TY - JOUR
T1 - Self-Transcendent Aspirations and Life Satisfaction
T2 - The Moderated Mediation Role of Gratitude Considering Conditional Effects of Affective and Cognitive Empathy
AU - Oriol, Xavier
AU - Unanue, Jesús
AU - Miranda, Rafael
AU - Amutio, Alberto
AU - Bazán, César
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the Education Ministry of Peru (PRONABEC), for access to data of this study. We also like to thank to the Consolidated Research group – Grant Reference name: Culture, Cognition and Emotion. University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and Basque Govern (Grant No. Ref IT-1187-19); and the Ministry of Education – Grant Reference name: Culture, Coping and Emotional Regulation: Life and Collective Gatherings Grant No. PSI2017-84145-P.
Funding Information:
The sample is composed of 1,356 university students [mean age = 21.5, standard deviation (SD) = 2.35 years], of which 57.7% are men and 42.3% women. All of them are part of a total of 40,000 students who belong to a scholarship program financed by the Education Ministry of Peru (PRONABEC). The Ministry of Education conducted this study to verify the indicators related to well-being in university students from this program. In order to obtain an adequate psychometric validation of the global questionnaire (78 items), 1,400 students were randomly selected to participate in the study, of which 1,356 were successfully completed.
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2020 Oriol, Unanue, Miranda, Amutio and Bazán.
PY - 2020/8/25
Y1 - 2020/8/25
N2 - Life aspirations are considered one of the most relevant components for human beings to give meaning and purpose to their existence. Different studies emphasized the relevance of intrinsic life aspirations to promote life satisfaction. However, few studies analyze the specific role of the intrinsic aspirations that have been recently categorized as self-transcendent. Self-transcendent aspirations are focused on helping others and improving society and, consequently, are considered aspirations whose purpose transcends oneself. In this sense, the objective of this study is to observe how self-transcendent aspirations are related to life satisfaction through dispositional gratitude. Additionally, we aim to study the moderating role of cognitive and affective empathy. There were 1,356 students (mean age = 21.5, standard deviation = 2.35 years) who took part in a scholarship program funded by the Education Ministry of Peru (PRONABEC), of which 57.7% were men and 42.3% were women. Results show a strong relationship between self-transcendent aspirations, gratitude, and cognitive and affective empathy. In the mediation analysis, an indirect effect of self-transcendent aspirations is observed on life satisfaction via gratitude. However, the moderated mediation showed that the addition of cognitive and affective empathy conditions the mediation effect. In this way, cognitive empathy has a significant interaction in the relationships between self-transcendent aspirations and gratitude, and between self-transcendent aspirations and life satisfaction. Results are discussed to emphasize the relevance of the mediating and moderating mechanisms considered in this study for the understanding of how self-transcendent life aspirations may promote life satisfaction.
AB - Life aspirations are considered one of the most relevant components for human beings to give meaning and purpose to their existence. Different studies emphasized the relevance of intrinsic life aspirations to promote life satisfaction. However, few studies analyze the specific role of the intrinsic aspirations that have been recently categorized as self-transcendent. Self-transcendent aspirations are focused on helping others and improving society and, consequently, are considered aspirations whose purpose transcends oneself. In this sense, the objective of this study is to observe how self-transcendent aspirations are related to life satisfaction through dispositional gratitude. Additionally, we aim to study the moderating role of cognitive and affective empathy. There were 1,356 students (mean age = 21.5, standard deviation = 2.35 years) who took part in a scholarship program funded by the Education Ministry of Peru (PRONABEC), of which 57.7% were men and 42.3% were women. Results show a strong relationship between self-transcendent aspirations, gratitude, and cognitive and affective empathy. In the mediation analysis, an indirect effect of self-transcendent aspirations is observed on life satisfaction via gratitude. However, the moderated mediation showed that the addition of cognitive and affective empathy conditions the mediation effect. In this way, cognitive empathy has a significant interaction in the relationships between self-transcendent aspirations and gratitude, and between self-transcendent aspirations and life satisfaction. Results are discussed to emphasize the relevance of the mediating and moderating mechanisms considered in this study for the understanding of how self-transcendent life aspirations may promote life satisfaction.
KW - affective empathy
KW - cognitive empathy
KW - gratitude
KW - life satisfaction
KW - self-transcendent aspirations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091380204&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02105
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02105
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85091380204
SN - 1664-1078
VL - 11
JO - Frontiers in Psychology
JF - Frontiers in Psychology
M1 - 2105
ER -