Assessing how trait gratitude, self-esteem, and optimism relate to subjective and psychological well-being among Japanese individuals — ASN Events
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Assessing how trait gratitude, self-esteem, and optimism relate to subjective and psychological well-being among Japanese individuals (#837)

Norberto Eiji Nawa 1 2 , Noriko Yamagishi 1 3
  1. Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), Advanced ICT Research Institute, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Suita, Osaka, Japan
  2. Graduate School of Frontiers Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan
  3. College of Global Liberal Arts, Ritsumeikan University, Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan

Background

A growing body of evidence indicates that the effectiveness of positive psychological interventions is contingent on a diverse set of individual characteristics, chiefly among them, one’s cultural context and background. Building an evidence base to support the selection of parameters most likely to promote individual well-being under such boundary conditions is a crucial step in the design of viable interventions.

Aims

Towards that goal, we examined how gratitude disposition, self-esteem, and optimism relate to subjective (SWB) and psychological well-being (PWB) among Japanese individuals.

Method

SWB and PWB were operationalized, respectively, via the Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985) and the Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999), and the 6 dimensions of the Psychological Well-Being Scale (Ryff, 1989). 

Results

Hierarchical regressions based on data from 71 individuals (30 female, 41 male, mean age 23.7 years old, SD = 2.3, range = 20.7-34.1) generally supported the hypothesis that individually these three parameters can significantly explain variance of SWB and PWB beyond personality factors. However, multivariate regression analysis simultaneously employing gratitude disposition, self-esteem, optimism, current stress level and gender as predictors (controlling for age and personal income) revealed that the psychological predictors related to SWB and PWB in distinct ways: while self-esteem was predominantly more strongly associated with SWB compared to gratitude disposition, gratitude disposition was more strongly associated with the PWB dimensions, in particular, personal growth, positive relationships with others and purpose in life. These findings were substantially replicated using an expanded sample of individuals of different age groups across the nation (N = 1,029, 519 female, 510 male, mean age 45.8 years old, SD = 13.8, range = 20-69). 

Conclusion

Overall, these results suggest that though gratitude disposition, self-esteem and optimism can influence individual well-being at large, they likely play complementary roles as enablers of SWB and PWB in the examined cohort.

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