The Relationships between Optimism, Happiness and Religious Coping

Year 2021, , 49 - 62, 15.10.2021

Sezai Korkmaz

https://doi.org/10.37898/spc.2021.6.3.142

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the relationship between optimism, happiness and religious coping depending on Carver and Scheier’s expectancy-value theory which indicate the basis of optimism and pessimism is confident and doubt. In the current study, participants of the study consist of 323 volunteer Turkish Muslims. 67.7% (N=219) of the sample consisted of female and 32.2% (N=104) of the sample consisted of male. The age range of the participants ranged between 17 and 59 years with mean age of 30.64. In this study The Life Orientation Test (LOT), The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire short form-OHQ-SF and Religious Coping Scale (Brief RCOPE) scales were used. Data was collected through Google documents on the Internet. The data collection sample was not specifically selected and the data were obtained randomly. Findings of correlations showed significant relationships between positive religious coping and optimism, and positive religious coping and happiness. There was negatively a significant relationship between negative religious coping and happiness. The results of the regression weights demonstrated that positive and negative religious coping predicted optimism and happiness. Finally, optimism partially mediated the relationship between positive religious coping and happiness.

Keywords

Optimism, Happiness, Coping, Religious Coping, Religion

İyimserlik, Mutluluk ve Dini Başa Çıkma Arasındaki İlişkiler

Abstract

Bu çalışmanın amacı, Carver ve Scheier’in ortaya atmış olduğu iyimserlik ve kötümserliğin temelinin güven ve şüphe olduğu ifade eden değer beklentileri teorisine dayalı olarak iyimserlik, mutluluk ve dini başa çıkma arasındaki ilişkileri incelemektir. Bu çalışmanın katılımcıları 323 (yaş ortalamaları 30.64) Türk-Müslüman gönüllüden oluşmaktadır. Örneklemin %67,7’si (N=219) kadınlardan, %32,2’si (N=104) erkeklerden meydana gelmektedir. Katılımcılar 17-59 yaşları arasında olup, çalışmanın yaş ortalaması 30,64’tür. Bu çalışmada veriler Yaşam Yönelim Testi, Oxford Mutluluk Ölçeği Kısa Formu ve Dini Başaçıkma Ölçeğiyle toplanmıştır. Veriler internet üzerinden Google Dokümanlar aracılığıyla elde edilmiştir. Katılımcıların belirlenmesi, tesadüfi örnekleme yöntemine dayanmaktadır. Korelasyon bulguları göstermiştir ki olumlu dini başa çıkma ve iyimserlik arasında ve olumlu dini başa çıkma ile mutluluk arasında pozitif ve anlamlı ilişki vardır. Olumsuz dini başa çıkma ile mutluluk arasında ise negatif yönde anlamlı ilişki bulunmaktadır. Regresyon ilişkilerine göre olumlu ve olumsuz dini başa çıkma iyimserlik ve mutluluğu yordamaktadır. Son olarak iyimserlik, olumlu dini başa çıkma ile mutluluk arasındaki ilişkide kısmi aracılık yapmaktadır.

Keywords

İyimserlik, Mutluluk, Başa Çıkma, Dini Başa Çıkma, Din

References

• Abarghouei, M., Sorbi, M. H., Abarghouei, M. R., & Bidaki, R. (2016). The relationship between religious coping strategies and happiness with meaning in life in blind people. Global Journal of Health Science, 9(1), 130. https://doi.org/10.5539/gjhs.v9n1p130
• Aghababaei, N., Sohrabi, F., Eskandari, H., Borjali, A., Farrokhi, N., & Chen, Z. J. (2016). Predicting subjective well-being by religious and scientific attitudes with hope, purpose in life, and death anxiety as mediators. Personality and Individual Differences, 90, 93–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.10.046
• Austin, J. T., & Vancouver, J. B. (1996). Goal constructs in psychology: Structure, process, and content. Psychological Bulletin, 120(3), 338–375. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.120.3.338
• Aydın, G., & Tezer, E. (1991). İyimserlik, sağlık sorunları ve akademik başarı ilişkisi. Türk Psikoloji Dergisi, 7(26), 2–9.
• Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173–1182. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022- 3514.51.6.1173
• Barrett, J. L., & Pargament, K. I. (1998). The psychology of religion and coping: theory research practice. Review of Religious Research, 40(1), 89. https://doi.org/10.2307/3512468
• Carver, C. S., Pozo, C., Harris, S. D., Noriega, V., Scheier, M. F., Robinson, D. S., ... Clark, K. C. (1993). How coping mediates the effect of optimism on distress: a study of women with early stage breast cancer. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(2), 375–390. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.65.2.375
• Abarghouei, M., Sorbi, M. H., Abarghouei, M. R., & Bidaki, R. (2016). The relationship between religious coping strategies and happiness with meaning in life in blind people. Global Journal of Health Science, 9(1), 130. https://doi.org/10.5539/gjhs.v9n1p130
• Aghababaei, N., Sohrabi, F., Eskandari, H., Borjali, A., Farrokhi, N., & Chen, Z. J. (2016). Predicting subjective well-being by religious and scientific attitudes with hope, purpose in life, and death anxiety as mediators. Personality and Individual Differences, 90, 93–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.10.046
• Austin, J. T., & Vancouver, J. B. (1996). Goal constructs in psychology: Structure, process, and content. Psychological Bulletin, 120(3), 338–375. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.120.3.338
• Aydın, G., & Tezer, E. (1991). İyimserlik, sağlık sorunları ve akademik başarı ilişkisi. Türk Psikoloji Dergisi, 7(26), 2–9.
• Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of personality and social psychology, 51(6), 1173–1182. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.51.6.1173
• Barrett, J. L., & Pargament, K. I. (1998). The psychology of religion and coping: theory research practice. Review of Religious Research, 40(1), 89. https://doi.org/10.2307/3512468
• Carver, C. S., Pozo, C., Harris, S. D., Noriega, V., Scheier, M. F., Robinson, D. S., … Clark, K. C. (1993). How coping mediates the effect of optimism on distress: a study of women with early stage breast cancer. Journal of personality and social psychology, 65(2), 375–390. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.65.2.375
• Carver, Charles S., & Scheier, M. F. (1982a). Control theory: A useful conceptual framework for personality-social, clinical, and health psychology. Psychological Bulletin, 92(1), 111–135. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.92.1.111
• Carver, Charles S., & Scheier, M. F. (1982b). Outcome expectancy, locus of attribution for expectancy, and self-directed attention as determinants of evaluations and performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 18(2), 184–200. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1031(82)90049-X
• Carver, Charles S., Scheier, M. F., & Segerstrom, S. C. (2010). Optimism. Clinical psychology review, 30(7), 879. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CPR.2010.01.006
• Carver, Charles S, & Scheier, M. F. (2014). Dispositional optimism. Trends in cognitive sciences, 18(6), 293–299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2014.02.003
• Dezutter, J., Soenens, B., & Hutsebaut, D. (2006). Religiosity and mental health: A further exploration of the relative importance of religious behaviors vs. religious attitudes. Personality and Individual Differences, 40(4), 807–818. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2005.08.014
• Doğan, T., & Çötok, N. A. (2011). Oxford mutluluk ölçeği kısa formunun türkçe uyarlaması: Geçerlik ve güvenirlik çalışması. Türk Psikolojik Danışma ve Rehberlik Dergisi, 4(36), 165–172.
• Ekşi, H., & Sayın, M. (2016). The adaptation of Religious Coping Scale into Turkish language: A study of bilingual equivalance, validity and reliability. In AGP Humanities and Social Sciences Conference. Berlin: BAU International Berlin University.
• Fallah, M. H., Mangoli, A., & Zare, F. (2012). Examining the effect of teaching religious coping style on happiness of parents with exceptional children. Toloo-E-Behdasht, 11(235), 75–82.
• Fariddanesh, M., & Rezaei, A. M. (2019). Predicting the happiness of adolescents based on coping styles and religious attitudes. Journal of Religion and Health, 58(2), 537–553. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0497-7
• Fox, J. (1980). Effect analysis in structural equation models. Sociological Methods & Research, 9(1), 3–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/004912418000900101
• Hebert, R., Zdaniuk, B., Schulz, R., & Scheier, M. (2009). Positive and negative religious coping and well-being in women with breast cancer. Journal of palliative medicine, 12(6), 537–545. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2008.0250
• Higgins, E. T. (2006). Value from hedonic experience and engagement. Psychological Review, 113(3), 439–460. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.113.3.439
• Hills, P., & Argyle, M. (2002). The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire: A compact scale for the measurement of psychological well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 33(7), 1073–1082. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(01)00213-6
• Kline, R. B. (2011). Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling. New York: Guilford Publications.
• Kvande, M. N., Klöckner, C. A., Moksnes, U. K., & Espnes, G. A. (2015). Do optimism and pessimism mediate the relationship between religious coping and existential well-being? Examining mechanisms in a Norwegian population sample. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 25(2), 130–151. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2014.892350
• Lewis, C. A., Maltby, J., & Day, L. (2005). Religious orientation, religious coping and happiness among UK adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 38(5), 1193–1202. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PAID.2004.08.002
• Mohammad, R., Akbar, S. A., & Hossein, B. M. (2012). The relationship between coping patterns, mental health and happiness. Development Psychology (Journal of Iranian Psychologists), 8(32), 363–371.
• Nes, L. S., & Segerstrom, S. C. (2006). Dispositional optimism and coping: A meta-analytic review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10(3), 235–251. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr1003_3
• Pargament, K. I. (1997). The psychology of religion and coping : Theory, research, practice. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
• Pargament, K. I., & Raiya, H. A. (1980). A decade of research on the psychology of religion and coping: Things we assumed and lessons we learned. Psyke & Logos, 28(2), 25.
• Pargament, K. I., Smith, B. W., Koenig, H. G., & Perez, L. (1998). Patterns of Positive and Negative Religious Coping with Major Life Stressors. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 37(4), 710. https://doi.org/10.2307/1388152
• Park, C. L., Holt, C. L., Le, D., Christie, J., & Williams, B. R. (2018). Positive and negative religious coping styles as prospective predictors of well-being in African Americans. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 10(4), 318–326. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000124
• Pearlin, L. I., & Schooler, C. (1978). The structure of coping. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 19(1), 2–21. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136319
• Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. (2004). Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1985). Optimism, coping, and health: assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 4(3), 219–247.
• Scheier, Michael F., & Carver, C. S. (1992). Effects of optimism on psychological and physical well-being: Theoretical overview and empirical update. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 16(2), 201–228. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173489
• Schwartz, R. M. (1986). The internal dialogue: On the asymmetry between positive and negative coping thoughts. Cognitive Therapy and Research 1986 10:6, 10(6), 591–605. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173748
• Seligman, M. (2006). Learned optimism : how to change your mind and your life. New York, NY: Vintage Books.
• Seligman, M. (2013). Authentic happiness : using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York, NY: Atria.
• Seligman, M., Parks, A. C., & Steen, T. (2004). A balanced psychology and a full life. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 359(1449), 1379–1381. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2004.1513
• Snyder, C. R., & Lopez, S. J. (2002). The future of positive psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Strümpfer, D. J. W. (2006). The strengths perspective: Fortigenesis in adult life. Social Indicators Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-005-5551-2
• Warren, P., Van Eck, K., Townley, G., & Kloos, B. (2015). Relationships among religious coping, optimism, and outcomes for persons with psychiatric disabilities. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 7(2), 91–99. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038346