Religious Coping as Moderating Factor to Acculturation-Related Stress and Psychological Distress among Filipino Migrant Workers: Inputs for a Proposed Mental Health Program

This predictive-correlational study examined the moderating role of religious coping in the relationship between acculturation-related stress and psychological distress among early-phase Filipino migrant workers. Grounded in Pargament’s religious coping theory and Berry’s acculturation framework, the study employed the Social, Attitudinal, Familial, and Environmental Acculturation Stress Scale (SAFE-24), the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), and the Brief RCOPE. Using snowball-purposive sampling, data were collected from 411 respondents. Analyses included Pearson correlation, multiple regression, and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results indicated that acculturation-related stress was positively and significantly associated with psychological distress (r = 0.52, p < .001) and significantly predicted distress in the SEM model (O = 0.393, p = 0.000). With significant positive associations between the acculturation-related stress and psychological distress across all domains, the strongest association was observed between total acculturation-related stress and anxiety (r = 0.544, p < .001). Among SAFE domains, environmental stress showed the strongest correlations with overall psychological distress (r = 0.504, p < .001) and anxiety (r = 0.515, p < .001), while attitudinal stress was most strongly associated with depression (r = 0.488, p < .001), underscoring domain-specific stress effects. Most respondents demonstrated high positive religious coping (98.05%), reflecting spiritual reliance and meaning-focused coping, whereas 28.71% reported elevated negative religious coping, indicating vulnerability. However, religious coping did not significantly moderate the stress–distress relationship, suggesting limited buffering effects in early migration stages. Findings support the development of culturally responsive, spiritually informed mental health programs and data-driven psychosocial frameworks tailored for Overseas Filipino Workers.