FUTURE ANXIETY UNDER COVID-19 CIRCUMSTANCES: TESTING THE EFFECT OF GRATITUDE AND MEDIATING ROLE OF THREAT PERCEPTION

Year 2024, Volume: 64 Issue: 1, 197 - 227, 25.06.2024

Ahmet Demirdağ , Derya Hasdağ , Elif Ulutaş

https://doi.org/10.33171/dtcfjournal.2024.64.1.9

Abstract

The Covid-19 outbreak increased the importance of dispositional qualities and easy-to-use self-help strategies to promote mental well-being. Previous research indicate that disposition to gratitude enhances well-being by protecting mental health. However, evidence for the efficacy of gratitude-inducing interventions in preventing psychological problems is mixed. Further, data on the gratitude-well-being link under Covid-19 circumstances are inconclusive. In the present reseach, we examined the role of trait gratitude and gratitude-listing intervention in alleviating future anxiety during the pandemic, and the mediating role of perceived realistic and symbolic threats from Covid-19. In the first study, a correlational study (N = 405), participants rated the predictor and outcome measures—the scales of gratitude, future anxiety, and perceived realistic and symbolic threats from Covid-19. In the second study, a pretest-posttest intervention study (N = 150), participants were randomized to list grateful experiences or important daily life events every two days for a month, or to complete only the pretest and posttest measures. Results indicated that disposition to gratitude was associated with lower future anxiety (study-1), whereas the gratitude-listing intervention did not reduce this anxiety (study-2). Furthermore, in both studies, the perceived Covid-19 threats did not mediate the relationship between gratitude and future anxiety. Exploratory qualitative analyses of participants’ gratitude lists and feedback in the second study showed that the pandemic situation hindered the benefits of the intervention. Overall, the results suggest that trait gratitude is more strongly associated with alleviation of psychological distress during the Covid-19 pandemic than gratitude listing. This supports the accumulating data that gratitude interventions, while beneficial for well-being, have limited effectiveness in reducing symptoms of ill-being, such as anxiety.

Keywords

gratitude, gratitude intervention, future anxiety, symbolic threat, realistic threat, covid-19

Ethical Statement

The studies reported in this manuscript were approved by the ethics committee of Ankara University (Approval date: 09.06.2020. Approval number: 0616). Informed consent was obtained from all participants before participation in the studies.

Supporting Institution

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK)

Project Number

120K418

COVİD-19 KOŞULLARINDA GELECEK KAYGISI: MİNNETTARLIĞIN ETKİSİ VE TEHDİT ALGISININ ARACI ROLÜNÜN TEST EDİLMESİ

Abstract

Covid-19 salgını, zihinsel sağlığı desteklemek için kişilik özelliklerinin ve uygulanması kolay kendi kendine yardım stratejilerinin önemini artırdı. Önceki araştırmalar, bir kişilik özelliği olarak minnettarlık eğiliminin psikolojik sağlığı koruyarak iyi oluşu artırdığını göstermektedir. Buna karşın, minnettarlığı artırıcı müdahalelerin psikolojik sorunları önleme etkinliğine ilişkin kanıtlar karışıktır. Ayrıca, Covid-19 koşulları altında minnettarlık-iyi oluş bağlantısını araştıran çalışmaların verileri de karışık sonuçlara işaret etmektedir. Mevcut araştırmada, pandemi sırasında gelecek kaygısını hafifletmede bir kişilik özelliği olarak minnettarlık eğiliminin ve minnettarlık listeleme müdahalesinin etkisini inceledik. Ek olarak, gerçekçi ve sembolik tehdit algılarının minnetarlık-gelecek kaygısı ilişkisindeki aracı rolünü araştırdık. Korelasyonel bir desende yürütülen ilk çalışmada (N = 405), katılımcılar minnetarlık, gelecek kaygısı ve Covid-19’dan algılanan gerçekçi ve sembolik tehdit ölçeklerini yanıtlamıştır. Öntest-sontest desenli bir müdahale çalışması olan ikinci çalışmada ise (N = 150) katılımcılar bir ay boyunca her iki günde bir minnettarlık deneyimlerini veya önemli günlük yaşam olaylarını listelemek ya da sadece öntest ve sontest ölçümlerini tamamlamak üzere üç ayrı koşula seçkisiz olarak atanmıştır. Bulgular, minnettarlık eğiliminin gelecek kaygısını negatif yönde yordadığını (çalışma-1), minnettarlık listeleme müdahalesinin ise bu kaygıyı azaltamadığını ortaya koymuştur (çalışma-2). Ayrıca, algılanan Covid-19 tehditleri her iki çalışmada da minnetarlık ve gelecek kaygısı arasındaki ilişkiye aracılık edememiştir. Minnetarlık listeleri ve katılımcıların sontest geribildirimleri üzerinde yapılan açımlayıcı nitel analizler, salgın koşullarının minnetarlık müdahalesinin faydalarını engellediğini göstermiştir. Genel olarak bulgular, Covid-19 salgını koşullarında, minnetarlık listeleme müdahalesine oranla minnettarlık eğiliminin psikolojik sıkıntıları hafifletilmede daha etkili olduğuna işaret etmektedir. Bu bulgular ayrıca minnetarlık müdahalelerinin iyi oluş için faydalı olmakla birlikte, anksiyete gibi psikopatoloji belirtilerini azaltmada sınırlı etkinliğe sahip olduğuna dair birikmekte olan verileri de desteklemektedir.

Keywords

minnetarlık, minnetarlık müdahaleleri, gelecek kaygısı, sembolik tehdit, gerçekçi tehdit, covid-19

Project Number

120K418

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