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2018, Vol 37, No.1, 6-16 ISSN 0733-Wl

Benevolent Theodicies Protect Against PTSD

Following a Natural Disaster
lacey E, McElroy-Heltzel Edward B. Davis Doll E. Davis
Georgia late UnilXmity Wheaton College Georgia late £..:lI1ve/sity

Jamie D. Aten Jo hua S llook

lXIbeaton College £..:nlL'ersily ofSorth Te.,CIS

Daryl R. Van Tongeren Je/my Hlt'a/lg

Hope College lr'beatoll College

arural ~ers are potentwlly traumauc cventS th,u G in nolatc SUrviVOr.' hehef, ,IIX)Ul lhe world and
lead to the development of Po~t-Traumallc '>tfe's D"order (IY!' DJ, G,,'en lhat natural d"a~ters are
incre:u.lOg In frequency and interu,lty, It I'> Import.lnt to Identify fa({or. that can help prote({ ,>UrvIVOrs
from negallve mental health outcomes suth ,t> PTSD In thl' '>tud, adult sun'IVor, of the 2016 LoU15lana
flood (,\ - '166) completed measures of behd 'Ioiauon,. benevolent lheodlues. and pmt-disa,ter PTSD
symplOl'lb We hypothesized that behcf vlol,J{Jon~ would be PO'>lll\'ely rel,ucd 10 IYf'lD symplOl'lb, but
this rclauomhip would be buffered when ~Uf\I\'Or, beiJc\cd God (a) has pf()ndCnll,t1 u)Otrol o\'er suf-
fering (providence theodlL"Y), (b) ,suffer.. ,dong "uh them (,uffenng-God theexhcyl. ,mcI (cl uscs ,uffering
to bUIld people.., character and V!nuc, (>oul-blllldlOg thcooICY) Results supponed thc.,e hypoth=,
Behef violauoru, were poMllvely related to PT~D wmptom~, yet behef 10 bmemlent lhc()(hclC~ ' buffered
tIltS relationship, lmphcauons are di!>CU",ed 10 term, of dl,a,ter preparedne, " and rehef. IOdudlOg recom-
mendauons for disaster num,uy and 'plnltlal fiN aid

In 2016 and 201- alone, there were 31 l ' "
natural dlsaMers (e g " severe LOrm~, fioods ,
droughts, and wildfires) that each cau, ed . 1
billion or more In damage~ , Collectively. these
31 disasters resulted In 500 death. Jnd 35 I I
billion 111 e t1malecl damages, with an average
event COM of 11.4 billion, By compan'on
belween 1980 and 2015, there were an ,I\'cr-
age of 2 high-COM natural dlsa,(er In the
U. per year, With an average e\'ent cost of
6,3 billion ,md an average annual cost of
'15 5 billion (National Centers lor Emlron ,
mental InformalOin [NCEII, 201 ) Gl\en the
increa~cd prevalence and Impau of natural
dlsa,ters. J{ IS cruCial to under~land ho\\ dl'as-
ter, affect survivors' mental health Jnd \\hat
Tim pubhGllJOn ",",IS mad<.: p(h'lble Ihrough th~
suppon of ,I grant from Ihe John T~mplelOn fOUll-
ddllon «(,ram #HO' IO) The opimon, expre;sed 10
Ihl' pubhc.tuon are Ihose of thl' author'> and do not
n<.:ce"anl} reflect th<.: Vle\\', of Ihe John Templelon
Foundation Corre"pondente ('OncernlOg this JnKle
should be addre'>\ed 10 'Iatey \IcElror-Hehzd
Depanment of Counsehng and PwchologlC,I! Ser,
Vices , Georgia State l nl\'ersllv 30 Pn'or Ireet
Atlama , GA 30303, smcclroy:3@gsuedu
______________________________ 6______________________________________
facLOrs might protect agamst common negative
ment," health consequence,> of disaster,
One common tvpe of mental health prob-
lem that can be caused by natural disa~ter is
Post-Traumati ' tres,> Disorder (PT D). When
an experience IS stn::~slul enough to violate
one'~ corc beliefs about thc world , It can initi-
ate a pro ess of meanll1g-makll1g-auempung
to reconcile the traum,1 \\'Ith one\ eXisting
belief wstem (Park, Mllb. & rdmondon,
2012 Park et ai, 2016) In such ume , many
mdl\' ldual, turn to their religiOUS spiritual
(R ) belief, to find answers and make ense
01 their expenence,., (AldwlI1, 2007 , Bu ing,
Ostermann, & J\ IJllhlessen , 2005) 1[owever,
Imle IS known about ho\'\, lI1c1ividuab may
engage their IV belief systems to make ense
of Irauma and how dOing so Inlght impact
their mental health ( llale - mith. Park , &
Edmond'on . 2012) cholars have ugge ted
lhat when people are able to m itigate belief
\'lola liOns by incorporallng the experience
mto their current belief systems, it can reduce
the likelihood they will de elop PT D symp-
toms (George. Park, Chaudoir, 2016).
EmplOcal work on thi topi is scarce, in pan
due to lack of appropria te mea ures. JU t
~

recently, scholar have developed measures of
belief violal1on (Park et aI., 2016) and R!
view of suffering (i.e., theodicies; HaJe- mith
et aI., 2012). Initial studies utilizing these mea-
sure have demonstrated a link between belief
violations and PT OympLOms and between
benevolent theodlcies <lnd po~itive mental
health (e.g .. George et al. 2016; Wilt, Exline,
Grubbs, Park, & Pargament, 2016). However,
most of these studies are limited 10 that they
rely on undergraduate ,amples rather than
recruiting trauma-exposed community sample
Accordingl}, the purpose of the pre ent study
IS to examme a community sample of disaster
survivor and te!>! whether the relationship
between belief violations and PTSD symptom~
is buffered by benevolent theodl les.
The Role of Be lie f Violations in the
Developme nt of PT D
Traumatic expenen e can violate individu-
al . core beliefs about the world (l (orowltz
19 6; Park et aI., 2016) Such beltef \ lola lions
have been linked With tncn,;,hed psychologi-
cal di tre s, includtng symptoms of PT 0
(ChukwuorJl. lfeagwazi. . Eze, 2017 George
et al , 2016, Park et ai , 2012 , 2016) tress
re ponse theory pro\ Ides a framework for
understandmg thiS Itnk I:>. hen tndlvlduals
experience an event that i 10 ompatible With
their eXist 109 behef structure. their attempts to
reconcile this discrepancy can lead to ymp-
tom of avoidance and tntruslve memories,
which are hallmark!> of PT 0 (HorOWitz,
1986). imilariy, shallered assumptions theory
(Janoff-Bulman, 1992) posits that individuals
have an unaniculated assumption of a IU t and
predi table world, and thiS assumpl10n pro-
vides them With a ense of meaning and
tnvulnerability But traumatic even ts violate
thiS a sumption and therefore can lead to the
development of PT 0 symptoms.
Although these theolies are generally accept-
ed within the scientific Illerature, they have
largely gone untested due to a lack of appro-
priate measures (Park et aI., 2012). With recent
advancement in mea urement, however,
cholar have begun to examllle these theories
empirically. For example, in a ample of 130
undergraduates who had experienced a trau-
matic event, Park er al. (2012) found evidence
that belief violations were related to n gative
belief about one elf and the world, which
were in tu rn related to PT 0 ymptoms.
McELROy-HELTZEL ET At 7
Likewise, at least two studies have exam-
ined whether belief violation mediate the
relation hip between event centrality (i.e.,
how central a stre sful event I to one's identi-
ty and life tory) and PT D symptoms. George
et al. (2016) found evidence of this mediated
relation hip using a sample of 367 undergrad-
uates who had experienced a traumatic event,
and Chukwuorji et al (2017) replicated thee
results in a ample of 279 older, internally diS-
placed adults in Nigeria . Taken together, the e
tudies offer preliminaf) suppon that traumat-
IC events can cause beltef ViolatiOns, I:>.hlch 10
llIrn can lead to the development of PT'O
symptoms. Two Imponant next I>lepS tnclude
conllnutng to repltcate the c ftndtngs 10 com-
mUnity sample and examintng protective fac-
LOrs that might reduce the impact of bcltef
violJlIons on mental health.
Benevolent Theodi je as a Protective
Factor
When IndlvlduJb expenence belief \'Iola-
tions, the\' may engage in meantng-making
rrocesses that attempt to rcconule or lOW
grJte the Violating exreriencc wllh their exhl-
ing worldviel:>. in order to reduce dlstres.
(Park ct al . 2016) . One wa~ tndl\:iduals may
do thiS IS through engagtng their Iheoclicles
(i e., RI beJiefs about suffering: Brown , 1999;
Hale- mllh et al. 2012). Although there are a
number of theodlcies, in thl studv we are
primardy focused on bellet'olelll
IheodlCles-thar IS, beltds lhat attnbule a
benevolent role to God 10 suffenng (Wilt
Exline, Lindberg, Park, & Pargament. 2017, p
137) Beliefs about God ~ role 10 suffenng
may \'ary con~iderably. bUl we were intere'st-
ed in whether three benevolent theodicle
might .serve as protective facLOr~ for natural
dlsaMer survivors (a) the belief that God has
proVidential control over suffering and uses it
for a higher purpo e (I.e, prOVidence theodl-
cy), (b) rhe belief thal God is prescnt 10 the
mid l of !'.uffering and suffers com pas ionate-
ly alongSide people (r c , suffeflng-God
lheodicy), a nd (c) the belief tilat God uses
suffering to build virtue tnto people s charac-
ter (I.e., oul-building lheocltcy; J-1ale- mlrh el
aI., 2012. Wilt ct al . 2016, 2017).
These benevolent lheodlcles might help
indIViduals make sense of their suffering. For
example, benevolent theodicies can help
monotheistic religious believers reconcile
8

Belief Violations
00

Figure 1. Hypothe is 2: Conceptual diagram depicting the moderation of tile ef:e t of

belief violations eX) on po t-di aster PTSD symptoms 0') by benevolent theodlCies (e.g.,
belief that God has providential control over uffering [providence theodicy, 1.1, willfully
hares in our uffering [suffering-God theodicy, Mll, and u euffenng to build our charac-
ter [soul-building theodicy, M,]). rated differently, benevolent \'iew~ of God's role in suffer-
ing are me boundary condition that influences how much of an effect beltef violation have
on po r-di a rer PT D ymptom
- - - -- - - - -
traumatic life event~ with their belief in a
good, loving, and all-powerful God (Wilt et
aI., 2016, 2017). Indeed, there is initial empir-
ica l suppOrt for this po ibility. In two mde-
pendent amples of .. undergraduate~ (N ~
3,083) and adults ( r ~ 1,047) who were fac-
ing non pe ific stre. sor , Wilt er al (2016)
found evidence that benevolent thcodicies
were linked ro higher p ychological well-
being (rs ~ .21 to .29) . Imilarly, in an under-
graduate sample (, ~ '154) who reponed
experiencing a pecific individual R/ trug-
gle in the pa t fev. months, Exitne , Hall.
Pargament, and H arriott (2017) found that
benevolent theodl Ie predicted students '
engagement in positive religious coping ,
which in tlIrn predicted their perceived POM-
traumatic growth. Moreover, in a nallonall\'
repre entattve ample of chaplains in the \ct-
eran~ Healthcare Admini. tration ( IY ~ 298)
benevolent theodicies w"ere linked wllh
chaplam ' professional qualtty of itle (I e
their sense of purpo~e and enjoyment 111
their work) , leading Curncr Drc,cher
ieuwsma , and M Cormick ( 201-) to con -
elude that benevolent theodi le~ might erve
a d pathway to resiltence for II1di\lduals m
ptrltual communities and tradilions 111 [thel
U A (p 286).
Taken together, these studies offer preltmmary
evidence that benevolent the()(hCle.~ might scr\'~
as a protective factor agam,t the negauve mental
health Impact of adver.,c life e\'en~. The eXI~ting
eVidence ba~e ha focu ed on sample dealmg
With <I range of stre~o", but 11 I~ important to
!lee how well thi theonzing holds up in the
context of collectively expenenced traumatIC
event.', uch a~ natural di~asters .
--
Overview and Hypotheses
ccordingly , the purpose of the pre em
stud} of natural disa~ter sUlvivors wa to exam"
me the link belWeen belief Violation and PTSD
ymplOms and then test whether benevolent
theodicle:, buffered tim, relation hip . We
fo u~ed on SUf\'lvors of th e 2016 Loui iana
flood . Bec<lu e this flood wa one of me co tli-
est and mOM severe natural disaster to hit the
U. in the past 5 e<lrs (Yan & Flore , 2016),
and because Louisiana is one of the mo t reli-
gious tates In the (Lipka & Wormald,
2016), survivors of thib flood represent an opti-
mal population for studYll1g me role of religion
in mitigating the negative mental health impacr
of di~a~teri> . The 20 16 Louisiana f100d began
between August 12 and 15, 2016, a~ vast area
of southern Louisiana rccehed 20 to 30 inches
of rall1 , re~ulting in ata trophic flooding
( OAA, 2018) This flooding rendered 200
road\,ays IInpai>sable (includ1l1g parts of [Wo
Ulterstate hlghv.ay. ) and damaged 0 er 109,000
home , 90,000 vehicle , and 6,000 bu ine es
("AIR Worldwide," 2016; Funes, 2016; Terrell,
2016> In all , the 2016 Loui iana f100d cau ed
over . 10 bllhon in damage, ranking it among
the 25 cO~the t natural disaMer in .. hi tory
(NO , 201; Yan & Flore1>, 2016). Thi rteen
people lost their ltve;, ( 'OM, 2018). Addition-
ally, more than 30,000 people and 1,000 pets
had to be rescued by emergency responders
and civihan volunteers ( Di Liberto, 2016; Vi er
et aI. , 2016) A large percentage of the e ur-
vivors ltved in area that were also hir by Hurri-
cane Katnna m 2005 (Lipin ki, 2016).
In the L1ITent study, we predicted that higher
leveb of belief violation would be positively
as, ociared With PT D ymptoms (J-1 ypothe is 1).

Moreover, we predicted that benevolent theodi-
cies would moderate the relationship between
belief violations and PTSD symptoms, uch that
greater endorsement of benevolent theodicies
would attenuate the relationship between belief
violations and PT D ymptoms (Hypothesis 2).
ee Figure 1 for a conceptual diagram of the
moderation effect we test in Hypothesis 2.
Method
Participants and Procedure
One month after the 2016 Louisiana flood, we
recruited adults from Baton Rouge, Louisiana
and its urrounding communilie Participants
were recruited through local community agen-
cies (e.g., faith communities and mental health
clinics), and they completed rudy mea ure via
an online urvey platform. They were compen-
sated with a $25 gift carel either to Amazon.com
or Walman. Individuals were eligible to panici-
pate if they were at least 18 years old and had
been living in one of the flood-affec ted
Louisiana parishes at the lime of the flood .
Initially, 935 participants either partially or
fully completed the survey Participants were
excluded from analysis if they failed more than
one of the attention check (e.g., validity ques-
tions such as "Plea e re pond to this question
with 'moderately"'; n = 190) or completed the
slIIvey in an impossibly fast amount of time (n
= 180). dditionally, panicipants were excluded
from analysis if they did not meet inclu ion cri-
teria (Le., did not reside in Louisiana at the time
of the fl ood) or provided duplicate response
(determined by the same name/email combina-
tion entered more than once; n = 119). orne
participant failed more than one of the atten-
tion checks or in lu ion criteIia; ultima rely, 469
people were excluded from data analy is.
The final sample con i red of 466 participants
(46.1% women) who ranged in age from 20 to
77 years old (M = 36.69, D = 7.21). Partici-
pants were mo t1y \Xihite (75.5%), with smaller
number of Latino/a (10 .7%), Black/ African-
American (10.3%), and other races « 2% each
for Asian, Pacific I lander, American Indian, or
multiracial). The mo t frequently end orsed
hou ehold income category was $100,000 to
$149 ,999 ( 28 .5%), followed by $50,000 to
$74 ,999 (23.8%) and 75,000 [0 99,999
(21.9%), Additionally, mo t participants were
currently married (85.4%) and had a bachelor's
degree or higher (61.4%).
McELROy-HELTZEL ET AL 9
Most participan ts were religiously affiliated
(89.3%). SpecificaUy, participants identified as
Christian Protestant (42.7%), Christian Catholic
(34.3%), Mormon (1.9%), Orthodox Christian
(0.4%), Jewish (2.8%), Muslim (5.4%), Bud-
dhist (1.1%), Hindu (0.6%), athei t 0.7%),
agnostic (0.4%), and nothing in pa rticular
(8.6%). This ample is religiously repre enta-
tive of Loui iana (www.pewforum.org). The
sample was highly religiou ; on a sca le from 1
(no t at all important) to 4 (velY important),
the average religiou importance rating wa
3.34 (SD = 0.82).
When asked to use a 5-poim Likert scale C1
= not stressful to 5 = extremely tress/ul) to
indicate how tres ful the flood was for them,
the average level of di aster-related stress was
3.23 (SD = 0.98). Additionally, 29.0% of partiC-
ipants responded "yes" when asked if they
were still dealing with some negative conse-
quences from rhe flood , wherea 56.4% aid
" omewhat"' and 14.6% aid "no." Around half
the participants (53.2%) did not have flood
in urance. Finally, 64.6% of participants indi-
cated that, in 2005, they lived in an area
affected by Hurricane Katrina .
The material and mea ure presented
here are drawn from a larger ser of mea-
lire admini rered to thi ample . The mea-
sures that are not d isclissed here addre s
other re earch que tion , but the results pre-
ented in the cu rrent tud y have not been
published elsewhere .
Measures
Belief violations. We a sessed belief viola-
tions uSing the 5-item Belief Violation;. ub cale
from the Global Meaning iolation cale
(GMV ; Park et aI., 2016). Respondents were
asked to u e the 5-poinl GMV Likert scale (1
[not at am to 5 [very mllcb)) to rate each of the
five items in response to the following prompt:
''When you dlink about how YOll felt before and
after experiencing the 20]6 Louisiana flood ... "
Two example items are "How much doe thi
str fu1 experience violate your ense that God
is in control?" and "How much doe the occur-
rence of this stressful exp rience violate you r
ense of tbe world being fair or just?" Item
cores are Slimmed to yield a total score, with
higher score reflecting higher belief violations.
The GMV has demonstrated lfOng evidence of
reliability and of concurrent, discriminant, and
10 BENEVOLENT THEODICIES PRoTEer AGAINST POST-DISASTER PT D

Table 1
P',ychomelric Properties and flltercorrelalions of Illdy Variables
Variable M D Pos Ible Actlla l
Range Range..
1. Belief Violations 13. 8 4.27 5-25 5--25
2. PT D ympLOm 30.26 ]5.99 0-80 0--75
3. Providence Theodicy 10.64 360 3-18 3-IS
4. uffering-God Theodicy 11.56 3.76 3-18 3-18

5. oul-building Theodicy 11.80 3.11 3-1 3-]8

Variable 2 3 'I 5
1. Belief Violation (.S l )
2. PT D ymptoms .62' ( 95)
3. Providence Theodlcy .29' 31' ( SO)
4. uffenng-God Theodlcy .29' 23' 65' ( 83)
5. oul-building Theodicy .17' 05 51' 64' (.75)

,Vole. = 166. PT D = Po~t-traumal1C
along the diagonal
'p < .001 .
predicllve validity (Park et al. . 2016) For the
present sample. Cronbach's alpha was .81.
PTSD symptom . We a!>se~~ed PT D
ympLOms u ing the 20-llem Post-Traumatic
tre s Di order Check II. t for 0 ,\1-5 (PCL-5;
Blevins et al.. 2015). which measure~ PT D
ympLOm according lO the PT D symptom
criteria indicated in the Dwgllo IIC and SllIIIS-
flcal Manllal of Melll,,1 Disorders (American
Psychiatric A,>~ocial1on , 2013) The PCL-'i ask,
respondents to use a 5-poInt Liken scale (0
[nol al am lO 'I [exlrel1le(l'l) lO inciIcall:how
much you have been bothered bv thai prob-
lem In the last month " Two example Ilem,
are "Rep eated, dl~llIrbIng , and unwanted
memories of the stre sful expenence' .md
HaVing strong negative belIefs ahout yourself,
oLher people. or the \vorld (for example. hav-
Ing thoughts such as: I am bad. there Is~ome­
thIng seriously wrong Wllh ml.!, no one can be
IrtlMed . Ihe world I, completely d,lngeroll'» .
Item scores arl.! summed lO Yield a total score.
With higher scores indicatIng higher leveb of
PT D symptoms. The PCL-5 has demonslrated
strong eVidence of relIabIlILY and of com'er-
gem,. discriminant and predicthe \'a lidiLy
(I3levIn' et aI., 2015; BO\In el ai, 2016) For
the present sample, ronhach's alpha for the
PCL-S Lotal score was 95.
Be n evo le nt th eo di c ies. We J ses ed
benevolent [heodicles using thre<.: subscale
tre., DI~ordcr Coefficient alpha!> are pre., ented
from the View:> of uffering cale (VO ; Hale-
mith et al , 2012): the Providence, uffering
God, and oul BuIld1l1g ~ub1>cale:-. Each of
these subscale consists of three Ilem~ and
Jsh re~pondems lO indicate [he eXLem of their
belief or disbelId, usmg J 6-pol nt Llke lt cale
rangmg from 1 (slral/gly disagree) to 6 (SlrGng-
(v agree) Three sample Items are: "Everything
thal we expericnce-1I1c1udmg suffe ring-is
planned in detail bv God " (PrOvidence ub-
sCJle), "When we suffer, God I~ suffering a long
\Yllh us" ( uffering God uhscale), and" uffer-
mg " mLended by God lO be aource of per-
sonal growth" (Soul-Building~ub~ca l e) Each
~lIb~cJle\ respon,es are summed lO create a
5ub~cale~core, wllh higher scores reflecting
higher len:b of providence Lheodicy beliefs.
.,ufl<.!nng-God Lheodicy belIefs, and oul-build-
mg theodi y beliefs, respectively. The Vo
has demonstrated !>trong evidence of relIability
and of concurrem. dlscnminam. and predictive
\ alIdlly (llale- mllh et aI., 2012 ; Wilt et al..
201-) For the present amp le . Cronbach'
alphas for the three VO sub calc were .80.
.83. and ..... 5. respectively.
Results
Before impllt1l1g data. we examined pat-
terns of ml ing data . Les than 2% of data
were missing per item . Little's MC R test wa
igl11ficam; however. becau e Ie [han 1% of
 McELROy-HaTZEL ET A1 11

Table 2
Results from Regressioll Analyse Examining the ,\I/oderation of the Effect of Belief Violations
(X) Oil Post-disaster PTSD )lmptoms (Y) by Benevolent Theodicie (M)
Coeff. E P
Intercept i, 30.94 .60 51.72 .000
Belief \·jolations (X) b, 2.16 .16 13.26 .000
Pro\'idence theodiq 1.11.) b. 0.21 .26 0.81 .420
Moder,lllon effect (X JI,) bJ -0.15 .04 -3.45 001
R~='13, ,H E= 1 16.1""
F<3, '162) = 199.56, P < .001
Intercept II 3100 .61 5051 .000
Bebef violalJons (X) hi 219 16 13.36 .000
Suffenng-God tlwodlt y (1/ ) b" -0.09 20 -0'15 .6'19

Moderation elfeu (X .Ill) b. -0.16 .03 <1.62 .000

Intercept i,
Bebef \"lolalJon~ (\") iJ,
oul-building theodiq (,1/ ) b~
~loderalJon dfeLl (X.ll ) b -012
.Yo/{! ,\= 166. E = ~t<lndard error Bebef \'io lal1on~ ('() and benevolent theodlcle~ (,II)
were mean-centereu prior 10 analysis.
data ~a~ mis~ing merall, we could move for-
ward with Impuutio n ~ ab out Introdu cing
bias (S hlomer, Bauman , & Card, 2010) We
u~ed expectation maxlmizallon to IInpute
mlS~lng dara .
ext, we examined the data 101 outlieri> and
normaltty Outliers (2% or less per variable)
were adlusted to three standard de\' lations
from the mean Skewne~~ and kuno is value
were all within an a ceptable range (between
- I and + 1). In Table 1, we repon the p~}'cho­
metric properties and bivariate correlations of
tudy vanables
Hypothesis 1: Are Belief Violations Related
to PT D ymptorns?
In UPPOrt of HypOlhe"'l~ 1, bebef violation~
were strongly positively correlated With PT D
symptoms (r = .62, P < .001). Interestingly,
belief violations were po itively related to all
th ree of the a essed benevolelll theodicles
( r = .17 to .29, all p < .00l), and PT D
sy mptom a l 0 were po itive ly correlated
R-= 42 , AI, E= 11829
FCi, 'HS2) = 167 83,jJ < 001
30.52 59 515'1 .000
2.36 15 16.13 .000
-0.50 23 -213 031
.0'1 -2 "9 .006
R-= .'10, ,11 E= 15390
Fe3, 462) = 111 0, P <001
with [)fovidence theodlc\" belief~ (r = .3 1, P <
00l) and With suffering-God theodlc}' beliefs
(r = .23, P <00l).
Hypoth is 2: Do Benevolent Theodicies
Buffer the egative Effects of Belief
Violations?
To test Hypothese 2, we u~ed Model 1 of
the PROCE macro for P ~ (Hayes, 2013),
which te ts for a sJJ1gle moderator CH [benev-
olem theodiciesJ) of the relationship between
a single amecedem \'a riable ex[belief \'Jola-
tions)) and a ~ingle outcome v3nable (Y
[PT D symptom]) We ran three ~eparate
moderation analy e~ to te~t the moderation
effect for each or [he three benevolent theod-
lcie we a e sed prOVidence theodicv belief:
(~"), uffering-God theodicy bebef: (M.), and
oul-building theod icy belief~ ( J,) . Beltef vio-
lation and benevolent theodlcies were mea n-
centered prior to analy Isee Table 2 fo r
re u lt of the e three "epa ra te reg re sio n
ana ly es, a nd ee Table 3 fo r a um mary of
12 BENEVOLENT THEOOlQES PROTEcr AGAINST POST-DISASTER PT D

Table 3
Conditional Effects of Belief Violations (X) on Post-disaster PTSD ~mptoms 00 at Values of
the Moderator Benevolent 7beodicies (M)
Moderator (M) Effect SE t P ~
Providence Iheodic~ (Ml)
Low providence theodicy beliefs 2.71 .19 14.39 .000 [2.34, 3.081
Average providence theodicy beliefs 2.16 .16 13.26 .000 [1.84, 2.481
Hi~h providence theodicy beliefs 1.62 .26 6.21 .000 [1.11, 2.131
uffering-God tbeodic)' 0'112)
Low uffering-God theodicy beliefs 2.78 .18 1~ . 71 000 [2.43, 3.12]
Average uffering-God theodicy beliefs 2.1 .16 13.36 000 [I .86, 2.50]
High sufferin~-God theodicy beliefs 1.59 .2-1 6.7 4 .000 [1.12, 2.051
olll-Building theodic)' (.1113)
Low soul-building theodicy beliefs 2.73 .18 15.11 .000 [2.38, 3.091
A erage oul-building theodicy belid 2.36 .15 16.13 .000 [208, 2.651
High oul-building theodicy beliefs 2.00 21 9.'12 000 [1.58, 2.411
ote. N= 66. 'E= tandard error; CI = confidence Intelval. Belief vloJation~ (X) and
benevolent theodicie (.'11) were mean-cemercd prior to analysi!>. Values for each modera-
tor are the mean and plus/ minu one standard deviation from the mean.
the conditional effect of belief violations on Soul-building theod icies. [n the third and
po t-di a ter PT D symptom at values of final moderatIon analyis. both belief viola-
each distinct moderator. tions (b = 2.36 , P < .001) and soul-building
Providence theodicies. can be een In theodicy beliefs (b = -0.50, P = .034) were
the fir t moderation analy i . belief violatIons relat e d to PT D ymptoms . upporring
were positively related to PT D ymptoms (b = Hypothesis 2, the moderation effect wa sig-
2.16, p < .001), but providence theodicy belief.s nlficam , Indicating the InteractIon between
were not (p = .420). upponing HypotheSIs 2, beltef violations and soul-bUilding [heodicy
the moderation effect was ignifical1l, indicating beliefs is predi tive of PT 0 symptom , b = -
the interaction between belief violations and 12. P = .006; 6R' = .01 , FO , -162) = 7.78, P =
providence theodlcy beltefs is predicllve of 006 . pecificalJy , the a:,~o iation between
PT D ymptoms, b = -.15, P < .001 ; 6H' = .03, belIef violations and PT D symptom wa
FO . 462) = 11.87, P <001. SpeCifically. the reduced at higher levels of oul-buildi ng
association between belief violations and PT ·[) theodicy beliefs
ymptoms wa reduced at higher leveb of
providence theodicy beliefs Discussio n
uffering-God theodicies. iml[arly. m the The maIn purpose of this tudy \Va to use
econd moderallon analysi , belIef vlolallons a community ample of natural elisa te r sur-
were positively related to PT 0 symptoms (b = \' i\'or~ to examlOe whether the relationship
2.19 , P < .001), but suffering-God theodiey he tween belief violations and po t-disaster
beliefs were not (p = .649). Again , supponmg PT 0 ymptom is anenua t d by benevolent
Hypothe is 2, the moderation effect was signif- theodicies . Prior work has shown a link
icant, indicating the interaction between belief between belief violations and PT D (George
violations and suffering-God theodicy beliefs 1;- et aI. , 2016; Park et aI. , 2012), as well as
predictive of PT 1) symptom , b = -,16, P <
between benevolent theodicies and variou
.001; L'lR- = .03. FO , "162) = 21 30, P <001. indice. of p ychological well-being (Currier et
pecifically, the associallon between belief vio- aI. , 2017; Exline e t aI., 2017; Wilt et aI., 2016).
lations and PT D ymptom was reduced at However, most of this work ha been done
higher levels of suffering-God theodicy beliefs.
with undergraduate samples dealing with

non pecific stre ors (Wilt et al , 2016) or pe-
eific individual tressor (Exline et aI., 2017),
so it wa important to replicate and extend
this work to the role of benevolent theodi ie
in buffering the negative mental health con e-
quence of collectively experienced traumatic
events (e.g., natural disaMers)
Consi tent with our hypothese and repli-
cat ing and extending prior work (George et
aI., 2016; Park et ai, 2012), we found belief
violation had a strong pO~lllve relation. hlp
with PT D ymptoms. This finding ~upports
the predictions of ~tres~ response theory
( Horowitz, 1986) and shattered assumption
theory (Janoff-Bulman, 1992), suggesting that
in the acute wake of disasters, the degree to
which urvivors experience PTSD symptoms
i heavJly tied to the d 'gn:<.! to ~\ hlch their
beliefs about God, the world, and themselves
have been vlol'lled. Park (20 16) has made
imilar theoretical prediclJons w hen diS-
cussing her meaning-making model In the
context of disa ters
" e al 0 found that prmldence and suffer-
ing-God theodlcles were \\eakl} to moderate-
ly related to PT D oS, mptoms, which rna}'
eem countcnntullive Ilowever, these a soci-
ations correspond with findings In prior
work. The bJVan<lte correlations can be mis-
leading and do nor take into account the
potential innuence of Mressor seventy on
engagement with God (or another deity) as 3
mean of coping. For example, \'{'dt et 31
(20 ] 6) found weak to moderate correlations
b tween benevolent theodi c ie and bo th
greater divine Mruggle and greater psycholog-
ical di tress, and Gerber, Boab, and chuet-
tier (2011) found a weak relationship
between p sit ive religiOUS oping and higher
PT D symptoms. Taken together with our
re ults, these findings suggest that, in the
midst of suffering, people In distress may
tend to engage with their theodicies about
od (Wilt et aI., 2016) and cope by cultiva t-
ing th eir perceived relationship with God
(Ge rber et aI., 201 n, even if it means
expre si ng some anger o r disappointment
toward God . Thi po sibiliry icon i tent with
cla im that a mature religiou faith allows for
some level of RI truggle (Exline et aI., 201 ;
Pargament, 2007; Wilt et aI. , 2016).
Our primary hypothese rega rding modera-
tion were supported: the relation hip between
belief violati o n and PTSD symptom wa
McELRoy- H ELTZEL ET AL 13
moderated by benevolent theodicie . peeifi-
ca lly, a belief violations increased, flood ur-
vivor who endor ed greater belief that God
was in control of their uffering, was suffering
co mpa ionately along ide them , and w as
building their character through uffering
tended to report fewer symptoms of PT D
th an urvivors who held les benevolent
lheodi ies. A uggeMed by previou studie,
following traum ati c eve nts, urvivo rs w h o
hold more benevolent theodicie may tend to
engage in more positive religiou c ping,
which often leads to berter p ychologi 31 out-
comes (Park, Currier, Harris, & lanery, 20 17,
er Exline et aI., 2017; Pargament , 2007; Wilt et
aI., 2016, 20n
These re ults have important implications for
dhaMer preparedne~s and respon e. pecifical-
Iy, our findings suggest there is value in helping
p ople cultivate spiritual resources in addition
to physical resources (e.g., shelter planning)
Indeed, these findings sugge I that benevolent
theadl les may serve a~ a protective factor for
disao.rer-affected people and communities
such, benevolent theodicies could be a pOlen
Hal Intervenuon target for dl,aster preparedness
and respon e efforts. For example, prepared -
ness efforts might Involve helping theistic reli-
gIOus believer prepare for dl aster b}
cultivating benevolent theodicie during times
when life is going well. Then. in the aftermath
of a disaster, people providing disaMer splrirual
and emotional care can help urvl\'ors remem-
ber and nurtUre those theodieies, Ihereby help-
Ing buffer against common post-di aster
reaction uch as PT D, an.xiery, or depre. slon
This po ibility require disa ter care providers
to be both competent and comfortable With
addres ing religiou and piritual onceflh.
Il owever, commonly Ulilized disaster mental
health intervention (eg., PsychologIcal First AId
[PFA]) do nOl explicitly target ulvivors' religion
and puirualiry To fill this gap, len et al. (20 1 )
have developed a splntually integrated disaster
mental health intervention called piritual FlI'sl
AId (FA). FA addresse urvivors' immediate
practical needs a well a their spuitual dl tre
It a e e urvivors' spuirual re ource and con-
nects survivor with additional pirirual coping
re our ces if needed (e.g., a faith commu nity;
mental heal th car ). Drawing from nearly 40
year of p ychological r earch on religion and
spuiruality, FA is an evidence-i nformed inter-
vention de igned to facilitate survivors' holistic
 BENEVOLENT THEODICIES PROTEcr A GAI ST POST-DISASTER PT D
14
wellness and improve their post-disaster trajecto-
ry of recovery. In line with resultS of the current
study. F addresses pirirual distr by adopt-
ing a trengths-ba ed approach th~t. help .. ur-
vivors dra~ upon their existing po tUve pmrual
resource (e.g., benevolent dleodicies) in order
to prevent or mitigate po t-disa teI spirirual and
psychological di tre .
trengths, limitations, and Future Research
The cu rre nt tud y replica te a nd extends
previous work o n belief violations, benevolent
theodicies, and the role of RJ in mltigattng
negative po t-disaster reactions. It has ~everal
trength , including the use of a communlt\·
sample of dl aster survivors, compnsed of
roughly equal numbers of men and ~\"omen
and encompa sing a wide range of age~
Moreover, thl study exhibit hIgh external
validity In th aI data was collected from sur-
vivors of a natural disaster, within one month
post-di a ter, and u ing a highly religious (yet
religiously repreentative) ample
Even ~o, thh tudy IS not without Iimll<ltion.~
First, our sample wa roughly 7~% White and
5% ChrislIan, and it o\'er-repre 'ented people
who are currently married. are of middle or
upper ocioeconomic status, and or ha\·e a
bachelor' degree or higher Therefore. 11
remains unclear whether these findIngs dre gen-
eralizable 10 racial ethni minorilles and reli-
gious minorille~ (e g., people ~ ho are
religiously unaffiliated or adhere to a non-Chris-
tian faith), as well as to individuals who ,Ire not
currently married or have a lower socloeco·
nomic taru - or educallon level.econd, we
te ted our moderation hypothese~ U~Ing J
ero -sccllonal de~lgn, but a longitudInal deSign
would prOVide stronger e\'idence for ho~ behcf
\'iolatlOn~ and benevolent theoclicie., Intluente
the trajectory of I'T D over lime! Thm.l. \\e
a sessed PT D svmptoms broadly USIng the
Mandard InstruClions of the PCl-; (whl(h do
not ask respondents whether their trauma
symptoms an: related specificail) to the dl.sa,
ter). Future dtsaster re.searcher might adapt the
PCl-S InMructiom to ask peclficaily ,I bout dis-
a ter-related PT, D symptoms. L.istly. expen-
mental rese,lrch would help clarify the pattern
of relallon,hips we examined m thls study (ie.,
whether disasters caU',e belief \'Iolatlons. whICh
in turn cau~e PT D symptoms. and whethel
benevoh:nt theodl ies might allenuate thiS
cau al relationship). and mterventlon research
(e.g., comparing 'F and PF ) could help
explore whether tnten·enttons targeted at
increa ing benevolent theodicies might be
effeai\'e in mitiga[lng postdlsa~ter PTSD symp-
toms a well. La~t.ly. more research IS needed to
re plicate and extend thiS IlIle of IIlquiry b)'
compartng SUfvi\'ors responses to different
rypes of disasters (e.g,. natuf<ll disasters versus
human-caused disasters) III order to determine
whether various dis,lster-related stre sor elicit
different It responses and or different moder·
<lltng efleCL~ of beneH)lent theodlues
Indeed. we hope the next fmnlter III disaster
research IIlciudes ;1 f<x us on Idenltfying factor.;
(e.g., bene\'olent IhL'OthCles) that can help pro-
tect dlsaste!f-afleued Irldi\'ldu.lb Jnd communi·
tics from neg<lti\l: poq-dlsaster reaction.
'ilmilarh. researchers Gtn "ark to de\·elop and
test spl~lruaIh IIltegrated disaster mental health
lIltef\enltons (e.g, <'1'1\) that focus on harness-
Ing .,>uf\'I\'ors· IV" III "\,1)"' that can promote
their health. well-being. and reslltence. Ulti·
matel" ha\ IIlg a beller untierst.lndlllg of the
"\.IV5 dis;I.'>ter SUf\ I\'ors might ,ldapu\'c1y engage
their R " tan lead to Irltef\enunns that are both
e\'idence-Illformed and cultural" responsive.
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Authors
tacey E. MCElroy-Heltzel (PbD III COllllseling Psy-
chology, Georgia tate Unwl!rs/ty) is a Postdoctoral
Research Associate at Georgia tate Ul7lversity. Dr
McElroy-Heltzel:- reset/rch 1I1Ierests /IIe/ude intercul-
/lira/ couple" hl/mility, and religlOnlsp"itliality.
16
Edward B. Davis (PsyD., Regent University) is an
Associate Professor of Psychology at Wheaton College
(II). His research focuses on the psychology of religioll
and spirituality, especially relational spiriflla/(ty, God
representations, disaslels, and positive psychology.
Don E. Davis (PbD. in Counseling Psychology) is
all Associate Professor of Psycbology at Georgia State
University, AtlalJta, GA . His research interests
include positive psychologrespecially relational
virtues of humility, forgiveness, and gratitude-as
well as Il1Iegration ofspiritllality il1lo counseling.
jamle D. Aten (PhD. in Counseling Psycbology,
Indial1a State University) is tbe Dr Arthur P Recb
and Mrs. jean May Rech A oclate Professor of Ps),-
chology and tbe Founder and Executive Director of
the Hllmanitanan Disaster Institllte (1/ Iflbeaton Col-
lege Dr Aten's primal)' professiollal Interest
include the p ychology of religlon/spiritualit)' and
dISasters, pintually oneil ted disaster p :ychology,
and psychology ill disaster ministl)1
joshua N. Hook (Pb D 111 Counseling PsycholO8J:
Virginia Commol/wealtb Unll'ernty) is an AssOCiaJe
Profe sor of P :)'cbolog)' at the UnIVersity of Nonb
Texas. Dr Hook's researcb II1tere IS include humili.
ty, religionlspilituahty, alld mllitieultllral COllnsellng.
He also blogs reglliarly at u'u'wjo.\/}uanhook.com.
Daryl R Vall TOl/geren (PbD III ocial Psycholo-
gy, Virgillia COl1lmonu'ealtb UlIlversity) is an Associ·
ate Professor of Psycbology Cit Hope College. He
studies tbe ps)'cbology of met/lIlllg, religion, virtues,
and suffel1llg
jelln)' Hu'allg O/.A IlIterllatlOllCII Disaster Psy-
cholog)" enll 'e r It)' of Delll 'e r) IS the Managing
Director for the llul1lal1ltariall Disaster institute at
Whe(lloll ollege Her research IIlterest includes
global mental health (11/ tbe context of disaster set·
tll/gs). IJlII/IOII traUlCkll/g, cross cultllral comlllllni·
C(lliOIl, ami refugee alld lI/uII/grallt melltal healtb.