One of the most widely replicated findings within the mental health literature is that the experience of stressful life events (e.g., the death of a loved one, serious illness, divorce, loss of a job) are consistently associated with higher depressive symptoms. However, the magnitude of these effects varies such that some people invariably experience negative mental health consequences following the experience of significant life stressors, but many others do not. We consider why some individuals become more distressed than others following stressful life events by focusing on one particular religious belief: the sense of divine control. We examine how divine control changes in response to stress, and how this influences mental health differently across education levels. We analyze two waves of data from the Work, Stress, and Health Study (2005 and 2007) (N = 1279) using lagged dependent variable regression models. Results suggest that the moderating effect of changes in divine control associated with exposure to stressful life events are contingent on education level, depending on the stressful life event considered. In general, decreases in divine control after the experience of stress were found to be harmful for the mental health of the less educated, while increases in divine control were beneficial for the well-educated. We interpret our findings in terms of two differing perspectives on the relationship between changes in religious beliefs and mental well-being across education level after stressful life events (deprivation compensation versus enhanced resources). Taken together, this study contributes to knowledge about the social patterning (and influence) of beliefs about divine control and how changes in these beliefs may influence the mental health of individuals dealing with specific challenging circumstances.

中文翻译：

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对神圣控制的信念和压力性生活事件对心理健康的影响：基于教育的突发事件研究

心理健康文献中最广泛重复的发现之一是，压力性生活事件的经历（例如，亲人去世、严重疾病、离婚、失业）始终与更高的抑郁症状相关。然而，这些影响的程度各不相同，以至于有些人在经历了重大的生活压力后总是会经历负面的心理健康后果，而其他许多人则不然。我们通过关注一种特定的宗教信仰来考虑为什么有些人在压力大的生活事件后变得比其他人更痛苦：神圣控制感。我们研究了神圣控制如何随着压力而变化，以及这如何影响不同教育水平的心理健康。我们分析了来自工作、压力、和健康研究（2005 年和 2007 年）（N = 1279）使用滞后因变量回归模型。结果表明，与暴露于压力生活事件相关的神圣控制变化的调节作用取决于教育水平，取决于所考虑的压力生活事件。一般来说，在经历压力后神控力的降低对受教育程度较低的人的心理健康有害，而神控力的增加则对受过良好教育的人有益。我们从两种不同的观点来解释我们的发现，即在压力性生活事件（剥夺补偿与增强资源）之后，不同教育水平的宗教信仰变化与心理健康之间的关系。综合起来，