THE ASSOCIATIONS AMONG GRATITUDE, SPIRITUALITY, AND POSITIVE/NEGATIVE AFFECT: A TEST OF MEDIATION

Article Details

Jeannie A. Perez, japerez@dlsud.edu.ph, De La Salle University-Dasmariñas

Journal: Academia Lasalliana Journal of Education and Humanities
Volume 3 Issue 1 (Published: 2021-12-01)

Abstract

To expand studies linking gratitude, spirituality, and subjective well-being, this study aimed at examining the role of spirituality and gratitude on the affective aspects of subjective well-being (SWB), which are positive and negative. Gratitude is a grateful disposition measured by Gratitude Questionnaire. Spirituality refers to the feelings and sensations of daily spiritual life measured by Daily Spiritual Experience Scale. Positive affect refers to the extent to which a person feels enthusiastic, active, and alert. Negative affect refers to the extent to which people feel stressed, upset, guilty, scared, hostile, irritable, ashamed, nervous, jittery, and afraid. PA and NA were measured by the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale. The study’s respondents were 415 Filipino adolescents and young adults who completed the questionnaires. Most of the respondents were females and Roman Catholics. Gratitude and spirituality were positively associated with positive affect. More grateful and more spiritual respondents reported increased frequency of positive affect. Negative association was found between gratitude and negative affect. Grateful respondents reported lower scores in negative affect. Interestingly, non- statistically significant positive association was found between spirituality and negative affect, which supports some previous studies with similar findings. Spirituality mediated the association between gratitude and positive affect. These findings revealed a differential impact of gratitude and spirituality on the affective aspects of SWB. Implications of the results are discussed in counselling contexts. Implications for future research are also discussed.

Keywords: gratitude, spirituality, positive affect, negative affect, well-being

DOI: https://drive.google.com/file/d/16hs0p25CoPq1-hfv6jum6DYKvgyQgCho/view
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