Protecting Students’ Psychological Well-being During COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Optimism and Gratitude

Abstract

Background: Psychological well-being is one of the issues of positive psychology that requires life and includes good mental health, high life satisfaction, a sense of meaning and purpose, and the ability to manage stress. Given that we live in the 21st Century and since the disease affected people’s health, optimism and gratitude can play an important role in promoting psychological well-being, and investing in this issue can lead to good results. Methods: The present research design is correlational. All male and female students in the fields of psychology, educational sciences, and counseling at Payame Noor University in Khuzestan province include the statistical population. Due to the prevalence of coronavirus and lack of face-to-face access to students and by designing a WhatsApp link, 393 people (301 girls and 92 boys) were selected voluntarily. To collect data, the questionnaires on optimism (2019); gratitude (2022), and psychological well-being (2022) were used. Questionnaires were distributed and collected through the WhatsApp link. Pearson correlation and regression were used for data analysis in SPSS software, version 27. Results: The results showed that the mean of optimism and gratitude of girls is higher than boys, while the psychological well-being of boys is higher than girls. The results showed that there is a significant positive relationship between optimism and psychological well-being (r=0.61, P=0.002) and between gratitude and psychological well-being (r=0.55, P<0.012). Step-by-step regression showed that 42% of psychological well-being can be explained and predicted by optimism and gratitude. Conclusion: Given that optimism and gratitude are effective in the amount of psychological well-being, it is possible to provide psychological interventions based on optimism and gratitude.