Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Open University, Heerlen, The Netherlands.
Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education (IGDORE), Oudorp, The Netherlands.
Aging Ment Health. 2020 Dec;24(12):2117-2124. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2019.1673309. Epub 2019 Oct 8.
The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between trait gratitude and loneliness in a Dutch population sample of adults over 40 years. In addition, the mediating role of psychological flexibility and engaged living between trait gratitude and loneliness was assessed.
A total sample of 163 adults of which 65 men (40%) and 98 women (60%) between 41 and 92 years ( = 66, = 12) participated in this study. Data from the Loneliness Questionnaire, Flexibility Index Test, Engaged Living Scale and the Short Gratitude, Resentment, and Appreciation Test were used. Mediation analysis was performed.
Analysis showed a negative association between trait gratitude and loneliness. In addition, after adjusting for the demographic variables age, gender and educational level, the association between trait gratitude and loneliness was fully mediated by psychological flexibility, and partially mediated by engaged living.
This study endorses the importance of trait gratitude and psychological flexibility in relation to experiencing loneliness. Further research is needed to replicate these findings in a more diverse sample and to investigate the causal relationships between these constructs. It would also be interesting to further investigate the role of different age groups and goal (dis)engagement strategies in this relation.
本研究旨在调查荷兰 40 岁以上成年人样本中特质感激与孤独感之间的关系。此外，还评估了心理灵活性和投入生活在特质感激与孤独感之间的中介作用。
本研究共纳入 163 名成年人，其中 65 名男性（40%）和 98 名女性（60%），年龄在 41 至 92 岁之间（均数=66，标准差=12）。研究使用了孤独感问卷、灵活性指数测试、投入生活量表和简短感激、怨恨和欣赏测试。进行了中介分析。
分析表明，特质感激与孤独感呈负相关。此外，在调整了年龄、性别和教育水平等人口统计学变量后，特质感激与孤独感之间的关联完全由心理灵活性介导，部分由投入生活介导。
本研究支持特质感激和心理灵活性与孤独感体验之间的关系。需要在更具多样性的样本中重复这些发现，并进一步研究这些结构之间的因果关系。进一步研究不同年龄组和目标（不）参与策略在这种关系中的作用也将是有趣的。
