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E-ISSN : 2733-4538
The aim of this study was to examine the efficacy of a gratitude intervention for reducing job seeking stress and improving mental health variables among undergraduate students. Moreover, to shed light on its mechanism of action, we proposed and examined meaning in life as a potential mediator of treatment efficacy, based on literature review. A gratitude intervention was provided to undergraduate students who suffered from job-seeking stress and had agreed to participate in the study. A comparison group was given psycho-education. Both participants in the gratitude intervention (n=17) and in the psychoeducation conditions (n=20) received four-session interventions corresponding to the purpose of each condition. Compared with the participants in the psycho-education condition, those in the gratitude intervention condition demonstrated a decrease in job-seeking anxiety, academic stress, depressive symptoms, and perceived stress, as well as an increase in life satisfaction, mental well-being, and happiness. Moreover, improvement in meaning in life partially mediated the efficacy of the gratitude intervention on perceived stress, life satisfaction, mental well-being, and happiness, and also fully mediated its efficacy on academic stress. These results suggest that gratitude intervention is an efficacious intervention for job-seeking stress and various mental health variables among undergraduate students, and that its efficacy may be mediated through increase in meaning in life. Finally, theoretical and practical implications and limitations of the study’s findings are discussed.
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