Trends in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
https://trends.org.br/article/doi/10.47626/2237-6089-2022-0496
Trends in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
Original Article

Mental health of Brazilian students during the Covid-19 pandemic: the role of gratitude, optimism, and hope in reducing anxiety

Joice Franciele Friedrich Almansa, Tatiane Trivilin, Claudio Simon Hutz, Rosa Maria Martins de Almeida, Ana Claudia Souza Vazquez, Clarissa Pinto Pizarro de Freitas

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Abstract

Objectives
To investigate the role of optimism, hope, and gratitude as psychosocial factors for healthy development, especially with regard to anxiety in college students in the context of COVID-19. 

Methods
This is a quantitative and descriptive cross-sectional research. The sociodemographic questionnaire and the Brazilian versions of the anxiety scale B-GRAT, LOT-R, Hope Index, and BIG-FIVE were applied. Data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney correlation, Kruskal-Wallis, Spearman, and hierarchical linear regression.

Results
A total of 297 students were assessed. In the hierarchical linear analysis, the relationship of gratitude with anxiety becomes positive, contradicting the negative association of these variables in Spearman's correlation. The contradictions may result from the suppression effect. When gratitude was added to the model, these three variables together accounted for 38% of the variance in anxiety. This indicates that optimism, hope, and gratitude together are significant predictors, but optimism alone accounts for a large part of the variance for decreased anxiety.

Conclusions
The data confirm that family and religiosity are protective factors against mental illness, specifically non-adaptive anxiety.  Furthermore, developing optimism as a protective factor makes it possible to experience less anxiety while hope has the potential to provide the individual with multiple pathways to healthy development. This study has highlighted that gratitude plays a dual role in these relationships as it has the potential to be associated with anxious feelings with likely negative outcomes while at the same time it can drive positive psychosocial factors of optimism and hope in decreasing anxiety.

Keywords

Anxiety, college students, pandemic, positive psychology, protective factors

Submitted date:
03/03/2022

Accepted date:
08/09/2022

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