion, 50(4), 696-719
Pargament, K. I., Koenig, H. G., Tarakeshwar, N., & Hahn, J. (2004). Religious coping methods as predictors of psychological, physical, and spiritual outcomes among medically ill elderly patients: A two-year longitudinal study. Journal of Health Psychology, 9(6), 713-730.
Shariff, A.F., & Aknin, L.B. (2014) The Emotional Toll of Hell: Cross-National and Experimental Evidence for the Negative Well-Being Effects of Hell Beliefs. PLoS ONE 9(1): e85251. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0085251
Soares W.B., dos Santos E.B., Bottino C.C., Elkis H. (2017) Psychotic symptoms in older people without dementia from a Brazilian community-based sample: A seven years' follow- up. PLoS ONE 12(6): e0178471. https://doi.org/10.1371/
Timmons C.(2016) Investigating Paranoia in a University Student Population ( Doctoral Thesis) University of East London
United nations (20 july 2021)trust in public institution;trends and implication for economic security.UN www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/2021/07/trust-public-institution
Vorontsova. N., Garety, P., & Freeman, D. (2013). Cognitive factors maintaining persecutory delusions in Schizophrenia Spectrum disorders: the contribution of depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122, 1121 – 1131. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034952
World Health Organization. (2018). International Classification of Diseases for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics (11th Revision). Retrieved from https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en
Zayed A.(april 18 2023).Persecutory delusion;definition,causes,symptoms,and treatment Diamond rehabilitation. www.diamondrehabilitathailand.com-what-is-persecutory-delusion
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Uzoigwe Tobechi, Akawu Monday
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International. that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
