Belief in a just world for the self and others, Karma, system justification and well-being during COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from 15 Asian nations

Abstract

The World Health Organization (World Health Organization, 2020) announced the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. Globally, this situation affects people in various domains including mental health. Existing theories and research findings suggest justice beliefs are associated with mental health and may help to cope with adverse life circumstances. Participants (N = 3694) in 15 Asian nations completed measures of belief in a just world (BJW), Karma, system justification, well-being indices and COVID-19 impact. The results show that BJW for the self and system justification positively predicted well-being while BJW for others provided reverse associations. Furthermore, Karma predicted both higher life satisfaction and depression. However, COVID-19 impact did not moderate the relationships between justice beliefs and well-being. The results provide various psychological functions but do not consistently indicate the buffering role of justice beliefs during COVID-19 pandemic.