Personality Traits and Future Anxiety in Buddhisms: a Study of Adult Tibetan Buddhist Practitioners from Uruguay

Tibetan Buddhists in Uruguay report lower future anxiety, activity, and aggression than both religious and non-religious comparison groups, and lower neuroticism than the religious group alone. The study compared 52 members of three Tibetan Buddhist groups with 52 religious and 52 non-religious individuals using personality and future-anxiety questionnaires. These differences may reflect personality traits of people drawn to Tibetan Buddhism or result from the tradition’s distinctive dimensions of believing, bonding, behaving, and belonging.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The impact of spirituality on health, personality and anxiety is a common topic of research in the psychology of religion. For the case of Buddhism, the relation between health and meditation has been extensively studied, while research of Buddhism and personality is not a common topic in the field. The current article aims to analyze whether Tibetan Buddhism, as a particular religious tradition with its forms of believing, bonding, behaving, and belonging, can be characterized by certain personality traits in its members. For this, 52 members from three Tibetan Buddhist groups of Uruguay were recruited and compared with a group of religious subjects ( n = 52) and a group of non-religious people ( n = 52). The Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire Short Form was used to assess personality traits, and The Dark Future Scale was used to measure future anxiety. Results showed significantly lower scores for Buddhists in future anxiety, activity, and aggression when compared to both groups. Besides, Buddhist groups had lower scores in neuroticism when compared to religious group only. These differences could be characteristics of people more likely to be interested in Tibetan Buddhism or similar spiritual paths, but it could also be caused by the synergic combination of Tibetan Buddhism and its four singular dimensions of believing (in the dharma), bonding (through Vajrayana’s meditations), behaving (according to the law of karma), and belonging (to the sangha or Buddhist community).