Abdullah, Norhidayah Nasyhea Haji (2011) Gratitude, Challenge Appraisal, Proactive Coping and Subjective Well-Being: A Preliminary Investigation. Coursework Masters thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Models of stress and coping have traditionally focused on negative emotionality as an automatic and universal response to stressful or difficult situations. With the recent upsurge in positive psychology research, evidence to suggest that positive emotions are also a normative aspect of the stress and coping process is mounting. The objective of this study was to propose that gratitude, like other positive emotions, is imperative in the stress and coping process, leading one to perceive an increased sense of subjective well-being. Additionally, the study proposed to explore the role of challenge appraisal and proactive coping as psychological resources of grateful individuals, constructs that have recently emerged as the new focus in positive psychology research. The specific aims of this study, therefore, were to test a general theoretical model that demonstrates an interactional relationship between gratitude, challenge appraisal, proactive coping, and subjective wellbeing, and to further investigate challenge appraisal and proactive coping function as psychological resources that could potentially mediate the relationship between gratitude and subjective well-being, using mediation analysis. Participants were 113 individuals, 99 female and 14 male, aged between 18 and 60 years of age. The Gratitude Questionnaire-6 (GQ-6) was used to assess the intensity and frequency of one’s experience of grateful affect (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002), and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) was used to assess the participants subjective well-being (Watson, Clark, & Tellegan, 1988). The challenge appraisal subscale of the Stress Appraisal measure (SAM) was used to assess the participants’ level of challenge appraisal (Peacock & Wong, 1990), while the proactive coping subscale of the Proactive Coping Inventory (PCI) was used to measure proactive coping level (Greenglass, Schwarzer, & Taubert, 1999; Greenglass, 2002). A general theoretical model was developed and tested the hypothesised associations among these variables using Structural Equation Modelling. Mediation was examined using path GRATITUDE, CHALLENGE APPRAISAL iv analysis using bias-corrected confidence intervals (CIs) using bootstrap procedure. Results indicate that the model was a good fit to the data. However, examination of specific paths revealed both significant and non-significant paths. Gratitude was positively associated with subjective well-being. Gratitude was also positively associated with proactive coping, and this led to an enhanced sense of subjective well-being. Mediation analysis revealed that proactive coping was a significant mediator of gratitude and subjective well-being. Unexpectedly, though, gratitude was not a predictor of challenge appraisal, and challenge appraisal did not mediate the relationship between gratitude and subjective well-being. Overall, the general objective of the present research, which was to explore the role of gratitude in the context of stress and coping, has been achieved. While this study provides sound insight into this area, further investigation is warranted. Future research would benefit from improvements in research design, such as utilising a larger sample size, and using additional measures to evaluate subjective well-being.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Coursework Masters) |
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| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Psychology (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Supervisors: | Yong Wah Goh |
| Qualification: | Master of Psychology (Clinical) |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Nov 2025 00:11 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Nov 2025 00:11 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52092 |
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