TITLE:
Buddhism and Subjective Wellbeing: Do Self-Esteem, Optimism and Perceived Control Play a Role?
AUTHORS:
Lufanna Ching-Han Lai
KEYWORDS:
Subjective Wellbeing, Buddhism, Self-Esteem, Optimism, Primary Control
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.3 No.9,
September
18,
2015
ABSTRACT: This study investigated the relationship
between Buddhism and subjective wellbeing within the theoretical framework of a
revised homeostatic model of subjective wellbeing (SWB). This model integrates
the affective (homeostatically protected mood: content, happy and excited),
cognitive (self-esteem, optimism and perceived control: primary control and
secondary control) and experiential factors in relating to SWB. Given that the
religious doctrine of Buddhism advocates selflessness and self-attained
liberation from suffering, it is predicted that, among the cognitive factors,
primary control and optimism will predict more significant SWB variance beyond
the other homeostatic model factors than self-esteem. Additionally, compared
with those without religious belief, the Buddhists would be higher in SWB, primary
control and optimism, but lower in self-es- teem. Chinese samples were drawn in
Hong Kong comprising 153 Buddhists and 240 participants without religious
belief. Through the use of questionnaire, it was found that, quite contrary to
prediction, secondary control and self-esteem explained significant SWB
variance for the Buddhists while none was provided by primary control and
optimism. Also, no significant intergroup difference was found on SWB and all
cognitive factors. The results were discussed in terms of difficulty in the
eradication of egocentric mentality.