The unique effects of hope and gratitude on psychological distress and well-being in trauma-exposed Hispanic/Latino adults.

Abstract

Objective: Gratitude and hope are well-established predictors of well-being and buffers against posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety symptoms. However, scarce literature exists that investigates these relationships in a Hispanic/Latino sample. The current study investigates gratitude's and hope's relationship to PTSD and anxiety symptoms and different domains of well-being in trauma-exposed Hispanic/Latino young adults at a large southern university. Method: The sample was composed of 732 undergraduate students who were mostly female (80.7%) and young adults, (M age = 21.8, SD = 4.3), who endorsed experiencing one or more traumatic events via the Life Events Checklist. Students completed an online survey for course credit. Results: Structural equation models were used to analyze the data. Gratitude had a stronger inverse relationship with PTSD symptoms (β = −.43, 95% CI [−0.50, −0.35]) and anxiety symptoms (β = −.28, 95% CI [−0.36, −0.20]) compared to hope (β = .06, 95% CI [−0.01, 0.14]) (β = −.06, 95% CI [−0.14, 0.02]).Both gratitude and hope were robust predictors of the three domains of well-being. Conclusions: The current study found that hope and gratitude predicted resilience in trauma-exposed Hispanic/Latino young adults. Decreased levels of gratitude were a stronger predictor of psychological distress and subjective wellbeing than decreased levels of hope, but hope was a robust predictor of the three well-being domains. The findings of this study may lend support for the development of hope and gratitude interventions in a Hispanic/Latino population for the prevention of PTSD symptoms and anxiety symptoms via engendering higher levels of resilience. Clinical Impact StatementDecreased levels of gratitude and hope predicted posttraumatic stress disorder and anxiety symptoms while increased levels predicted the various domains of well-being in a Hispanic/Latino sample. Gratitude and hope both predicted these outcomes, although gratitude was generally a stronger predictor when compared to hope, except for social and psychological well-being. The current study may support the development of gratitude and hope interventions for Hispanic/Latino young adults who have experienced trauma.