RESEARCH PAPER
Non-attachment and happiness: mediating versus moderating roles of grit personality
1
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kampar Campus, Perak, Malaysia
Submission date: 2019-09-12
Final revision date: 2020-02-25
Acceptance date: 2020-02-26
Online publication date: 2020-05-15
Publication date: 2020-05-18
Current Issues in Personality Psychology 2020;8(1):31-40
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
the role of personality in interpersonal relations and social behaviorspersonality developmentquality of life and well beingpersonality, religion and spirituality
ABSTRACT
Background:
Studies have revealed that grit personality and non-attachment are positively associated with happiness. Grittier people are happier while they persist in pursuing their long-term goal, whereas non-attached people are hap-pier as they are not clinging onto any object. These contrasting findings seem to suggest that the two concepts may have some relevancies. Accordingly, this study aims to use the mediator and moderator models to exam-ine whether grit personality either moderates or mediates the effects of non-attachment on happiness.
Participants and procedure:
Three hundred sixty undergraduates were recruited by the purposive sampling method to participate in a survey. They needed to fill in the Short Grit Scale, Non-Attachment Scale and Subjective Happiness Scale.
Results:
The results showed that non-attachment is positively associated with a component of grit; that only persever-ance of efforts, but not consistency of interest, was positively associated with non-attachment. In addition, per-severance of efforts mediates rather than moderates the effects of non-attachment on happiness.
Conclusions:
The findings suggesting that non-attached people are happier does not mean they detach from life. They are able to work with perseverance on their long-term goals, but they do not attach to the outcome of their goals. The findings provide further conceptual clarification of grit personality and non-attachment and further infor-mation to educators and program managers while designing programs to improve happiness.
Studies have revealed that grit personality and non-attachment are positively associated with happiness. Grittier people are happier while they persist in pursuing their long-term goal, whereas non-attached people are hap-pier as they are not clinging onto any object. These contrasting findings seem to suggest that the two concepts may have some relevancies. Accordingly, this study aims to use the mediator and moderator models to exam-ine whether grit personality either moderates or mediates the effects of non-attachment on happiness.
Participants and procedure:
Three hundred sixty undergraduates were recruited by the purposive sampling method to participate in a survey. They needed to fill in the Short Grit Scale, Non-Attachment Scale and Subjective Happiness Scale.
Results:
The results showed that non-attachment is positively associated with a component of grit; that only persever-ance of efforts, but not consistency of interest, was positively associated with non-attachment. In addition, per-severance of efforts mediates rather than moderates the effects of non-attachment on happiness.
Conclusions:
The findings suggesting that non-attached people are happier does not mean they detach from life. They are able to work with perseverance on their long-term goals, but they do not attach to the outcome of their goals. The findings provide further conceptual clarification of grit personality and non-attachment and further infor-mation to educators and program managers while designing programs to improve happiness.
REFERENCES (47)
1.
Agrawal, S., & Jaiswal, S. (2013). Anasakti: Stress and coping in old age. Indian Journal of Gerontolo-gy, 27, 665–673.
2.
Banth, S., & Talwar, C. (2012). Anasakti, the Hindu ideal, and its relationship to well-being and orienta-tions to happiness. Journal of Religion and Health, 51, 934–946. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943....
3.
Berzin, A. (1988). Detachment, nonviolence and compassion. Retrieved from https://studybuddhism.com/en/a....
4.
Bretherton, I. (1992). The origins of attachment theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Develop-mental Psychology, 28, 759–775.
5.
Caspi, A., Roberts, B. W., & Shiner, R. L. (2005). Personality development: Stability and change. An-nual Review of Psychology, 56, 453–484. https://doi.org/10.1146/annure....
6.
Chaplin, W. F. (2007). Moderator and mediator models in personality research: a basic introduction. In R. W. Robins, R. C. Fraley, & R. F. Kreuger (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in personality psychology (pp. 602–362). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
7.
Chen, Y. H. (2006). Coping with suffering: The Buddhist perspective. In P. T. P. Wong & L. C. J. Wong (Eds.), Handbook of multicultural perspectives on stress and coping (pp. 73–89). Boston, MA: Springer.
8.
Chio, F. H., Lai, M. H., & Mak, W. W. (2018). Development of the Non-Attachment Scale – Short Form (NAS-SF) using item response theory. Mindfulness, 9, 1299–1308. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671....
9.
Culin, K. R. V., Tsukayama, E., & Duckworth, A. L. (2014). Unpacking grit: Motivational correlates of perseverance and passion for long-term goals. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 9, 306–312. https://doi.org/10.1080/174397....
10.
Datu, J. A. D., Valdez, J. P. M., & King, R. B. (2016). Perseverance counts but consistency does not! Validating the Short Grit Scale in a collectivist setting. Current Psychology, 35, 121–130. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144....
11.
Disabato, D. J., Goodman, F. R., & Kashdan, T. B. (2018). Is grit relevant to well-being and strengths? Evidence across the globe for separating perseverance of effort and consistency of in-terests. Journal of Personality, 87, 194–211. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.1....
13.
Duckworth, A. L., & Gross, J. J. (2014). Self-control and grit: Related but separable determinants of success. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23, 319–325. https://doi.org/10.1177/096372....
14.
Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and pas-sion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 1087–1101. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3....
15.
Duckworth, A. L., & Quinn, P. D. (2009). Development and validation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S). Journal of Personality Assessment, 91, 166–174. https://doi.org/10.1080/002238....
16.
Elphinstone, B., & Whitehead, R. (2019). The benefits of being less fixated on self and stuff: Nonat-tachment, reduced insecurity, and reduced materialism. Personality and Individual Differences, 149, 302–308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid....
17.
Fischer-Schreiber, I., Ehrhard, F. K., Friedrichs, K., & Diener, M. S. (1994). The encyclopedia of East-ern philosophy and religion: Buddhism, Taoism, Zen, Hinduism. Boston, MA: Shambhala.
18.
Gillath, O., Karantzas, G. C., & Lee, J. (2019). Attachment and social networks. Current Opinion in Psychology, 25, 21–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cops....
19.
Hadi, N. U., Abdullah, N., & Sentosa, I. (2016). Making sense of mediating analysis: a marketing per-spective. Review of Integrative Business & Economics Research, 5, 62–76.
20.
Hair Jr, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C., & Sarstedt, M. (2016). A primer on partial least squares struc-tural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
21.
Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43, 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747....
22.
Kelly, B. D. (2008). Buddhist psychology, psychotherapy and the brain: a critical introduction. Transcultural Psychiatry, 45, 5–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/136346....
23.
Khan, B. M., & Khan, A. M. (2017). Grit, happiness and life satisfaction among professionals: a correlational study. Journal of Psychology and Cognition, 2, 123–132. https://doi.org/10.35841/psych....
24.
Kleiman, E. M., Adams, L. M., Kashdan, T. B., & Riskind, J. H. (2013). Gratitude and grit indirectly reduce risk of suicidal ideations by enhancing meaning in life: Evidence for a mediated moderation model. Journal of Research in Personality, 47, 539–546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.....
25.
Lyubomirsky, S., & Lepper, H. S. (1999). A measure of subjective happiness: Preliminary reliability and construct validation. Social Indicators Research, 46, 137–155. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006....
26.
Nagar, I. (2018). Self-regulation for sustaining happiness and well-being: an Indian perspective. Psy-chological Studies, 63, 181–186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646....
27.
Pande, N. (2013). Kartavya: Understanding selfless acts. Psychology and Developing Societies, 25, 109–132. https://doi.org/10.1177/097133....
28.
Pande, N., & Tewari, S. (2011). Understanding coping with distress due to physical disability. Psy-chology and Developing Societies, 23, 177–209. https://doi.org/10.1177/097133....
29.
Pandey, J., & Singh, M. (2015). Asakti-Anasakti as mediator of emotional labor strategies and burn-out: a study on ASHA workers. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 51, 57–68.
30.
Park, N., Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. (2004). Strengths of character and well-being. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23, 603–619. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2....
31.
Peluso, P. R., Peluso, J. P., White, J. F., & Kern, R. M. (2004). A comparison of attachment theory and individual psychology: a review of the literature. Journal of Counseling & Development, 82, 139–145. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556....
32.
Rimfeld, K., Kovas, Y., Dale, P. S., & Plomin, R. (2016). True grit and genetics: Predicting academic achievement from personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111, 780–789. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp00....
33.
Roberts, B. W., Luo, J., Briley, D. A., Chow, P. I., Su, R., & Hill, P. L. (2017). A systematic review of personality trait change through intervention. Psychological Bulletin, 143, 117–141. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul000....
34.
Sahdra, B., Ciarrochi, J., & Parker, P. (2016). Non-attachment and mindfulness: Related but distinct constructs. Psychological Assessment, 28, 819–829. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas000....
35.
Sahdra, B., Ciarrochi, J., Parker, P. D., Marshall, S., & Heaven, P. (2015). Empathy and nonattach-ment independently predict peer nominations of prosocial behavior of adolescents. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.....
36.
Sahdra, B., & Shaver, P. R. (2013). Comparing attachment theory and Buddhist psychology. Interna-tional Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 23, 282–293. https://doi.org/10.1080/105086....
37.
Sahdra, B., Shaver, P. R., & Brown, K. W. (2010). A scale to measure nonattachment: a Buddhist complement to Western research on attachment and adaptive functioning. Journal of Personality Assessment, 92, 116–127. https://doi.org/10.1080/002238....
38.
Sedlmeier, P., Losse, C., & Quasten, L. C. (2018). Psychological effects of meditation for healthy practitioners: an update. Mindfulness, 9, 371–387. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671....
39.
Siah, P. C., Ng, A. H. W., Dharmaraj, E., Foo, C., Tan, S. M., & Wider, W. (2019). Grit personality as a mediator or moderator for the effects of internet addiction on procrastination. Journal of Institu-tional Research South East Asia, 17, 18–32.
40.
Siah, P. C., Ong, P. J. M., Ngiam, S. J., & Tan, J. T. A. (2018). The mediating effect of grit on sleep quality and academic performance among undergraduates in Malaysia. Journal of Institutional Re-search South East Asia, 16, 112–125.
41.
Specht, J., Egloff, B., & Schmukle, S. C. (2011). Stability and change of personality across the life course: The impact of age and major life events on mean-level and rank-order stability of the Big Five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 862–882. https://doi.org/10.1037/a00249....
42.
Trinh, L., & Khanh, H. (2019). Happy people: Who are they? A pilot indigenous study on conceptual-ization of happiness in Vietnam. Health Psychology Report, 7, 296–304. https://doi.org/10.5114/hpr.20....
43.
Upadhyay, R. P., & Vashishtha, A. C. (2014). Effect of Anasakti and level of post on job satisfaction of employees. International Journal of Indian Psychology, 2, 101–107.
44.
Vallerand, R. J. (2012). The role of passion in sustainable psychological well-being. Psychology of Well-Being: Theory, Research and Practice, 2, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1186/2211-1....
45.
Webster, J. D. (1998). Attachment styles, reminiscence functions and happiness in young and elderly adults. Journal of Aging Studies, 12, 315–330. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0890-....
46.
Whitehead, R., Bates, G., & Elphinstone, B. (2019). Growing by letting go: Nonattachment and mind-fulness as qualities of advanced psychological development. Journal of Adult Development, 27, 12–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804....
47.
Zhao, X., Lynch Jr, J. G., & Chen, Q. (2010). Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and truths about mediation analysis. Journal of Consumer Research, 37, 197–206. https://doi.org/10.1086/651257.
Copyright: © Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk This is an Open Access journal, all articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license.
Share
RELATED ARTICLE
| eISSN: | 2353-561X |
| ISSN: | 2353-4192 |
We process personal data collected when visiting the website. The function of obtaining information about users and their behavior is carried out by voluntarily entered information in forms and saving cookies in end devices. Data, including cookies, are used to provide services, improve the user experience and to analyze the traffic in accordance with the Privacy policy. Data are also collected and processed by Google Analytics tool (more).
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
