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. 2017 Jun 28:8:1003.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01003. eCollection 2017.

The "Depressive" Attributional Style Is Not That Depressive for Buddhists

Michelle T Liu  1 , Fei Wang  2 , Kaiping Peng  1
Affiliations

The "Depressive" Attributional Style Is Not That Depressive for Buddhists

Michelle T Liu et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Numerous studies have shown that depression-prone people are characterized by a chronic style of attributing failures to internal, stable, and global causes, sometimes labeled as the "depressive attributional style." Much less is known, however, about how social-cultural factors such as religious beliefs might modulate these processes. In the current study, we hypothesized that Buddhism's view of ultimate internal controllability plays a buffering role against the depressive attributional style and reduces its negative impacts. We administrated measures of attributional styles and psychological adjustments to a sample of Chinese Buddhists as well as a control group recruited in China. Data analyses showed that Buddhists were more likely to attribute bad outcomes to internal, stable, and global causes, but their well-being was less affected by it. Thus, these results indicate that the "depressive" attributional style is not that depressive for Buddhists, after all.

Keywords: Buddhist; depressive attributional style; karma; psychological adjustments; ultimate internal controllability.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Interaction effect of the depressive attributional style and Buddhist beliefs on depression.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Interaction effect of the depressive attributional style and Buddhist beliefs on positive affect.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Interaction effect of the depressive attributional style and Buddhist beliefs on negative affect.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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