Spiritual Experience, Church Attendance, and Bereavement

Examines the empirical relationships among spiritual experience, church attendance, and bereavement adjustment in a sample (N = 85) of individuals grieving the death of a significant person in their lives. Results indicate that those participants evidencing high levels of spiritual experience showed lower levels of problematic grief affect. Notes that church attendance appeared to influence grief adjustment only to the extent that it was positively correlated with spiritual experience. Discusses implications for pastoral caregiving.