Naslov
Justice Related Beliefs and Coping Efficacy: A Test of the Adaptive Functioning of the Belief in a Just World

Autori
Ćubela Adorić, Vera

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Poglavlja u knjigama, znanstveni

Knjiga
Positive Psychology in Education

Urednik/ci
(Miljković, Dubravka ; Rijavec, Majda)

Izdavač
Učiteljski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu

Grad
Zagreb

Godina
2011

Raspon stranica
25-44

ISBN
978-953-7210-25-0

Ključne riječi
belief in a just world, belief in an unjust world, justice centrality, coping strategies

Sažetak
Since its introduction in the mid of 1960s, the concept of the Belief in a Just World (BJW) has been used primarily to explain the blaming the victim and similar negative social-psychological phenomena. During the last few decades, however, the research focus has turned to the functioning of just-world beliefs in maintaining the mental health and psychological well-being. Supplementing previous research into BJW’s adaptive functioning, the study that will be reported here aimed at exploring the relationships between justice related beliefs and coping strategies in high school students. Measures of several justice beliefs (including the beliefs in both just and unjust world) and of various stress coping strategies were completed by a group of 45 female and 66 male students from two Croatian high schools. The pattern of correlations between these two sets of variables was in line with the expectation that the BJW contributes to perceived efficacy in dealing with problems as well as to a more frequent use of problem solving, cognitive restructuring and seeking social support. The pattern was somewhat different for the general and personal BJWs, suggesting that these BJW facets already differentiate and perform different functions in adolescents as young as 15 to 18 years. The same holds for the belief in the unjustness of the world, which presumably develops as a result of accumulated unjust experiences and operates as a separate world-schema. The latter point was supported by the finding that, despite their negative intercorrelation, both beliefs in just and unjust world correlated positively with the use of avoidance strategy. Further analyses indicated that they relate to different components of the avoidance. The results are discussed with reference to the concept of BJW as another positive illusion and its presumed adaptive functions in dealing with stress and sustaining the psychological well-being.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Psihologija

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