Gratitude moderates the relationship between happiness and resilience

Abstract

The promotion of resilience among young people is essential to maintain a healthy mental state. As one of the dimensions in positive mental health, resilience refers to an individual's adjustment in the face of difficulty (Cheung & Kam, 2012; Hermann et al., 2011; Murphey et al., 2013; Werner, 1995). Resilient individuals withstand better life stressors, such as poverty, health problems, or family conflict. They avoid responding to unfavorable circumstances with negative behaviours, such as violence and substance abuse (Cutuli & Herbers, 2018; Shumba, 2010; Werner, 1995). They are more inclined to see problems as opportunities for growth. Positive emotions, such as joy, interest, contentment, and love, are known to foster resilience (Amstadter et al., 2014; Cohn & Fredrickson, 2010; Emmons & Shelton, 2002; Kashdan et al., 2006; Ong et al., 2006). Although prior studies demonstrate that resilient individuals tend to be more grateful and have happier dispositions, the relationship of resilience, gratitude, and happiness has not been sufficiently studied among young people, particularly in collectivist societies, like in Asian countries (Balgiu, 2017; Çerkez, 2017; George & Moolman, 2017; Miljevic-Ridicki et al., 2017; Tecson et al., 2019). As factors initiating the process of resilience require a more thorough investigation, in this short research report, we focus on assessing young people's resilience in the Philippines and examine whether gratitude amplifies both happiness and resilience. We hypothesized that gratitude is positively correlated with sense of happiness and resilience, that happiness is positively associated with the resilience among young people; and that gratitude moderates the relationship between happiness and resilience.