A Study On The Relationship Between Gratitude And Subjective Well-Being
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Date
2016-07
Authors
Yeo, Yet Phing
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Abstract
Gratitude is a part of human strengths that buffer stress and prolong subjective well-being. It can be an option for self-help approach to assist university students in coping with their daily stressors. Nevertheless, current approach to studying gratitude is too general and has not looked into sources of gratitude in detail. The present study examined events that can trigger gratitude among university students in Malaysia. This study also assessed dispositional gratitude and subjective well-being. Furthermore, this study investigated the relationship between gratitude disposition, frequency and intensity of gratitude-triggering events, and subjective well-being. The study was conducted in two phases: Phase 1 was qualitative in design, Phase 2 was quantitative in design. The sampling approach used was purposive sampling. In Phase 1, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 undergraduate students from a public university. This phase was utilised to explore the gratitude-triggering events. In Phase 2, questionnaires were distributed to 837 undergraduate students from a public university and private university. The questionnaire was used to measure participants’ frequency and intensity of gratitude-triggering events, gratitude disposition, positive and negative affects, and life satisfaction. This phase was utilised to examine the relationships between the variables. Findings showed that the events that can trigger one’s gratitude are related to relationships with someone and also related to one’s health, freedom, and accomplishment. Most frequent events were those related to health, and events that triggered highest intensity of gratitude were related to family. Most powerful gratitude-triggering events were from the “family” factor. Results showed a
significant positive correlation between gratitude disposition and subjective well-being. The dispositional gratitude also significantly contributed to the frequency and intensity of gratitude-triggering events in general. Moreover, the strongest predictors of positive emotion were frequency of events related to friends, as well as intensity of gratitude towards freedom and comfort-related events. For negative emotion, the strongest predictors were the unlikelihood in occurrence of the events related to freedom and needs, as well as one’s deficiency in the intensity of gratefulness towards own accomplishment and ability. For life satisfaction, the strongest predictors are frequency and intensity of gratitude towards the events related to family. Overall, the present study does not only enrich the current approaches to study gratitude, its theoretical contributions have also give a vast impact to the practical implication of positive psychology intervention like the self-help approach and gratitude-boosting strategies. Lastly, the limitations and suggestions are discussed.
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The relationship between gratitude , and subjective well-being.