Belief in a just world for the self and others, Karma, system justification and well-being during COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from 15 Asian nations

Phatthanakit CHOBTHAMKIT*, Robbie M. SUTTON, Alexander Scott ENGLISH, Tarid WONGVORACHAN, Jesus Alfonso Daep DATU, Kai Li CHUNG, Chee-Seng TAN, Hirotaka IMADA, Zafer OZKAN, Farzana ASHRAF, Ryan Francis O. CAYUBIT, Trawin CHALEERAKTRAKOON, Cecilia CHENG, Chin-Lung CHIEN, Boby Ho-Hong CHING, Iram FATIMA, Ding-Yu JIANG, Shanmukh V. KAMBLE, Aqeel KHAN, Hyejoo J. LEECokorda Bagus Java LESMANA, Najma Iqbal MALIK, Deviga a/p MARAPPAN, May Cho MIN, Chanki MOON, Eylem ORUC, Emrah ÖZSOY, Joonha PARK, Marc Eric S. REYES, Kosuke SATO, Luh Ketut SURYANI, Ma. Criselda TENGCO-PACQUING, Arun Tipandjan, Kwok-Kit TONG, Cong Van TRAN, Hsin-Yi WANG, Victoria Wai Lan YEUNG, Ahmad Mustqim YUSOFF

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

Abstract

The World Health Organization (World Health Organization, 2020) announced the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. Globally, this situation affects people in various domains including mental health. Existing theories and research findings suggest justice beliefs are associated with mental health and may help to cope with adverse life circumstances. Participants (N = 3694) in 15 Asian nations completed measures of belief in a just world (BJW), Karma, system justification, well-being indices and COVID-19 impact. The results show that BJW for the self and system justification positively predicted well-being while BJW for others provided reverse associations. Furthermore, Karma predicted both higher life satisfaction and depression. However, COVID-19 impact did not moderate the relationships between justice beliefs and well-being. The results provide various psychological functions but do not consistently indicate the buffering role of justice beliefs during COVID-19 pandemic.
Original languageEnglish
JournalAsian Journal of Social Psychology
Early online date12 Dec 2024
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 12 Dec 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Asian Association of Social Psychology and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Keywords

  • belief in a just world
  • COVID-19
  • Karma
  • system justification
  • well-being

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