From wisdom to life satisfaction: Unpacking the mediating role of gratitude

Sigit Hariyadi; Mulawarman Mulawarman; Sunawan Sunawan

doi:10.36728/cijgc.v7i1.6579

Sigit Hariyadi Department of Guidance and Counseling, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9167-9335
Mulawarman Mulawarman Department of Guidance and Counseling, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6150-6027
Sunawan Sunawan Department of Guidance and Counseling, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8664-5939

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36728/cijgc.v7i1.6579

Keywords: Wisdom, Gratitude, Life Satisfaction, High School Students

Abstract

Adolescents’ life satisfaction is an important indicator of subjective well-being and has been associated with better mental health and academic adjustment. This study examined the effect of wisdom on life satisfaction among high school students and tested gratitude as a mediator of this relationship. A quantitative cross-sectional design was employed using simple mediation analysis (PROCESS Macro Model 4). The participants were 544 high school students in Semarang, selected through random sampling. Data were collected using validated Likert-type scales measuring wisdom, gratitude, and life satisfaction, all of which demonstrated satisfactory internal reliability. Indirect effects were tested using a bias-corrected bootstrap procedure with 10,000 samples. The findings revealed that wisdom significantly predicted gratitude and life satisfaction, while gratitude also significantly predicted life satisfaction. The indirect effect of wisdom on life satisfaction through gratitude was significant, indicating partial mediation. These results suggest that wisdom contributes to adolescents’ life satisfaction both directly and indirectly by fostering gratitude as an important psychological resource. The study extends the positive psychology literature by clarifying the mechanism linking wisdom and life satisfaction and offers practical implications for school-based interventions aimed at promoting student well-being.

References

Aky?l, Y., Okur, S., Erdinç, B., & Sat?c?, S. A. (2025). Gratitude as a longitudinal mediator between social support and mental wellbeing. Acta Psychologica, 261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105793

Ardelt, M., & Jeste, D. V. (2018). Wisdom and hard times: The ameliorating effect of wisdom on the negative association between adverse life events and well-being. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 73(8), 1374–1383.

Ardelt, M. (2003). Empirical assessment of a three-dimensional wisdom scale. Research on Aging, 25(3), 275–324.

Ardelt, M., & Jeste, D. V. (2022). Wisdom as a resiliency factor for subjective well-being in later life. Praxis Klinische Verhalten. Rehabil, 118, 13–28.

Aulia, N. R., & Kasyfillah, M. H. (2025). Review Literatur: Adolescent Life Satisfaction. Psycho Aksara: Jurnal Psikologi, 3(1), 47–56.

Baykal, E., Contreras, F., Abid, G., & Fernández, I. A. (2025). Well-being in the post-pandemic era: the role of meaning in life and resilience. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1696860.

Brudek, P., Steuden, S., & Kaleta, K. (2023). Wisdom and wellbeing in polish older adults: the mediating role of forgiveness. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1163113

Cavioni, V., Grazzani, I., Ornaghi, V., Agliati, A., & Pepe, A. (2021). Adolescents’ mental health at school: The mediating role of life satisfaction. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 720628.

Chauhan, A. S., Mathur, G., Gulati, C., & Sharma, A. (2025). The relationship between gratitude and life satisfaction: The mediating effect of mental well-being. Social Sciences and Humanities Open, 11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2024.101224

Coutts, J. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2023). Questions of value, questions of magnitude: An exploration and application of methods for comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 55(7), 3772–3785.

Dewangan, R. L., Gupta, S., Jeste, D. V., Longkumer, I., & Pathak, S. (2025). The protective role of Wisdom in Suicidal behavior: evidence from Indian adults. BMC Psychology, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-03526-x

Diener, E., & Sim, J. H. (2024). Happiness/Subjective well-being. In Emotion Theory: The Routledge Comprehensive Guide (pp. 199–217). Routledge.

Dong, M., Weststrate, N. M., & Fournier, M. A. (2023). Thirty Years of Psychological Wisdom Research: What We Know About the Correlates of an Ancient Concept. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18(4), 778–811. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916221114096

Fergusson, D. M., McLeod, G. F. H., Horwood, L. J., Swain, N. R., Chapple, S., & Poulton, R. (2015). Life satisfaction and mental health problems (18 to 35 years). Psychological Medicine, 45(11), 2427–2436.

Goulden, A., Hu, R., & King, B. (2026). Life satisfaction and the moderating role of resilience among disabled young people. Children and Youth Services Review, 182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2026.108752

Grimaldy, D. V., & Haryanto, H. C. (2020). Adaptation of Gratitude Questionnaire-6 (GQ–6) in Indonesian Context. Jurnal Psikologi, 47(1), 18–29. https://doi.org/10.22146/JPSI.39608

Hassan, E. T., Gracey, F., & Blake, J. (2025). Evaluation of the Wisdom Enhancement Timeline approach for post-stroke depression using a single-case experimental design. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 53(4), 410–423. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465825101124

Hayes, A. F. (2013). Model templates for PROCESS for SPSS and SAS.

Jeste, D. V, Alexopoulos, G. S., Blazer, D. G., Lavretsky, H., Sachdev, P. S., & Iii, C. F. R. (2026). Wisdom, Resilience, and Well-Being in Later Life. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 46, 25. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-081423

Jiang, L., Zeng, X., He, H., & Wang, S.-B. (2026a). Meaning in life and adolescent depression and anxiety in China: a large-scale study of dual pathways through life satisfaction and resilience. BMC Psychology, 14(1), 150.

Jiang, L., Zeng, X., He, H., & Wang, S.-B. (2026b). Meaning in life and adolescent depression and anxiety in China: a large-scale study of dual pathways through life satisfaction and resilience. BMC Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-03888-2

Kaçmaz, C., & Çelik, O. T. (2025). Life satisfaction in adolescence: A bibliometric analysis. Child Indicators Research, 18(5), 1927–1955.

Kardas, F., Cam, Z., Esk?su, M., & Gel?bolu, S. (2019). Gratitude, hope, optimism and life satisfaction as predictors of psychological well-being. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 19(82), 81–100.

Kaya, F., & Odac?, H. (2024). Subjective well-being: self-forgiveness, coping self-efficacy, mindfulness, and the role of resilience? British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 52(4), 628–644.

Kerry, N., Chhabra, R., & Clifton, J. D. W. (2023). Being Thankful for What You Have: A Systematic Review of Evidence for the Effect of Gratitude on Life Satisfaction. In Psychology Research and Behavior Management (Vol. 16, pp. 4799–4816). Dove Medical Press Ltd. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S372432

Kim, M.-H., Hyun, M., & Jin, M. J. (2024). Impact of indirect gratitude experience on life satisfaction and perceived social support. Journal of Happiness Studies, 25(7), 98.

Kunwijaya, I., Sugiharto, D. Y. P., & Sunawan, S. (2021). Future time perspective and its influence on life satisfaction through hope. Jurnal Bimbingan Konseling, 10(2), 80–88.

Kütük, H., Hatun, O., Ek?i, H., & Ek?i, F. (2023). Investigation of the Relationships Between Mindfulness, Wisdom, Resilience and Life Satisfaction in Turkish Adult Population. Journal of Rational - Emotive and Cognitive - Behavior Therapy, 41(3), 536–551. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-022-00468-w

Li, S., & Chen, X. (2025). How does social comparison of received help relate to interpersonal gratitude? The roles of self-worth and help effectiveness. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 54(6), 1396–1411.

Nicu??, E. G., Opariuc-Dan, C., Diaconu-Gherasim, L. R., & Constantin, T. (2025). Linking trait gratitude to employees’ performance and work motivation: A two-wave longitudinal study. Personality and Individual Differences, 246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2025.113310

Reil, K., & Bono, G. (2026). The impact of materialism, gratitude and psychological needs on life satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2025.113537

Rucker, D. D., Preacher, K. J., Tormala, Z. L., & Petty, R. E. (2011). Mediation analysis in social psychology: Current practices and new recommendations. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5(6), 359–371.

Schienle, A., Tanzmeister, S., & Osmani, F. (2025). Effects of gratitude exercises on reducing anxiety: An app-assisted study. Acta Psychologica, 254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.104874

Shi, J., Liu, Y., Xu, W., & Tang, Y. (2025). The influence of ambiguity tolerance on psychological well-being: The roles of interest-type epistemic curiosity and wisdom. Acta Psychologica, 261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105965

Sugiyono. (2019). Metode Penelitian Kunatitatif Kualitatif dan R&D. In Alfabeta, Bandung. Alfabeta.

Sururin, S., Nihayah, Z., Choirunnisa, C., Hidayat, D. H. Z., Alim, S., & Ramadhan, S. (2026). Gratitude as Social Capital of Happiness: Working Wives’ Perceptions of Husbands’ Social Support in the Islamic Marriage Context. Islamic Guidance and Counseling Journal, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.25217/0020269732400

Tian, H. M., Zhou, Y. Q., Chang, X. L., & Wang, Y. F. (2025). Perceived social support and depression: longitudinal mediating roles of gratitude and meaning in life. BMC Psychology, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-03541-y

Wong, Y. J., Pandelios, A. L., Carlock, K., & Thielmeyer, A. M. B. (2024). Stronger together: perspectives on gratitude social processes in group interventions for adolescents. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1476511.

Wood, A. M., Froh, J. J., & Geraghty, A. W. A. (2010). Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(7), 890–905.

Zadworna, M. (2023). Effects of wisdom on mental health in old age: Exploring the pathways through developmental tasks attainment and self-rated health. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 4541–4554.

Zhang, K., Shi, J., Wang, F., & Ferrari, M. (2023). Wisdom: Meaning, structure, types, arguments, and future concerns. Current Psychology, 42(18), 15030–15051. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02816-6

Zhen, R., Liu, R.-D., Ding, Y., Jiang, R., Jiang, S., & Hong, W. (2021). Gratitude and academic engagement among primary students: Examining a multiple mediating model. Current Psychology, 40, 2543–2551.