Gratitude to Decrease Stress

A review of

Manita, Erlis, et al. “Does Gratitude Decrease Stress among Early Adult.” Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Psychology (ICPsy 2019). 2020.

Reviewed By Dr. Bryan Stephens

Summarized Review Conclusions

Stress and mental disorders are highly associated according to the WHO. Through surveys in the US, it was found that the age groups most associated with high levels of stress are those 18-47 years old. This article went on to evaluate the association of gratitude and stress. They found that the two were significantly inversely related. Essentially, this means that as gratitude increases, stress decreases. This is assumed because as people focus on gratitude, they do not focus on the existing stressors, which leads to a lower level of stress.

“…there is an inverse correlation between gratitude and stress. When gratitude increases, stress decreases. For this reason, gratitude can be an alternative way to manage stress well.”

Manita, Erlis, et al. “Does Gratitude Decrease Stress among Early Adult.” Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Psychology (ICPsy 2019). 2020.

“Based on these results it can be interpreted that when a person has a high level of gratitude then the individual’s stress level will be low.”

Manita, Erlis, et al. “Does Gratitude Decrease Stress among Early Adult.” Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Psychology (ICPsy 2019). 2020.

Introduction to the Research

Stress has been found to be one of the highest risk factors when it comes to mental disorders. In the US, the age group hit the hardest are those between 18-47 years old. In the UK, 74% of the population felt very stressed. “In Indonesia, concerns about the inability of individuals to manage stress properly are show in the high rate of suicides. It is estimated that there are around 82 suicides occurring in Indonesia every day (Bahali, 2016).” This is why the authors sought to find the benefit of gratitude to help combat the high levels of perceived stress in order to assist with managing it better.

Research Methodology

“This study uses a quantitative method that is correlational, which aims to see the relationship between one variable with another variable. Participants in this study were young adults (ages 20- 40 years) who were domiciled in Aceh. Determination of samples in this study using a nonprobability sampling method with incidental sampling technique. This study involved 349 participants (F = 264, M = 84).

The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) The PSS-10 consists of 10 items with 6 favorite items and 4 unique items. Assessment on this scale is done using a Likert scale with five alternative choices, namely, 0 never, 1 almost never, 2 sometimes, 3 quite often, up to 4 very often. The reliability of the PSS gauge in this sample is (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.804).

Gratitude is measured using the Indonesian version of the grateful scale (Listiyandini et al., 2015). This scale consists of 30 items with 6 available answer choices, namely 1-6 (very inappropriate to very suitable). The reliability of the SBI gauge in this sample is (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.904).

Data analysis was performed to answer the problem statement or test the hypotheses that have been formulated (Sugiyono, 2012). Data that has been collected, tabulated and then processed with the help of Statistical Product and Service Solution (SPSS) ver. 25.0 for Windows. Test the assumptions in this study using the normality test using KolmogorovSmirnov (K-S) and linearity using test for linearity, hypothesis testing is done using analysis SpearmanBrown Formula to find out the correlation between stress variables and gratitude. “

Manita, Erlis, et al. “Does Gratitude Decrease Stress among Early Adult.” Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Psychology (ICPsy 2019). 2020.

Research Findings

“This study aims to determine the relationship between stress and gratitude in early adults in Aceh. Based on the results of data analysis showed that there was a significant negative relationship between stress and gratitude (r = -0,519; p = 0,000) in early adults in Aceh, thus the proposed research hypothesis was accepted. Based on these results it can be interpreted that when a person has a high level of gratitude then the individual’s stress level will be low, conversely if the individual’s level of gratitude is low then the stress level will be high.The results of this study are supported by previous research which found that there was a significant negative relationship between gratitude and stress Kumar, Verma, & Deba, 2019).

The term stress can be interpreted differently by everyone. Some people define stress as an event or situation that causes tension, pressure, or negative emotions such as anxiety and anger. Some others see stress in response to this situation. This response includes physiological changes (such as increased heart rate and muscle tension) and emotional and behavioral changes (Baqutayan, 2015). Various things can be sources of stress or causes of stress in each individual. These sources of stress are very numerous and very individual. Things that can cause stress also depend on individual perceptions of things that are experienced (Segal, Smith, Segel & Robinson, 2019). Most individuals experience stress at some point in their lives, some individuals experience stress more often than others, and some individuals have difficulty dealing with its effects (Loseby, 2019).

Krejt, Nezlek, Michnicka, Holas, and Rusanowska (2016) found that individuals who focus every day on the things they are grateful to reducing their reactions to stress. Gratitude is an emotion that is felt when someone realizes the good things that happen in life and appreciates them (Alkozei, Smith & Killgore, 2017).”

“This study aims to determine the relationship between gratitude and stress in early adulthood in Banda Aceh. The results of the statistical analysis support the hypothesis that there is a significant negative relationship between gratitude and stress in early adulthood in Aceh. This means there is an inverse correlation between gratitude and stress. When gratitude increases, stress decreases. For this reason, gratitude can be an alternative way to manage stress well.

The limitations in this study was in terms of age, this study is limited to young adults with the majority of research subjects in the range of 20-30 years, so it can not express the phenomenon more broadly in each age range.”

Research References

As always with these reviews, these are my takeaways from the article and I encourage you to read the article in its entirety. The references used in this article by the authors of this article are listed here.

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