The Effect of Individual's Perception of God Concept on Stress, Anxiety and Depression

The concept of God has often been considered crucial in the development and form of an individual’s personal faith and has been studied more than any other religious concept during past few decades (Hyde,1990). Due to the effect of individual’s perception of different elements, this concept has drawn many psychologists’ attention concerning mental health. The goal of this study was to investigate the influence of Individual’s perception of God on Stress, Anxiety and Depression. For this purpose, a sample of 251 college students was selected through stratified random sampling. Gorsuchs’ God concept questionnaire and DASS scale were used for data collection. Pearson’s correlation coefficient, step-by-step regression and one-way ANOVA were used for data analysis. The results showed that: there are positive relationships between benevolent and valuable God concept with depression. Also, there are negative relationships between irrelevant, punishing God concept and depression. There are positive relationships between punishing God concept and stress. And there are negative relationships between Stress and benevolent God concept. And there are positive relationships between punishing God concept and anxiety.