Dispositional Gratitude as a Mediator in the Influence of Life Goals on Psychological Well-Being

Abstract

Background. Solving practical problems to support the psychological well-being of youth determines the relevance of the research of its psychological factors. Objective. The aim is to test the assumption that dispositional gratitude mediates the influence of internal and external life aspirations (goals) on well-being on a sample of Russian high school students. Sample. 5,635 high school students (grades 10–11) from 422 schools in Yakutia aged 16 to 18 years (M = 16.81, SD = 0.68), 41% of them boys. Methods. An empirical study was conducted with the use of psychological questionnaires: Gratitude Scale by M. McCullough, R. Emmons and J. Tsang, the non-verbal scale Attitude to Study and Life, the Myself scale from MSLSS by E.S. Huebner, and the short version of Aspirations Index by T. Kasser and R. Ryan. Correlations, regression analysis, and structural equation modeling were used for data analysis. Results. It is shown that psychological well-being of high school students is directly related to gratitude, as well as intrinsic and extrinsic life aspirations. In turn, gratitude, associated with both intrinsic and extrinsic goals, mediates relations between well-being and life aspirations. The indirect effect of intrinsic goals on well-being is positive, while such effect of the extrinsic ones is negative. Conclusion. The results of the study indicate the important role of gratitude as a mediator of the relations between life aspirations and psychological well-being in adolescence. The findings can be used to plan interventions to improve well-being of youth through the development of dispositional gratitude and increased focus on internal goals.

Keywords

• life goals
• intrinsic goals
• extrinsic goals
• aspiration index
• self-determination theory
• well-being
• gratitude
• high school students