The relationship of gratitude and subjective well-being to self-efficacy and control of learning beliefs among college students

This study investigated the relationship between gratitude, subjective well-being, personal and academic self efficacy and control of learning beliefs. The purpose of this dissertation was to extend the research on variables that contribute to academic success in college students. A non-experimental quantitative design was utilized. A sample of 206 four-year art college students completed a 38 item survey assessing their level of gratitude, subjective well-being, general self-efficacy, academic self-efficacy, and control of learning beliefs. Specifically, the survey consisted of items from: The Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6), The Satisfaction with Life Scale, The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), The General Perceived Self-efficacy Scale (GPSS), and The Patterns of Adaptive Learning (PAL).;The results of the study indicate a strong correlation between all variables. Gratitude was significantly correlated with general self-efficacy, academic self-efficacy, subjective well-being, and control of learning beliefs. Subjective well-being was correlated to academic self-efficacy, general self-efficacy, control of learning beliefs, and gratitude. Results of the linear and multiple regressions showed that gratitude predicted 7.9% of the variance in academic self-efficacy, and 6.3% of general self-efficacy. Subjective well-being predicted 16.3% of the variance in general self-efficacy and 4.9% in academic self-efficacy. Results from this exploratory study indicated that gratitude and subjective well-being were positively correlated to both general and academic self-efficacy, and learning beliefs. In addition, gratitude and subjective well-being predicted general self-efficacy and academic self-efficacy of college students. Future research could build on these findings by assessing the efficacy and regulatory behaviors of students after participating in school based interventions aimed at increasing gratitude and subjective well-being. Suggestions for classroom and counseling interventions are provided.