Belief in the Afterlife, Death Anxiety, and Life Satisfaction of Buddhists and Christians in Thailand: Comparisons Between Different Religiosity

Apitchaya Chaiwutikornwanich ()

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 2015, vol. 124, issue 3, 1015-1032

Abstract: This research studied belief in the afterlife, death anxiety, and life satisfaction, of Buddhists and Christians in Thailand. The aim of this research was to compare the variables of interest between high and low religiosity within their religion. There were two studies of 800 participants. Study 1 compared between Buddhists and meditated Buddhists in terms of the above and related variables. Study 1 had 577 participants, comprised 532 Buddhists and 45 meditated Buddhists who had already been meditating for 6 months and just finished 1-h meditation. Study 2 compared between Christians and meditated Christians who had intense involvement in religious discipline and just finished religious attendance. Study 2 had 223 participants, comprised 175 Christians and 48 meditated Christians. The results show that meditated Buddhists had more belief in the afterlife and more frequency of going to temple than Buddhists (p > .001 and p = .001, respectively). However, life satisfaction and death anxiety between Buddhists and meditated Buddhists were not significantly different (p = .349 and p = .121, respectively). Meditated Christians had less death anxiety than Christians (p > .001). Meditated Christians had more belief in the afterlife and more frequency of going to church than Christians (p > .001). However, life satisfaction between Christians and mediated Christians was not significantly different (p = .607). Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Keywords: Belief in the afterlife; Death anxiety; Life satisfaction; Religion; Religiosity; Meditation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1007/s11205-014-0822-4

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