Spirituality, self-esteem and the mechanisms of social and temporal comparison

Year 2023, Volume: 8 Issue: 1, 83 - 102, 15.02.2023

Justine Ollivaud Jean-michel Galharret Nicolas Roussiau

https://doi.org/10.37898/spc.2023.8.1.187

Abstract

Our research objective was to demonstrate that spirituality decreases the mechanisms of social and temporal comparison, and not without consequence, particularly when regarding self-esteem. Thus, this quantitative study aimed to investigate the relationship between a-religious spirituality, social and temporal comparisons and self-esteem. Four questionnaires were completed by 331 participants, each evaluating the different variables. The results confirmed our hypothesis which suggested that individuals with high spiritual scores would have low social and temporal comparison scores on the one hand, and high self-esteem on the other. The theoretical implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

Keywords

spirituality, self esteem, social comparison, temporal comparison

References

• Albert, S. (1977). Temporal comparison theory. Psychological Review, 84(6), 485 503. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.6.485
• Allport, G. W., & Ross, J. M. (1967). Personal religious orientation and prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 5(4), 432 443. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0021212
• Biccheri, E., Roussiau, N., & Mambet-Doué, C. (2016). Fibromyalgia, Spirituality, Coping and Quality of Life. Journal of Religion and Health, 55(4), 1189 1197. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-016-0216-9
• Blanton, H., Crocker, J., & Miller, D. T. (2000). The Effects of In-Group versus Out-Group Social Comparison on Self-Esteem in the Context of a Negative Stereotype. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 36(5), 519-530. https://doi.org/10.1006/jesp.2000.1425
• Carignan, L.M., Bellehumeur, C.R. (2019). Bilan-synthèse des rapports historiques entre la psychothérapie, la religion et la spiritualité. Dans C.R. Bellehumeur & J. Malette (Eds). Psychologie positive et spiritualité en psychothérapie. Laval : Presses Universitaires de Laval.
• Chen, P., & Popovich, P., (2002). Correlation: Parametric and Nonparametric Measures, Sage University Papers Series on Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, 07-139. Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage.
• Cotton, S., Puchalski, C. M., Sherman, S. N., Mrus, J. M., Peterman, A. H., Feinberg, J., Pargament, K. I., Justice, A. C., Leonard, A. C., & Tsevat, J. (2006). Spirituality and religion in patients with HIV/AIDS. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 21(S5), S5-S13. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-1497.2006.00642.x
• Crocker, J., & Park, L. E. (2004). The Costly Pursuit of Self-Esteem. Psychological Bulletin, 130(3), 392 414. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.130.3.392
• De la Sablonnière, R., Hénault, A-M., & Huberdeau, M.-E. (2009). Comparaisons sociales et comparaisons temporelles : vers une approche séquentielle et fonction de la situation unique. Les Cahiers Internationaux de Psychologie Sociale, numéro 83(3), 3-24. https://doi.org/10.3917/cips.083.0003
• De la Sablonnière, R., & Tougas, F. (2008). Relative Deprivation and Social Identity in Times of Dramatic Social Change: The Case of Nurses. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38(9), 2293 2314. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2008.00392.x
• Festinger, L. (1954). A Theory of Social Comparison Processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117 140. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872675400700202
• Friedmann, L. (2011). Se comparer aux autres. Sciences Humaines, N°224(3), 13. https://doi.org/10.3917/sh.224.0013
• Genia, V. (1991). The spiritual experience index: A measure of spiritual maturity. Journal of Religion & Health, 30(4), 337 347. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00986905
• Hayman, J. W., Kurpius, S. R., Befort, C., Nicpon, M. F., Hull-Blanks, E., Sollenberger, S., & Huser, L. (2007). Spirituality Among College Freshmen: Relationships to Self-Esteem, Body Image, and Stress. Counseling and Values, 52(1), 55 70. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-007x.2007.tb00087.x
• Heatherton, T. F., & Wyland, C. L. (2003). Assessing self-esteem. In: Lopez S. J. & Snyder C.R. (Eds.), Positive psychological assessment: A handbook of models and measures, 219-233. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10612-014
• Heine, S. J., Lehman, D. R., Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1999). Is there a universal need for positive self-regard ? Psychological Review, 106, 766 –795.
• Hill, P. C., Pargament, K. I. I., Hood, R. W., McCullough, J. M. E., Swyers, J. P., Larson, D. B., & Zinnbauer, B. J. (2000). Conceptualizing Religion and Spirituality : Points of Commonality, Points of Departure. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 30(1), 51 77. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5914.00119
• Hogg, M. A. (2000). Social Identity and Social Compariso. In: Suls J., & Wheeler L. (Eds.), Handbook of Social Comparison: Theory and Research, 401 421. Springer US https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4237-7_19
• Kamya, H. A. (2000). Hardiness and Spiritual Well-Being Among Social Work Students. Journal of Social Work Education, 36(2), 231 240. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2000.10779004
• King, M., Marston, L., McManus, S., Brugha, T., Meltzer, H., & Bebbington, P. (2013). Religion, spirituality, and mental health: results from a national study of English households. British Journal of Psychiatry, 202(1), 68 73. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.112.112003
• King, M., Speck, P., & Thomas, A. (1994). Spiritual and religious beliefs in acute illness—Is this a feasible area for study? Social Science & Medicine, 38(4), 631 636. https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(94)90260-7
• Koenig, H.G., McCullough, M.E., Larson, D.B. (2001). Handbook of religion and health. New-York : Oxford University Press.
• Leary, M. R., Tambor, E. S., Terdal, S. K., & Downs, D. L. (1995). Self-esteem as an interpersonal monitor: The sociometer hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68(3), 518 530. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.68.3.518 Lyubomirsky, S. (2007). Comment être heureux... et le rester. Paris : Éditions Flammarion
• Lyubomirsky, S., Tkach, C., & DiMatteo, M. R. (2005). What are the Differences between Happiness and Self-Esteem? Social Indicators Research, 78(3), 363 404. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-005-0213-y
• Mystakidou, K., Tsilika, E., Parpa, E., Hatzipli, I., Smyrnioti, M., Galanos, A., & Vlahos, L. (2008). Demographic and clinical predictors of spirituality in advanced cancer patients: a randomized control study. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 17(13), 1779 1785. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2702.2008.02327.x
• Pargament, K. I. (1997). The Psychology of Religion and Coping. London : Guilford Publications.
• Payne, I. R., Bergin, A. E., Bielema, K. A., & Jenkins, P. H. (1991). Review of Religion and Mental Health. Prevention in Human Services, 9(2), 11 40. https://doi.org/10.1300/j293v09n02_02
• Regnerus, M. D. (2003). Religion and Positive Adolescent Outcomes: A Review of Research and Theory. Review of Religious Research, 44(4), 394. https://doi.org/10.2307/3512217https://doi.org/10.2307/3512217
• Renard, E. (2018) La spiritualité une croyance areligieuse. Dans Roussiau, N. (Ed). Croyances sociales : Spiritualité, religion, croyances ascientifiques, croyances areligieuses. Paris : In Press.
• Rickabaugh, C. A., & Tomlinson-Keasey, C. (1997). Social and Temporal Comparisons in Adjustment to Aging. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 19(3), 307 328. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324834b asp19033
• Roof, W.C. (1999). Spiritual marketplace : Baby boomers and the remaking of American religion. Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press.
• Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
• Roussiau, N., Bailly, N., & Renard, E. (2018). Premières étapes de construction et de validation d’une échelle de spiritualité explicite areligieuse. Pratiques Psychologiques, 24(3), 277 291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prps.2017.11.001
• Schmuck, D., Karsay, K., Matthes, J., & Stevic, A. (2019). “Looking Up and Feeling Down”. The influence of mobile social networking site use on upward social comparison, self-esteem, and well-being of adult smartphone users. Telematics and Informatics, 42, 101240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2019.101240
• Suls, J., & Mullen, B. (1984). Social and Temporal Bases of Self-Evaluation in the Elderly : Theory and Evidence. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 18(2), 111 120. https://doi.org/10.2190/33ux-54wu-avmh-082t
• Tusaie, K., & Dyer, J. (2004). Resilience: a historical review of the construct. Holistic Nursing Practice, 18, 3 10. http://urlr.me/SfRvd
• Vallières, E. F., & Vallerand, R. J. (1990). Traduction et Validation Canadienne-Française de L’échelle de L’estime de Soi de Rosenberg. International Journal of Psychology, 25(2), 305 316. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207599008247865
• Van Cappellen, P., Saroglou, V., Iweins, C., Piovesana, M., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2013). Self-transcendent positive emotions increase spirituality through basic world assumptions. Cognition & Emotion, 27(8), 1378 1394. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2013.787395
• Verduyn, P., Gugushvili, N., Massar, K., Täht, K., & Kross, E. (2020). Social comparison on social networking sites. Current Opinion in Psychology, 36, 32 37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.04.002
• Vogel, E., Rose, J., Roberts, L., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206 222. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000047
• Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Aspiras, O. G., Edmonds, K. A., & Gallinari, E. F. (2019). Comparing comparisons : Assimilation and contrast processes and outcomes following social and temporal comparison. Self and Identity, 19(6), 629 649. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2019.1647278
• Wood, J. V. (1996). What is Social Comparison and How Should We Study it? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22(5), 520 537. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167296225009
• Young, J. S., Cashwell, C. S., & Shcherbakova, J. (2000). The Moderating Relationship of Spirituality on Negative Life Events and Psychological Adjustment. Counseling and Values, 45(1), 49 57. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-007x.2000.tb00182.x
• Zinnbauer, B. J., Pargament, K. I., Cole, B., Rye, M. S., Butter, E. M., Belavich, T. G., Hipp, K. M., Scott, A. B., & Kadar, J. L. (1997). Religion and Spirituality: Unfuzzying the Fuzzy. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 36(4), 549 564. https://doi.org/10.2307/1387689