Fear and faith in waithood: Religious coping and fear of being single of never-married adults in Indonesia

This study examines the role of religious coping in shaping the fear of being single among Indonesian involuntary singles. It explores whether religious motives serve as a source of strengths or, conversely, contribute to psychological pressure due to expectations surrounding marriage. Despite the widespread role of religion in shaping relationship norms in collectivist cultures, little is known about how specific religious coping styles affect emotional responses to singlehood. The study assessed the extent to which participants use positive and negative religious coping strategies and the level of fear they experience regarding their single status. A total of 293 involuntary singles (Mage = 29.55; SD = 3.25), approached through purposive sampling, completed the Brief RCOPE and the Fear of Being Single Scale. The regression analysis revealed that only negative religious coping significantly predicts fear of being single. The results underscore the complex associations between religiosity and singlehood, especially in cultural contexts where religion plays a central role in defining personal identity and social expectations. While religion may be used as a coping strategy, a negative or fear-inducing view of the divine contributes to heightened fear of remaining single. These findings highlight the importance of addressing the quality of religious beliefs, rather than their presence alone, when understanding single individuals' well-being.