[Objective] The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between God image and spiritual maturity among Catholic young adults and to verify the mediating effects of positive and negative religious coping in this relationship.
[Contents] To accomplish this purpose, participants were Catholic men and women aged 19 to 39 years. A total of 401 responses were collected using self-report questionnaires measuring God image, religious coping, and spiritual maturity. The data were analyzed using SPSS 25.0 and the PROCESS Macro to conduct correlation analyses and mediation analyses.
[Conclusions] Based on the results of the study, God image showed a significant positive relationship with spiritual maturity, a positive relationship with positive religious coping, and a negative relationship with negative religious coping. Positive religious coping partially mediated the relationship between God image and spiritual maturity, whereas the mediating effect of negative religious coping was not significant. These findings suggest that, in promoting the spiritual maturity of Catholic young adults, pastoral counseling and spiritual guidance that focus on fostering a positive God image and strengthening positive religious coping may be more effective than approaches that merely aim to reduce negative religious coping.