Belief in a Just World and Depression.pdf

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Belief in a Just World and DepressionAuthor(s): Christian Ritter, D. E. Benson and Clint SynderSource: Sociological Perspectives, Vol. 33, No. 2 (Summer, 1990), pp. 235-252Published by: University of California PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1389045.

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2/19

Sociologicalerspectives

Vol.

33,

No.

2,

pp.

235-252

Copyright

1990 acific

ociological

ssociation ISSN 0731-1214

BELIEF

IN A

JUST

WORLD AND DEPRESSION

CHRISTIAN RITTER

D. E.

BENSON

CLINT

SYNDER

Kent State

University

ABSTRACT:

This

aper xplores

he

elationship

etween

belief

n a

just

world

nd

depression.uilding

n thework

fPearlin, ieberman,

Menaghan,

ndMullan

1981),

we

nvestigate

he ole hat

belief

na

just

world

mightlay

n the

elationship

etweenhronic

tressors

nd

depression.sing

random

amplef

oninstitutionalizeddult

esidents

(N

=

283)of

Northern

reland,

e

ind

hat

belief

n

ust

worldnd

sense

fmastery

re

ndependentognitivetructures,

nd hat

belief

n

just

world as

significantffect

n

depression

ver

nd

bove he

ffectf

mastery.

heoretical

mplications

nd

research

uestions

eneratedy

his

effort

re

discussed.

INTRODUCTION

This

paper

examines

he

relationship

etween he

degree

to which ndividu-

als

believe

that

vents nd

experiences

hat ccurto other

people

are

some-

how deserved

referred

o

by

Lerner

1980]

s

a

belief n a just

world)

and

depressivesymptomatology.

n

this

paper,

we

also examinethe nature

of

the

relationship

f the belief hat he world s a

just place,

chronic

tressors,

and

depression.

The

argument

s made that

f

ne believes hat he

world

s a

fair nd equitableplace,he/she s less likely obe depressedthan fone does

not hold

this belief. t

is

further

rgued

that this

beliefmight ffect he

relationship

etween sources of stress nd

depression.We thereforemake

the

argument

hat the

concept of

belief n a

just world is an important

addition o our

understanding

fthe

social psychology fmentalhealth nd

that

his

oncept

hould

be

incorporated

n

furthertudies f tressfulvents

and

depression.

Direct

ll

correspondence

o:

Christianitter,epartmentfSociologynd Anthropology,ent tateUniversity,

Kent,

Ohio 44242

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3/19

236

SOCIOLOGICAL

PERSPECTIVES Volume

3,

Number

,

1990

The Belief in a JustWorld

A number f

researchers

ave

attempted

o

explain

he

tendency

f

people

to attribute nusual moral, haracterological,rbehavioral ualities othose

who have experiencedgreat

misfortune r

extremely ood

fortune

e.g.,

Goffman

963;

Lerner

965;Ryan 1971). Thus,

the

physically

isabled

must

deserve this ondition

ecause ofmistakes r

defects

hey

r

their

arents

experienced.By

the same

token, miraculously

ecovering rom

severe

illnessor winning lottery

s a

rewardfor

eing

a

good person.

What s

common

o these ituations

s

that he

perceiver

elieves

hat, rrespective

f

what has happened,

the outcome s

deservedby

that

personand not the

result fchance,accident,

r cosmic

capriciousness.

In an attemptoexplainthisbelief nd the research n it,Lernerformu-

latedwhat has come to

be called

the justworldhypothesis r, simply,

belief

n a

just

world

Lerner 970, 1977, 1980).

To the extent hat

people

believe that

he world s a

just place, they

believe

good people

have

nice

things appen

to them

nd bad

people

have

nasty hings

appen

to them.

This

belief,

whichLerner

1980)

describes s a fundamental elusion,main-

tainsthat

what

happens

to

people

is

directly

elated o whether r

not they

possess

characteristics

hich

entitle hem o a

particular

utcome.

A

numberof studies have investigated ome of the correlates

f such a

belief: or

xample, uthoritarianism,

elief

n an

activeGod, negative tti-

tudes towardunderprivileged roups, dmiration fpolitical eaders Rubin

and

Peplau 1973;

Zuckerman nd

Gerbaski 977;Lerner 978),

fundamen-

talist

eligious

rientation

Rubin

nd

Peplau 1973;

Benson nd Mullins

1983),

and a beliefthat the

poor

deserve their

fate

Furnham

nd

Gunter 1984;

Smith

1985).

The

evidence

from

hese studies

suggests

hat

perceptions

f

the worldbeing ust

and fair

have socialization ntecedents nd cognitive

and

behavioral

onsequences.

What

has

not,

to

date,

been studied s

whether r not

the

degree

to which

a

person

who

holds

the belief hatthe world s

just

is

relatedto affective

states

which,

n

turn,may

have behavioral nd

cognitive onsequences.

As

Heider 1958) ndLerner1980)haveargued, hisbeliefmaywell be part f

desireto construct

nd maintain

ognitive

alance and

in

so

doing

becomes

one ofthe

key

mechanismsnvolved

n

maintaining

he

person's

ense of elf

and its

relationship

o

external vents and

processes.

Perceiving

hat

per-

sonal

characteristicsnd behavioral

onsequences

are

fundamentally

on-

nected, person

with

high

belief

n a

just

world

should perceive

hat ife s

more

understandable, hereby roducing

ess

tension

and

cognitive

dis-

sonance,

whichwould result n

the

person'shavinggenerally

ower evels of

depression

han

one who does not hold the

belief

hat

he

world s

just.

The

perception

f

the

person

with

low belief

n

a

just

world

s that he relation-

shipbetweenpersonalqualities nd lifeoutcomes s essentially andom,

that

good

deeds

are as

likely

o

result

n

punishment s

inrewards, hereby

potentially riggering any

of the

antecedents f

depression.



4/19

BELIEF IN A

JUST


237

In the same

vein,researchhas

consistently

ound

higher

cores on

the

Rubin

nd

Peplau

Just

World

cale,

to be correlated ith sense of

internal

control as measured by Rotter's Locus of Control Scale (cf. Lerner

1980:151).

f

one

believes hat

ersonal

ualities

nd effortre

directly

inked

with

outcomes

a

belief n a

just

world),

the

belief hatone

can determine

one's

fate

a perception

f nternal

ontrol)

s also

likely

o be

part

of

this

cognitive

nfrastructure.

rom this follows

the sense hatone

can

control

his/her

wn

rewards nd

punishments,

an maintain

strong erception

f

personalefficacy,

nd

the

belief

hat

they

re

NOT

at

the

mercy

f outside

forces

nd unforeseen

vents.

The

concept

of

mastery

the

extent

o which

people

see

themselves

s

in

control fthe

forces hat

ffectheir

ives)

may

lso

be

related

o a

sense

that

personal ttributesndoutcomes rerelated.See Shepelak1987for related

discussion.)

For

example,

those

who believe

that

there

s

little

elationship

between

such

qualities

and behavioral

consequencesand,

thus,

have

a

perception

hat

xternal orces

re n

control fthe

outcomes f

mportance

o

human

beings-may

exhibit low sense

of

mastery.

lternatively,

percep-

tion

that

one

can affect ne's own

life

outcomes

mastery),

may

not

be

related o the

perception

f whether r not

people

in

general

can do

so

(Stolte1983;

Markovsky 985).

Empirically

ddressing

he

relationship

e-

tween ense of

mastery

nd a belief

hat he

world s

ust

and

fairwould

help

to furtherlluminate heprocessesattendant opsychologicalnguish.

It has

been posited

elsewhere Pearlin

nd

Schooler 1978;Pearlin

et al.

1981),that

he

reduction f

mastery

s

the

final tep n

the

processbywhich

stressors esult n

distress.

Here,

it s

argued

that

ife

ventsand

resulting

role strains re

more ikely

o

eventuate

n

stress

when theoutcome

owers

self-esteem nd

a

sense of

mastery.

he

enduringpresenceof

role strains

erodes

a

sense of elf

by

confronting

he

ndividualwith

vidence hat ne is

not ble

to

alter

vents

xperienceds

undesirable. n stress

esearch,

ompo-

nents f he

elf-concept,

uchas

mastery,re often

onceptualized s

coping

resources hat

eople

draw

upon in

thefaceof

tressful

ircumstances,hus

bufferingome of theundesirable onsequencesofstressKohn 1972,1977;

Wheaton

1983).

Chronic

Stress and

Psychological

Well-Being

Research

fforts

oncerning

he

effects f

stressors

n mentalhealth

have,

for

some

time,

consideredthe

effects f

chronic, ngoing

stressorse.g.,

Pearlin

975;Pearlin

ndLieberman

979;Wheaton

1980;

Pearlin t al. 1981).

The

inclusion f

chronic tressors r

relatively

ontinuous roblems n

stress

research,

has been

motivated y the

recognition hat

stressful vents

may

operate hroughhewidercontextfchronictressors. or xample, rguing

that

stressful vents and

chronic tressors

onverge n the

production f

psychological

istress,

earlin

nd

Lieberman1979)

mpirically

emonstrated



5/19

238

SOCIOLOGICALPERSPECTIVES

Volume 3, Number ,

1990

that ife ventsmay create

new stressors r intensify reexisting

tressors,

thereby roducing stress-related

esponse.

Role strains re theprimaryypeof chronic tress hathave been consid-

ered as mechanisms

inking tressful ventsto adverse

reactions uch

as

depression.

Exposure to stressfulvents

can increaserole strains, hereby

increasing

he ikelihood f

distress.Ongoingrole strains

an also increase

individualvulnerabilityo

the effect f the ife vent or

distress.Economic

hardship,

or xample,

has

been

shown to be an importantmediating aria-

ble

in

therelationship

etween

ob disruptions

nd increases n depression

(Pearlin tal. 1981),

nd

the

relationshipetween ocioeconomic

tatus

nd

depression Pearlin

t

al.

1981;

Ross

and

Huber 1985).

In assessing

the nature

of the

relationship etween

ob disruption nd

depression,Pearlin nd his associateshave demonstratedhatmuch of the

effect

f

ob

disruption

s

indirect, peratinghrough hanges

n ncome nd

economichardship Pearlin

975;

Pearlin t al.

1981). Ross

and Huber 1985)

find that

economic

hardship

s

increasedby low income,

ow education,

being young,

and

having young

children. n

turn,

economic hardship

increases

he evel

of

depressive

ffect. he centralityf economichardship

in the

relationship

etween ob disruption,ndicators

f ow social status,

and depression, upports

he

position

hat he

ability o

meetfamily bliga-

tions

by

having enoughmoney

to

pay

the bills and

meet otherhousehold

needs, is a primary actornterveningetween the larger ocial and eco-

nomic order

and

psychological

well-being Ross

and

Huber 1985).

Lack of

resources

to meet these obligations

cts to

increase

role strain nd, sub-

sequently,

ncreases

psychological

istress.

The

relationship

etween life

events,

conomic

hardship,

elf-concept,

nd

psychological

istress,

an be

used

to

explicitly

ort

out the nature

of

the

relationship

etween

socioeco-

nomic status

and

psychological

istress

hathas been

clearly

documented

(Dohrenwend

nd

Dohrenwend

1969;

Wheaton

1978;

Kessler

1982).

The

above discussion

uggests

hat

n

order

o assess

the

process

through

which tressors

esult

n

ncreases

n

psychological

istress,

t s

important

o

consider ole trainsndcomponentsfthe elf.These elements anbeused

to

clarify

he nature

f the

relationship

etween cute

stressors,

uch

as

job

loss

and related

distress,

s well

as

socioeconomic

tatus

nd distress.

While

the models of the stress

process

that nclude

economic

hardship,

mastery,

nd

self-esteem

ave

provided

n

elaboration

hat erves o

explain

observed

ssociations

etween

ife

vents

nd

distress,

nd between social

status

nd

distress,

he

above

discussion

uggests

hat he

degree

to

which

one

believes

that

he

world s a fair nd

equitableplace

may play

an

impor-

tantrole

n

the

etiology

f

depression.Specifically,

conomic

hardship

nd

lower ocial status

hould serve o decrease he

degree

o

which

people

view

theworld obe a justplace,whichn turnhould erve o ncrease sychologi-

cal distress.

Alternatively,

elief

n a

just

world

may

serve

to

buffer

he

negative

ffects f

chronic tress n

depression.

n

the

next ection

of

this



6/19

BELIEF

IN A

JUST


239

paper,

we consider he

ways

n which belief n a

just

world

may

be

incorpo-

rated in models assessing

the

relationship

etween stressful vents and

circumstances,nd mentalhealth.

Purpose

The purpose ofthis tudy

s

to

determine hether

he

belief hat

he

world

is a just place is related o depression

nd

to

determine

he

role

t

plays

n

the

relationship

etween

potential

ources

f

depression

nd

subsequent

depres-

sion.

Before his

can be

done, however,

ome

measurementssues must

be

addressed.

Because of

therelative

ackof

psychometric

nformationoncern-

ing scales

used to measure

belief

n a

just world,

one of the

questions we

address s whether eliefn a justworldand masteryan be independently

measured.Once

this

mpirical uestion

s

answered,

we

determine hether

belief

n a

just

world

s associated

with

depression

nd whether taffects he

relationship

etween

ncome and economic

hardship

nd

depression

over

and above the

effect

f

mastery

n these

relationships.

METHODS

Sample

The listing rom

whichthis

ample

was drawn s the 1987ElectoralRegis-

ter of Northern

reland. The Electoral

Register

ontains the names and

addresses of

all

persons

in

Northern

reland who are entitled o

vote

at

United

KingdomParliamentary,uropeanAssembly,

nd Northern

reland

elections.

The Electoral

Register, verall,

s

regarded

s the east biased and

most accurate

f

any

list

of noninstitutionalized

dults

n

Northernreland

that s readily

vailable to

the

public.

Using

theElectoral

egister, systematic

andom

ample

was

drawn

from

each ofthe electoral

ubdivisions

n

the

province.

This

procedure

esulted

n

a sampleof805citizens.Usingthe amemethod, replacementampleof63

was

subsequently

drawn to

replace

those

people who

had

died, moved

without

forwardingddress,

or whose

questionnaires,

orwhatever ther

reason,

were returned

nopened N

=

291). Eight

f

the

replacement

ues-

tionnaires

were returned

lank,yielding

usable

sample

of

283. While this

rate

of

return

s clearly ess

than

optimal, comparisonof demographic

characteristicsrom he General

Household

Survey similar

n

the U.K. to

the GeneralSocial

Survey)

with

hosefrom hepresent amplesuggests hat

it

s

fairly epresentativef

the adult

populationof the province.

The

sample was

drawn

from he noninstitutionalizeddult populationof

Northernrelandfor number freasons.First, tthetime heresearchwas

conducted,

orthernreland ad an

unemploymentate f18.3% Manchester

Guardian

Weekly 988), nd, historically,

he

province as had

a chronically



7/19

240 SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES Volume 3, Number , 1990

high unemployment ate PPRU Monitor1988). For the purposes of this

study such

a condition hould facilitate n examination f the effects

f

economic ardship ndepressive tates s discussed bove. Second,asmany

writers ave observed e.g., Darby 1986),

hebreadth nd

depth

of

religious

fervor

n

Northern

reland s

very igh mong

both

Catholics

nd

Protestants.

As shown by previous

research

e.g.,

Rubin

and

Peplau 1975),

belief

n

a

just world

s

correlated ith fundamentalist

eligious

rientationnd thus

the effects f

this variable on

psychological istress hould

be

especially

clear.

Third,

t

might

e

expected

hat

he

population

fNorthernrelandwould

display evels

of

tress reater

han hat f

many ther ocieties. or enturies,

the province

has

experienced ntractable, bdurate,religio-ethnic

onflict.

This struggleknown ntheprovince nd elsewhere s the troubles ), nd

itsconsequences,has affected

he ives of

thecitizens fNorthernreland

n

waysnotexperienced ymostpeople

in

the world.

Such a milieuwould be

especially ikely

o activate

ersonal oping

mechanisms

esigned

to

reduce

unacceptably igh

evels

of

train.2

ccordingly,

orthernreland

hould be

an

especiallygood

domain

n

which to

examine

the

possible

effects f the

variables

proposed

here on such distress.This should make for

stronger

test of

the

proposed

role

of

the belief hatthe world s a

just place

in the

stress

process.

Measures

Depression. epressed

mood was

measured

using

reducedversion fthe

Center

or

Epidemiological

tudies

Depression

Scale

(CES-D) (Radloff 977).

Data were collected or leven

of

twentytems

n

the

original calefollowing

the

findings

f

Ross

and

Mirowsky1984),concerning

hat tems re

meas-

ures

of

depressed

mood for oth

men

and

women. Of thetwelve tems

hey

identified, eeling blue

was

eliminatedbecause of its lack of meaning

outside the

United States.

These items were factor

nalyzed

in

order to

determinewhether hey epresented ne dimensionnthis ample. Results

of

the

factor

nalysis

withvarimax

otation

ndicated

hatfour

actors,

ith

eigenvalues

over

unity,

were

represented y these eleven items.

The first

factor-depressedmood-contained five temswith oadings ver .40. These

itemsresulted

n

a

scale

witha

high reliabilityCronbach's lpha

=

0.83).

(See Appendix

A

for

listing

f the

tems

nd

their

oadings.)

The

range

of

this cale is

0-13. It s this

cale

that

was used as the measure of

depressed

mood

in

these

analysis.

Mastery.Mastery

was

measured

using

an

adaptation

of Pearlin

and

Schooler's

1978) mastery

cale. These five temswere factor

nalyzed

and

were found to comprise ne factor s suggestedby earlierwork.The re-

sultant

cale has

a

reliability

f

0.84

(See Appendix

A

for

listing

f

the

items).



8/19

BELIEF

IN

A

JUST

WORLD

AND

DEPRESSION

241

Belief

n a

Just

World.

ery

ittle

sychometric

ork

has been

done

to

assess

the reliability

nd

scalability

f Rubin

and

Peplau's

(1975) ust world scale.

Onlyone published tudy xistswhichfactor-analyzedheoriginal 0-item

scale using undergraduate

tudents

n

Britain

Hyland

and Dann

1987).

The

results f this

tudy uggest

hat he Rubin nd

Peplau instrument

onsists

offour imensions

nd the uthors onclude

by

calling

ormore

workon the

measurement f

the

concept.

n

an

attempt o further

ssess the measure-

mentproperties

f belief

n

a

just world,

data

were

collected n ten

of

the

original wenty

tems

see AppendixA).

The

ten tems

for

which data were

not collected are concerned

with

conditions

which

are

clearly

imitedto

particular

ituations

nd were found o

form

actors

ot

related

o thecentral

concept

f

belief n a

just

world.

Hyland

nd Dann

(1987)

found hat hecore

itemforbelief n a just world, Basically heworld s a just place, loaded

mosthighly

n the second

factor, long with, By

and

largepeople

deserve

what theyget.

Fourfactors esulted rom

he

factor

nalysis

ftheten

tems orwhichwe

collecteddata.

The

primary

actor

ontained he core belief

n

a

just

world

itemalong

with

the tems

that

tated, By

and

large, people deserve

what

theyget,

and

People

who meet

with

misfortune

ave often

rought

t on

themselves.

These three tems

form

scale

with

an

acceptable

evel of

reliabilityalpha

=

0.63).4

Economic

ardship.

conomic

hardship

was

measured

using

a

measure

adapted byRoss and Huber (1985)from earlin t al. (1981).This measure

consists

of four tems that form scale with an

alpha

of 0.89. The scale

measures the degree

to which

the

respondent

was

not able to afford ood,

clothes,furniture,

r

pay

bills

n

the last

twelve

months,

with

high

scores

indicating ardship. See Appendix

A

for he

content f the

tems

hat

om-

prisethesescales.)

The

other

variables ncluded n

theanalysiswere

income, employment

status,

marital

tatus, ender,

nd

age.

Incomewas measured

with

10-point

item

ranging rom,

less than ?40

per week, (about$75

at the

timeof the

study)to morethan?400perweek (about $720).Employmenttatuswas

coded as

a

dummy

variable

with

those

employed

t the

timeof the

study

(full-time

r

part-time) eing assignedto the

1

category.

Marital

tatus

was also coded

as a

dummy

ariable

with

hose

married t

the

time

getting

score

of 1. Females were

assigned

to the 1

category

f

gender. Age

was

measured

n

years.

RESULTS

The analysiswas conducted

n

three tages. nthefirst

tage, herelationship

betweenmasterynd beliefn a justworldwas determined.n thesecond,

theadditive ffect

f

belief

n

a

just worldon

depressionwas estimated. his

estimation

lso determined

whetherthis

beliefmediates the

relationship



9/19

242 SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES Volume 3, Number , 1990

between

ncome nd economic

hardship

nd

depression.

n

the

third

tage

the purpose

of the

analysiswas

to

determine hether ndividualswho have

a relatively ighbeliefna justworldaremore ikely o be depressed when

they xperience conomichardship.

Belief in a JustWorld and Mastery

Contrary

o what

was

predicted,

here s

essentially

o

correlation etween

belief

n

a

just

world

nd

mastery.

he Pearson

product-momentorrelation

betweenthese scales is 0.012

see AppendixB).

This

result ndicates hat

sense of

personal fficacy

s

independent

f the

degreeto which ndividuals

feel

that rewardsare allottedon

the basis

of

personalworth. Since these

variables re ndependent, herole ofthisbeliefnthe relationship etween

income

nd economic

hardship istress rocess s likely o be differentrom

thatof

mastery.

Additive Effects

The data presented

n

Table

1

are the resultof a series of hierarchical

regression quations predicting epressed mood. This analysis s designed

to determine he role of belief

n

a just world

in

the stressprocess. Each

TABLE

1

Hierarchical

egression

f

Demographic ariables, ardship,Mastery,

and Belief n a

JustWorld BJW) n Depression

(standardized

oefficientsre

reported

ithin

arentheses)

Equations

1

2 3

4

Income

-0.201

(-0.210)

-0.097

(-0.101)'

-0.070

(-0.073)

-0.068

(-0.071)

Working -0.980 (-0.171)' -1.094 (-0.191) -0.670 (-0.117) -0.691 (-0.120)

Married -0.622 (-0.103) -0.906 (-0.150) -0.991 (-0.164)' -0.943 (-0.156)

Female 0.316 (

0.055)

0.280

(

0.049) 0.202

(

0.035) 0.196 (-0.034)

Age

-0.022

(-0.120)

-0.015

(-0.083)

-0.011

(-0.060)

-0.008

(-0.041)

Hardship

0.189

(

0.221) 0.136

(

0.159)'

0.121

(

0.142)

Mastery

-0.302

(-0.328)

-0.305

(-0.332)f

BJW

-0.097

(-0.122)

R 0.410 0.454 0.548

0.539

Adjusted

R2

0.150 0.185

0.278

0.290

IncrementalR2

0.035

0.093

0.012

+

Significant

t the0.10 evel

Significant

t the0.05 evel

Significant

t the0.01

evel

Significant

t the

0.001 evel



10/19

BELIEF

IN A

JUST WORLD AND DEPRESSION

243

equationcontains

measures

of

ncome,

mployment,

marital

tatus,

gender,

and

age.

In the

second

step

of the

analysis

economic

hardship

s

added to

themodel;masterys added in the third tep;and belief n a justworld s

added

in

the

final

tep equation

4).

Variables

re

included

n

order f

their

position

n

the

theoretically

mplicit

ausal

sequence.

While

mastery

s

not

assumed to

be

causally

prior

o

belief

n

a

just

world,

t

s

included

firstn

order o

require

ny

effect

n

depression

o be

the net

of

mastery.

The

findings hown

in

Table

1

address

the

degree

to

which

economic

stress,

mastery,

nd

self-esteem

ffect

epression

nd

the

effects

f

mastery

and

belief

n a

just

world

in

mediating

he

impact

of

potential ources

of

depression.The results f hefirst

quation

ndicate

hat

ncome

nd

employ-

ment

tatus re

significantly

elated o

depression; hose

with

higher evels

of ncomeand thoseemployed re the eastdepressed.

In the

second

equation,

with

economic

hardship

dded,

the

overall

vari-

ance

in

depression

explained

s

increased

by

3.5

percent

representing

n

additional 23

percent

n

total

explained

variance.

As

expected,

economic

hardship asa

positive ffectn

depression

p

=

0.221,

p

Documents

Belief in a Just World and Depression.pdf