Cultural diversity in beliefs regarding mental illness: comparison of Indonesian Muslims, Indonesian Christians, and Japanese non-religions

A majority of Indonesians, approximately 90% of them, are Muslims and have been reported to religiously cope with symptoms of mental illness. This may depend on the degree of recognition of Western medicine and attribution to biological factors; however, this has not been adequately investigated. To avoid clinical bias, it is vital to understand the underlying mechanism. Hence, this study aims to determine the relationship between depression recognition, causal attributions, and coping behaviors among Indonesian Muslims using a quantitative approach. To capture the salient features of Indonesian Muslims, they were compared with Japanese non-religions and Indonesian Christians. We also developed new causal attribution and coping behavior scales that are culturally valid for both Indonesia and Japan. Specifically, in Study 1, we first examined the demographic details of the participants and then developed the scales. In Study 2, we compared Indonesian Muslims, Japanese non-religions, and Indonesian Christians in terms of relationships between recognizing depression, causal attributions, and coping behaviors. Participants were university students around the capital of both countries: 236 Indonesian Muslims (182 females), 493 Japanese non-religions (365 females), and 266 Indonesian Christians (180 females). In Study 1, religiosity was the only demographic characteristic that saliently differed between the 3 groups. Both the causal attribution and coping behavior scales were adequate for use in Study 2. In Study 2, the results of structural equation modeling revealed that the relationships between depression recognition, causal attributions, and coping behaviors differed among Indonesian Muslims, Japanese non-religions, and Indonesian Christians. More specifically, amongst Indonesian Muslims, the level of depression recognition had a marginally significant positive influence on religious attribution, which in turn had a significant positive influence on evil dispelling. However, Japanese non-religions and Indonesian Christians showed no association between the recognition of depression and religious attribution. These results suggests that the three groups may have different beliefs about depression.