Spiritual Coping, Emotional Responses to Existential Challenges, and Character Strengths: Revision and Validation of the Using Private Prayer for Coping Scale (UPPC-R)

Over recent decades, massive natural disasters have increased in intensity. A 40-year literature review underscored the centrality of spirituality in such disasters but called for further scale development and studies further exploring the role of personality traits. As a response, the current study (1) validated a revised Using Private Prayer for Coping (UPPC-R) scale using data (N = 566) from Category 5 Hurricanes Maria and Michael, and (2) examined the effect of the UPPC-R and perceived spiritual support (PSS) on character strengths, in conjunction with disaster-related emotional responses. Of the sample, 76% used prayer to cope. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a single-factor UPPC-R with strong psychometric properties. A path model demonstrated the mediation of the UPPC-PSS link between faith and character strengths, alongside peritraumatic positive emotional responses. The findings suggest that UPPC-R is an adequate tool for disaster research and that personality traits may vary with disaster-related experiences.