The Role of Social Support Dimensions in Psychological Well-Being of High School Students through Gratitude Mediation

One of the most important stages in human development is adolescence; the period when a person goes through childhood and encounters new plans and responsibilities in the family and society. One of the most critical adolescent issues is adolescents' mental health and well-being. Various research studies have shown that psychological well-being is necessary for many successes and advances of individuals. It should be noted that many factors can increase or decrease psychological well-being; knowing them can be used to help adolescents improve psychological well-being. Various studies have shown that social support is one of the variables that play an important role in well-being. Gratitude is one of the factors that can probably act as a mediator in the impact of social support on people's well-being. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the role of social support in the well-being of high school students in Ashkezar with the mediating role of gratitude. 

This study was a correlational one (structural equation modeling). The population of this study included all male and female high school students in Ashkezar in the academic year of 2020-2021. A sample of 274 students was selected from the study population by convenient sampling. The research data were collected through Zimment et al.'s Social Support Questionnaire, Morgan et al.'s Gratitude Questionnaire, and Reef's Psychological Well-Being Scale. Data were analyzed by structural equation modeling using Amos-24 software. A bootstrap test was also used to check the indirect effects and mediating roles. Finally, various fitness indices were applied to check the consistency between the data and the conceptual framework. 

Regarding direct effects, the results showed that social support has a positive and significant effect on gratitude (β = 0.73) and psychological well-being (β = 0.63). The results also showed that gratitude positively and significantly affects psychological well-being (β = 0.42). The results of the bootstrap test also showed that in the relationship between social support and psychological well-being, the variable of gratitude could play a mediating role. Finally, the results showed that the proposed model has good fitness.

In sum, according to the research findings, it can be concluded that families and community officials can provide the environment to improve adolescents' mental health by delivering appropriate supportive environments. Also, proper conditions can promote adolescents' psychological well-being by teaching gratitude to adolescents. The results have been discussed in more detail using theoretical bases in the paper.