Abstract
Background: Strengthening the sense of meaning in life and psychological well-being brings benefits for mental health. The group particularly vulnerable to mental problems are young adults, therefore the aim of our research was to explore how a gratitude intervention will affect the sense of meaning in life, psychological well-being, general health and perceived stress among them. The research also took into account the issue of expressing gratitude.Method: The study involved 80 young adults (58 women and 22 men) who were randomly assigned to the experimental group that filled out the specially prepared diaries for a week (participants were asked to list three things for which they feel grateful, to whom they are grateful and if and how they expressed their gratitude) or the control group. Participants completed the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), the General Health Questionnaire – 28 (GHQ-28), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being (PWBS) twice (before and after intervention).Results: In the experimental group significant increases were observed in three areas of psychological well-being: environmental mastery, relationships with others and purpose in life. The significant decrease was also noted in anxiety/insomnia and depression symptoms as well as in perceived stress. There were no differences in the level of meaning in life. There was a positive relationship between expressing gratitude and meaning in life and psychological well-being.Conclusion: Proposed gratitude intervention has the potential to enhance psychological well-being among young adults, however, it may not be effective in enhancing meaning in life.
Highlights
As research results have shown, prevention focusing solely on reducing the risk of mental disorders is insufficient and it is necessary to look for various ways to promote mental health (Keyes, 2007; Keyes et al, 2010) which is one of the goals of positive psychology
There was a positive relationship between expressing gratitude and meaning in life and psychological well-being, and a negative relationship between anxiety/insomnia, social dysfunction and depression symptoms
There were no differences in the level of meaning in life and psychological well-being
Summary
As research results have shown, prevention focusing solely on reducing the risk of mental disorders is insufficient and it is necessary to look for various ways to promote mental health (Keyes, 2007; Keyes et al, 2010) which is one of the goals of positive psychology. According to its pioneers, understanding and promoting the factors that allow individuals to thrive, is necessary to effectively prevent and treat psychopathology (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2000) This seems important considering that mental health is more than the absence of symptoms of mental illness. As epidemiological data has shown the prevalence of any mental disorder among young adults was higher than in any other age group during the course of 12 months (Alonso et al, 2004; Ishikawa et al, 2018; Stagnaro et al, 2018; National Health Institute, 2019). The group vulnerable to mental problems are young adults, the aim of our research was to explore how a gratitude intervention will affect the sense of meaning in life, psychological well-being, general health and perceived stress among them. The research took into account the issue of expressing gratitude
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