View of How do Altruism and Optimism Influence Religious Coping?

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Corresponding Author: Netty Herawati (e-mail: [email protected]) Program Studi Psikologi Fakultas Ilmu Sosial dan Ilmu Budaya Universitas Trunojoyo Madura, Jl. Raya Telang, Kamal, Kabupaten Bangkalan, Jawa Timur, Indonesia 69162

How do Altruism and Optimism Influence Religious Coping?

Netty Herawati¹, Nailur Rohmah¹, Abdurachman²

1Program Study of Psychology, Universitas Trunojoyo Madura, Indonesia

2Department Anatomy and Histology Medical Faculty Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia DOI: http://doi.org/10.29080/jpp.v14i1.899

Abstract : Religious coping is a common practice among many individuals in dealing with difficult situations. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of optimism and altruism on religious coping strategies. The study involved 424 respondents. The religious coping scale, optimism scale, and altruism scale were each used to measure religious coping, optimism, and altruism, respectively. The results of the study indicated a positive relationship between optimism and religious coping in a partial sense, as well as a positive relationship between altruism and religious coping. Both of these variables also jointly serve as predictors of the formation of religious coping. Individuals who apply religious coping tend to choose the religious path and draw closer to God in dealing with various problems in life.

Keywords : Optimism, Altruism, Religious coping

Abstrak : Religious coping merupakan hal yang seringkali dilakukan banyak individu dalam menghadapi kondisi sulit. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk melihat pengaruh optimisme dan altruisme pada strategi religious coping. Subjek penelitian ini sebanyak 424 responden. Skala koping agama, skala optimisme dan skala altruisme digunakan masing-masing untuk mengukur koping agama, optimisme dan altruisme. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan ada hubungan positif antara optimisme dan koping agama secara partial serta hubungan positif antara altruisme dan koping agama. Kedua variabel tersebut juga secara bersama-sama ikut menjadi prediktor terbentuknya koping religius. Individu yang mengaplikasikan religious coping cenderung lebih memilih jalur agama dan mendekatkan diri pada Tuhan dalam menghadapi berbagai masalah dalam hidup.

Kata kunci : Optimisme, Altruisme, Coping agama

Introduction

Religious coping is religiously framed cognitive, emotional, or behavioral responses to stress, encompassing multiple methods and purposes as well as positive

ISSN 2087-3441 (printed) 2549 9882 (online)

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Jurnal Penelitian Psikologi Vol 14 No 1 April 2023

8 and negative dimensions (Wortmann, 2013). Religious coping encompasses religiously framed cognitive, emotional or behavioral responses to stress. It may serve many purpose, including achieving meaning in life, closeness to God, hope, peace, connection to others, self development and personal restraint (Pargament, 1997).

Religious coping is a way for individuals to use their beliefs in managing stress and problems in life (Wong-McDonald and Gorsuch, 2012). Pargament (1992) has a more dynamic and more situational view of religious coping in which he developed the religious coping of Lazarus and Folkman transactional models. Religion can be a central part of coping construction. As part of the transactional coping process, religion has a two-way role, first, religion can contribute to the coping process and coping activities in the face of life events then second, religion can be the result of coping, formed by other elements that are in process.

Psychological pressure from life with rapid social change, a situation that makes almost everyone experience anxiety with the existence of a pandemic. The condition of balance (homeostasis) is what is most needed. To keep yourself both physically and psychologically in a state of homeostasis, each person should learn ways to adapt in dealing with situations that cause discomfort. Studies show that a person’s psychological condition can threaten this health. One strategy that can be done is coping. Coping is the behavior that appears to deal with problems and solve them in good ways. Coping is used by someone to overcome stress and obstacles experienced.

Optimism and altruism are suspected to be variables that influence coping.

Optimis attitudes deliver a person to be able to deal with every situation and problem of his life with the confidence to be able to face and resolve well. Likewise, altruism, which is an attitude to help others as a form of self-need for moral responsibility. Optimism and altruism are forms of one’s religious behavior. Research shows that the effectiveness of belief in religion as a strategy for dealing with life events depends on one’s perspective whether positive or negative. Therefore, according to Warren (Warren et al, 2014) religious coping influences psychosocial adjustment through optimism.

Optimism is one of the central and fundamental aspects of positive psychology.

Optimists see the positive side of every obstacle and expect a good end to every challenge (Seligman et al, translated by David Panah, 2009). Optimism helps everyone to deal with stressful life events and fight depression. Optimism activates the immune system and causes a person not easily infected with disease (Seligman, 2005). Optimists have the ability to solve problems better than those who are pessimistic (Mousavi Nasab, 2005).

People who are optimist have positive expectations, and tend to maintain these expectations even though they have experienced failure (Gibson & Sanbonmatsu, 2004), and believe that good things will happen and bad things won't happen (Segerstrom et al, 2011).

Altruism as the behavior of helping others unconditionally because of the concern for people who are in trouble. Widyastuti (2012) explains that altruistic actions are influenced by six factors, one of which is religious and moral values. Appreciation of religious and moral values encourages someone to help. With religion, individuals have a social responsibility to help others. Religion teaches the act of helping one another in goodness and truth. The Purpose of this study was to determine the effect of optimism and altruism simultaneously or partially on religious coping in pandemic situation.

Methods

The stastistical population included all the male and female college student. Our sample comprised 424 respondents who selected through random sampling. The research used multiple regression analysis to determine the correlation between optimism and

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9 religious coping, altruism and religious coping, and the effect of both variables simultaneously on religious coping.

Religious coping Questionnaire: The Brief RCOPE is a 14-item measure of religious coping with major life stressors. Items 1 to 7 assesses the positive religious coping with reserve responses which are score on 5-point Likert scales from completely agree to completely disagree, and item 8 to 14 measures the negative religious coping from completely disagree to completely agree. As the most commonly used measure of religious coping in the literature, it has helped contribute to the growth of knowledge about the roles religion serves in the process of dealing with crisis, trauma, and transition. The scale developed out of Pargament’s (1997). The Brief RCOPE had good internal consistency, concurrent vaidity, predictive validity, incremental validity. the Brief RCOPE is a reliable and valid measure, has received a great deal of research attention.

Optimism Questionnaire: Scheier & Carver (1985) designed this questionnaire.

The old version of LOT was then replaced by LOT-R (Scheier et al, 1994). This test has been normalized by Khodabakhsi in 2004 in Iran. The reliability coefficient of this questionnaire using Cronbach alpha was equal to .74. This questionnaire had 6 items which measured optimistic and pessimistic attitudes and the respondents announce their agreement or disagreement with each of these statements. The test is scored on a 5-point Likert scale from completely agree to completely disagree. The items of 3, 7, and 9 are reversely scored.

A 20-item scale designed to measure altruistic tendency by gauging the frequency one engages in altruistic acts primarily toward strangers. Participants answer on a 5-point scale ranging from Never (1) to Very Often (5). The scale developed out of Rushton’s (1981).

Results

Table 1 showed the result of significant correlation between optimism and religious coping.

Table 1

Simple Correlation Between Optimism and Religious Coping

N (r) Level of Sig.

424 0.616 0.00

As it seen in table 1, there is a significant and positive correlation between optimism and religious coping ( r= 0, 616 and P<0,00). Then, the next result also showed a significant correlation between altruism and religious coping.

Table 2

Simple Correlation Coefficient Between Altruism and Religious Coping

N (r) Level of Sig.

424 0.518 0.00

Table 2 showed significant and positive correlation between altruism and religious coping (r=0,518 and P<0,00). Besides, there is also multivariate correlation between optimism, altruism and religious coping.

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10 Table 4

Multivariate Correlation Coefficient of Prediction Variabels (Optimism, Altruism) and Religious Coping

ANOVA^a

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 9677.330 2 4838.665 378.819 .000^b

Residual 5377.441 421 12.773

Total 15054.771 423

a. Dependent Variable: Religious Coping b. Predictors: (Constant), Altruism, Optimism

As observed in table 4, Prediction regression of optimism, altruism and religious coping was significant (F=378,819, P<0,00).

Table 5 Model Summary Model Summary^b

Model R R Square Adjusted R

Square Std. Error of

the Estimate Durbin- Watson

1 .802^a .643 .641 3.574 1.885

a. Predictors: (Constant), Altruism, Optimism b. Dependent Variable: Religious Coping

As observed in table 5, the adjusted value of R Square is 0,643. This shows te proportion of optimism and altruism variables toward variable religious coping is 64,3%.

Religious coping is also influenced by other variabels, outside the estimated linear regression model, but the effect is relatively small at 35,7%.

Discussion

Research indicates a significant relationship between optimism and religious coping. The higher an individual's level of optimism, the better their ability to cope, particularly through religious means. These findings support the first hypothesis and are consistent with previous research by Warren, et al. (2014), which suggests that the influence of religious coping on psychosocial adjustment is mediated by optimism. Those who possess high levels of optimism are believed to be better able to adapt to difficult situations. Their belief in the existence of solutions to problems they face may lead them to choose religious coping as a means of coping. Optimism helps everyone to deal with stressful life events and combat depression. It activates the immune system, making it difficult for a person to be infected by diseases (Seligman, 2005). Studies have revealed that optimism has a positive correlation with physical and psychological health, as well as life satisfaction and psychological well-being (Baldwn et al, 2008). Furthermore, optimists possess better problem-solving abilities than pessimists (Mousavi Nasab, 2005).

Optimism, according to Seligman (2008), is an individual's belief that a negative event or failure is temporary, does not affect their activity, and is not entirely caused by themselves but rather by external factors such as the situation, fate, or other people.

Scheier and Carver (2003) suggest that optimism can have a positive impact on an individual's health because it motivates them to be productive and work towards achieving their goals. Optimistic people tend to maintain positive expectations even after experiencing failure (Gibson & Sanbonmatsu, 2004), and they believe that good things will happen and bad things won't happen (Segerstrom et al., 2011). Religiosity can also play a role in how individuals handle stress. It is a system designed to deal with the stresses

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11 caused by power constraints (Pargament, 1997), and it can mediate the influence of daily life events on individuals. Not everyone interprets negative events as negative, and some people have a positive outlook due to their positive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Ano and Vasconcelles (2004) suggest that religious coping can effectively help individuals experiencing stress and that it is positively related to psychological adjustment.

The subsequent test reveals a significant correlation between altruism and religious coping. This finding is consistent with previous research conducted by Midlarsky, indicating a strong connection between religion and altruism (Midlarsky, 2012).

Individuals who possess a strong sense of altruism are believed to exhibit better coping mechanisms. They hold the belief that by helping others, God will assist them during difficult times and when confronting challenges. Altruism as the behavior of helping others unconditionally because of the concern for people who are in trouble. Myers (2012) suggested that people who are altruist care and want to help even though there are no benefits offered or do not expect he will get something back. Widyastuti (2012) explains that altruistic actions are influenced by six factors, one of which is religious and moral values. Appreciation of religious and moral values encourages someone to help. With religion, individuals have a social responsibility to help others. Religion teaches the act of helping one another in goodness and truth.

Alruism is understood as a behavior that benefits others without expecting anything in return (Kerr et al, 2004). Altruism is an action based on a sincere intention to put the interests of others at the expense of their own interests. Stukas, et al (2012) interpret altruism as the behavior of helping others unconditionally because of the concern for people who are in trouble. Religion and Altruism have a very strong connection (Midlarsky, 2012).

The next step is a simultaneous test between two variables, namely optimism and altruism with respect to religious coping. The results of the multiple regression analysis indicate that both optimism and altruism have a significant influence on the development of religious coping behavior. Previous research also suggests that optimism and altruism are important factors in religious coping (Seligman, 2008; Pargament, 1997; Midlarsky, 2012; Warren, 2012). Optimism and altruism are variables that show a strong correlation with religious coping, with a coefficient of 64.3%. This belief stems from the idea that God will provide assistance and guidance to overcome life's problems. Those with this belief attempt to accept God's plan for them and work hand-in-hand with Him to achieve their goals. Optimistic individuals have a unique perspective on life, looking for ways in which God can help them overcome challenging situations through positive thinking, attitudes, and behavior.

Conclusion and Suggestion

Religiosity plays a critical role in how individuals deal with the stresses of life by providing them with specific frameworks and guidance to manage power constraints.

Religiosity thus mediates people's everyday lives, and some individuals view negative events as positive opportunities to learn and grow. This positive outlook stems from their positive thinking, emotions, and behaviors. Religious coping is especially effective in assisting those who experience stress, and it is related to positive psychological adjustments such as optimism and altruism.

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