Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Nov;11(11):e70086.
doi: 10.1002/nop2.70086.

Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Older Chinese Adults in Nursing Homes: The Mediating Roles of Self-Efficacy and Social Support

Chunqin Liu  1   2 , Qing Luo  1 , Liqin Song  1   3 , Dongyi Luo  4 , Huifang Chen  1 , Xinyang Hu  1 , Ying Zhou  1   5
Affiliations

Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Older Chinese Adults in Nursing Homes: The Mediating Roles of Self-Efficacy and Social Support

Chunqin Liu et al. Nurs Open. 2024 Nov.

Abstract

Aim: With an aging global population, there has been a growing interest in the subjective well-being (SWB) of older people. As a positive emotion, gratitude has been found to be significantly and positively associated with SWB. However, the mechanisms underlying the relationship between gratitude and SWB remain poorly understood. This study aimed to examine the mediating effects of social support and self-efficacy in the relationship between gratitude and SWB among older Chinese adults in nursing homes.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Methods: A sample of 354 older adults in nursing homes aged 60 years and above was recruited across three nursing homes in Guangzhou, China. Participants completed the Gratitude Questionnaire-Six-Item Form, the World Health Organization's well-being index, the General Self-efficacy questionnaire and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Structural equation modelling was used to evaluate the relationships between gratitude, self-efficacy, social support and SWB. A bootstrap test was performed to test mediating roles of self-efficacy and social support.

Results: Gratitude was found to be significantly and positively associated with SWB (β = 0.294, p < 0.001). Self-efficacy and social support independently mediated the relationship between gratitude and SWB (indirect effect of self-efficacy: Standardised β = 0.105, 95% CI [0.061, 0.157]; indirect effect of social support: Standardised β = 0.116, 95% CI [0.444, 0.191], all p < 0.001). Additionally, the results indicated that the mediating effect of self-efficacy was not significantly different from that of social support in the link between gratitude with SWB.

Conclusion: These findings presented strong evidence that self-efficacy and social support provided the underlying mechanisms through which gratitude was associated with SWB in Chinese nursing home residents. This highlighted the need to develop interventions aiming at increasing gratitude, self-efficacy and social support to promote SWB among elderly people.

Patient or public contribution: No patient or public contribution.

Keywords: gratitude; nursing; older adults; self‐efficacy; social support; subjective well‐being.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Path diagram of the hypothesised model.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The multiple indirect effects model (with standardised coefficients). **p < 0.01, tow‐tailed.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Aguilera‐Hermida, A. , Anderson E., Negron V., et al. 2018. “Loneliness and Intergenerational Activities Between University Students and Older Adults.” Innovation in Aging 2: 966.
    1. Alkozei, A. , Smith R., and Killgore W. D. S.. 2018. “Gratitude and Subjective Well‐Being: A Proposal of Two Causal Frameworks.” Journal of Happiness Studies 19, no. 5: 1519–1542.
    1. Allemand, M. , Olaru G., and Hill P. L.. 2021. “Age‐Related Psychometrics and Differences in Gratitude and Future Time Perspective Across Adulthood.” Personality and Individual Differences 182: 111086.
    1. Bartlett, M. Y. , and Arpin S. N.. 2019. “Gratitude and Loneliness: Enhancing Health and Well‐Being in Older Adults.” Research on Aging 41, no. 8: 772–793. - PubMed
    1. Blanchflower, D. G. 2021. “Is Happiness U‐Shaped Everywhere? Age and Subjective Well‐Being in 145 Countries.” Journal of Population Economics 34, no. 2: 575–624. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources