Buddhist Social Relationships

People are social creatures, in which we require communication with others around us (even with animals) in our daily lives. People thrive on interpersonal relationships and social interactions. Often burdened by the stressors in their lives, people need the distraction and comfort that come from interacting with others around them. Social relationships greatly influence a person’s health and well-being, and they come in various forms (e.g., family, friends, work, colleagues). My present study aims to understand the behaviors and social relationships of members in a Buddhist study group. I aim to explore the following questions: What activities occur during a group gathering? In what ways do the members interact with one another outside the …show more content…
Religious coping and psychological adjustment were divided into two categories: positive and negative. Positive religious coping included strategies such as religious helping, seeking member support, and spiritual connection; negative religious coping strategies included passive religious deferral, spiritual discontent, and interpersonal discontent. Positive psychological adjustment to stress included acceptance, positive affect, life satisfaction, and personal growth; negative psychological adjustment included hostility, depression, negative affect, and social dysfunction. Then, they examined four different relationships: (i) positive religious coping with positive psychological adjustment, (ii) positive religious coping with negative psychological adjustment, (iii) negative religious coping with positive psychological coping, and (iv) negative religious coping with negative psychological adjustment. Results showed a positive association between positive religious coping and positive psychological adjustment, a negative association between positive religious coping and negative psychological adjustment, no significant relationship between negative religious coping and positive psychological adjustment, and a positive association between negative religious …show more content…
For this study, they recruited 2,956 participants to complete a survey to examine the relationship between religious involvement and social relationships. True to the hypothesis, the results indicated that church attendance has a significant positive association with non-kin networks (i.e., social relationships) and with social (e.g., in-person, telephone) contact. Additionally, church attendance is positively associated with higher quality of social ties (i.e., mutual feelings of being cared for, valued, and belonging) and social support (e.g., financial assistance, emotional support, goods, services). Differences in social relationships and support arise from having a larger social network and from greater social contact that comes with having that larger