The creativity-spirituality construct and its role in transformative coping

The present study examines whether and to what extent creativity and spirituality are used in coping in a cross-cultural and cross-denominational student sample of 610 participants. Two new theory-based instruments, displaying good internal consistency and satisfactory levels of content-, and construct validity, are introduced, the Creative Coping Scale-19 (CCS-19), and the Spiritual Coping Scale-30 (SCS-30). A positive, moderate relationship between creative and spiritual coping emerged, thus supporting the theory of transformative coping. The findings demonstrated that participants applied both creative and spiritual coping in their lives in order to deal with acute and chronic stress. Associations between creative and spiritual coping and demographic variables were outlined. Practical applications for the promotion of mental health were discussed. Future research should seek to replicate and extend the present findings.