49-2 Joy Share with Others Is More Joyful: Interpersonal Relationship as a Mediator between Optimistic Explanatory Style and Well-being
| Pei-Hsin Li | Ling-Hui Chu | Min-Ning Yu |
| National Chengchi University | ||
Recently, the public has put an increasing emphasis on the psychological health and happiness of primary school students, which calls for a continued effort to explore and develop this area. Previous studies found that an individual’s optimistic attitude may affect his or her view about the environment, and may influence his or her well-being as an individual. Individuals who are more optimistic tend to respond positively to stress and handle stressful situations more successfully. In addition, not only are children’s optimistic explanatory styles affected by their personalities, the interaction between family and school is also another important contributor. However, there are few studies that focus on children’s optimistic explanatory styles and its relationship with interpersonal relationships. Hence, the present study aims in understanding the mediating role of children’s interpersonal relationship between optimistic explanatory style and well-being. In the current study, we regarded optimism as an attributional style that it is the way in which children explain the causes of events happen in their lives. Children who are optimistic tend to believe that negative events are external, unstable, and specific. Thus, we supposed that children’s well-being relates to optimistic explanatory style in a positive way. In addition, children’s relationships with their classmates, family, and teachers are included in the study. Previous studies found that children with better interpersonal relationships may have much better well-being. In this study, we hypothesized that children’s interpersonal relationship influences their well-being, and the interpersonal relationship plays a mediating role between optimistic explanatory style and well-being. The present study was conducted using a sample randomly selected from five elementary schools in North Taiwan from 2010 to 2012. A total of 1322 sixth grade students were selected from the fifth wave of the threeyear longitudinal data set. To test the hypotheses we conducted, data was analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM) using LISREL 8.7. Self-report data were gathered through Optimistic Explanatory Style Scale, Interpersonal Relationship Scale, and Subjective Well-Being Scale. For Optimistic Explanatory Style Scale, children responded each item regarding how they viewed each event, either unstable or external event, with KR20 of 0.44 and 0.42 respectively. Interpersonal relationship scale is a 4-point Likert scale that includes children’s relationship with their classmates, family, and teachers, with Cronbach’s alpha of .88. Subjective Well-Being Scale is a 4-point Likert scale that measures children’s overall positive emotion and life satisfaction, with Cronbach’s alpha of .90. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that the model had a good fit to the data. Results from the present study showed that there is a positive relationship between children’s optimistic explanatory style and well-being. That is, children who are more likely to view events as external or unstable have higher well-being scores. Another contribution of the study is the mediating role of interpersonal relationship between children’s optimistic explanatory style and well-being. In our study, we also found that children’s interpersonal relationship is positively associated with their well-being. Moreover, interpersonal relationship fully mediated the relationship between optimistic explanatory style and well-being. In conclusion, the current study showed that elementary school students’ optimistic explanatory style positively correlated with interpersonal relationship and well-being. Furthermore, interpersonal relationship fully mediated the relationship between optimistic explanatory style and well-being. Accordingly, interpersonal relationship plays an important role in facilitating the well-being of students. We suggest that teachers and parents should support students in a positive way, encourage children to cultivate optimistic attitude, and pay more attention to the peer relationship with other students. The other implications for future research and practice are also proposed.
Keywords
Interpersonal relationship, mediator variable, optimistic explanatory style, well-being.
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