The Role of Optimism as the Mediator between Family and Mental

Wellbeing among Secondary School Students in East Java

Rahmat Aziz

, Retno Mangestuti

, and Esa Nur Wahyuni

Psychology Department, Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, Indonesia

Islamic Education Department, Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, Indonesia

Keywords: Family, Optimism, Wellbeing

Abstract: The study of wellbeing has become a favorite topic in scientific disciplines. A dominant force was driving

focus on the association with physical and mental health and its role in economic and social issues. The

purpose of study is to test the optimism as the mediator variable between family and mental wellbeing

among students. Subjects were 758 secondary school students in East Java, Indonesia (406 boys and 352

girls). Data obtained through the Brief Family Relationship Scale, Life Orientation Test-Revised, Warwick-

Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. Data were analyzed by mediated regression analysis. The results

showed that family functioning is a predictor of both optimism and wellbeing. The role of family

functioning is decreasing even close to zero when regressing with wellbeing is done by including optimism.

Thus, it was concluded that optimism is a mediator variable from the relationship of family functioning with

well-being on students.

1 INTRODUCTION

The understanding that everyone can benefit from an

increase in mental well-being is known while

acknowledging that many people live with mental

problems. So, an understanding of the factors

affected for well-being is needed to be studied. In

recent years, the topic of well-being has become a

popular topic in cross-disciplinary research. The

dominant force that directs this broad focus is the

well-being association with physical and mental

health and its role in socio-economic and economic

development issues (Boehm, Peterson, Kivimaki, &

Kubzansky, 2011; Bartels, Cacioppo, van

Beijsterveldt, & Boomsma, 2013). The other

research found that well-being predicts longevity

among healthy populations (Steptoe et al., 2008).

The Studies of well-being are critical because a

high level of well-being is associated with

outstanding benefits including improved health,

happiness, meaningfulness in life, increased

longevity, career success, increased quality of social

relations, and improved cognitive function

(Kirkcaldy, 2015). Furthermore, well-being in

students may be related to factors that are not as

relevant to adults. Thus, research on the causes of

well-being in children is very important, and the

correlation of well-being and its components can

change throughout life.

Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, (2005) said

that three aspects could be proposed to explain

variations in the level of well-being: genetic set

points, living conditions, and intentional activities.

These categories explain various factors that

influence well-being including personality types, the

environment, and skills and hobbies. This research

focuses on two factors affected to wellbeing; there

are living environment factor (family functioning)

and personality trait factors (optimism).

Many research's about wellbeing have done. One

of the studies highlighted the importance of social

relationships, that is to say, positive relationships

with family members are influences on student

wellbeing. Some studies have found that lack of

balance in the family affects levels with depression

and poor mental health on a child (Haar, 2014). The

similar result on a family member on wellbeing

found by Krauss, Seltzer, & Jacobson, (2005) and

(Bitsika and Sharpley, 2004).

Besides factors of family functioning, optimism

is also examined as one variable that affects well-

being. The research showed that optimism also

related to students wellbeing (Ruthig et al., 2007).

Aziz, R., Mangestuti, R. and Wahyuni, E.

The Role of Optimism as the Mediator between Family and Mental Wellbeing among Secondary School Students in East Java.

DOI: 10.5220/0008589203450350

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Psychology in Health, Educational, Social, and Organizational Settings (ICP-HESOS 2018) - Improving Mental Health and Harmony in

Global Community, pages 345-350

ISBN: 978-989-758-435-0

345

Optimism is defined as someone's hope that

everyone will experience a positive experience

(Bressler, Bressler and Bressler, 2010). This

opinion, according to Harpaz-Itay and Kaniel

(2012), that optimism is a positive reflection of

favorable approach to understanding the behavior of

human.

Some research reported that optimism was

correlated to wellbeing. The research found that

students who in the first semester got high marks on

their optimism showed higher welfare and less

psychological stress three months later. They show

that the effect of optimism on well-being is not only

direct but also indirect with adaptive coping

methods. (Krypel and Henderson-King, 2010). This

study aims to examine the relationship between a

family with wellbeing, both directly and indirectly

through optimism.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The term of mental wellbeing is often used, in both

policy and academic literature, interchangeably with

the term of positive mental health. Historically, the

understanding of well-being has been a very long

and lively debate, primarily focusing on two views:

hedonic and eudemonic (Tennant et al., 2007). Ryan

and Deci (2001) described the distinction. Hedonic

well-being is primarily focused on the next states of

pleasure and happiness and eudemonic on the

actualization of human potential. Keyes (2013)

explains that the hedonic tradition that focuses on

human concern by maximizing the duration of

positive or pleasant feelings while minimizing the

duration of negative or unpleasant feelings.

Eudemonics is a tradition of eudemonia that focuses

on human care by developing new abilities and

capacities to become fully functional people and

citizens.

According to the World Health Organization

(2004), the concept of wellbeing is a dynamic and

multidimensional concept. It means wellbeing is a

concept that continues to experience change over

time and also as a concept can be understood from

various dimensions. Liddle & Carter (2015) said that

the latest holistic view of well-being includes many

dimensions. This is seen as a combination of

subjective condition of relaxation, the presence of a

positive mood and the absence of negative moods,

and the existence of psychological conditions of

personal growth, life satisfaction, social interactions

with others, and personal relatedness with high-

quality relations (Wyn, Cuervo and Landstedt,

2014).

Many factors affected well-being, one of them is

family. The research conducted by Krauss, Seltzer,

& Jacobson, (2005) found that mothers' positive and

negative experiences affected to their family

members. Similar research conducted by Bitsika and

Sharpley (2004) reports that two-thirds of parents of

autistic children are clinically depressed. It can be

concluded that family is an essential factor affected

to student wellbeing.

Besides, family functioning is also expected to

increase students' optimism (Lopez and Magaña,

2018). This is based on the assumption that families

function correctly teach their children to be able to

solve problems effectively, be able to communicate

directly, distribute appropriate roles, allowing them

to take responsibility for their actions and connect

optimally to the causes of negative and positive

events. On the other hand, that higher family

functions may lead to the development of optimism

and reduce pessimism (Seda Sahin et al., 2010).

In this study, optimism is defined as affection

characteristic of a personality trait. It means that

optimism is optimism is an expectation that exists in

individuals that everything will go towards

goodness. Feelings of optimism bring the individual

to the desired goal, namely the self and ability

possessed. The attitude of optimism makes a person

come out quickly from the problems faced because

of the thought and feeling of having the ability. Also

supported is the assumption that everyone has their

own luck. According to Miller & Topping (1991),

the dimension of personality affection refers to

individual differences in the intensity of emotional

reactions to daily events in his life. The other hand,

optimism refers to the generalized expectancies that

pertain more or less to the person's entire his life.

(Scheier, Carver and Bridges, 2001) explained

that optimistic thinking is cognitive disposition to

expect and anticipate the best results in life. As a

cognitive disposition it will affect how individuals

interpret the intentions and behavior of others in

social relations. Optimistic individuals always wish

the best in life by developing positive attitudes

towards the future and accepting problems with

more constructive adaptations. Fundamentally

optimism is not only a statement that encourages

oneself, but also how to think about the cause of an

event.

The role of optimism in this research is as a

mediator variable that can be an intermediary in the

relationship between family and wellbeing. That is,

the family will effectively influence the wellbeing of

ICP-HESOS 2018 - International Conference on Psychology in Health, Educational, Social, and Organizational Settings

346

students if the student has a high level of optimism.

Therefore, the hypothesis proposed is that the family

can be a predictor of high and wellbeing, both

directly and indirectly through optimism.

3 METHOD

3.1 Participant

The participant consisted of 758 (406 boys, 352

girls) student enrolled in secondary school from 8

cities in East Java. Participants ranged in age from

13 years through 15 years (M= 14,18 SD=.74).

3.2 Measurement

3.2.1 Brief Family Relationship Scale

This scale is used to measure family functions. This

measurement was adapted from the 27-item of the

Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1994)

which consisted of the Cohesion, Expressive, and

Conflict subscales (9 items each). This sub-scale

measures support in the family, freedom of

expression in opinion, and bitter conflict in the

family (Fok, Allen, Henry, & Team, (2014), after

they rewrote items with the help of the focus group

discussion, they tested and deleted items that were

not functioning correctly, leaving the 8-item

Cohesion subscale, the 4-item Expressiveness

subscale, and the 7-item Conflict subscale,

amounting to 19 items.

3.2.2 Life Orientation Test-Revised

This scale was used to measure dispositional

optimism developed by Scheier et al. (1994).

Dispositional optimism is measured using three

positive and three negative items, such as 'In times

of uncertainty, I usually expect the best' or 'If

something is wrong for me, it will happen.' Four

filler items were added to hide the purpose of the

assessment. The response format used is a 5-point

scale, ranging from 1 to 5. The reliability and

validity of LOT-R has been determined as

satisfactory (Cronbach’s alpha =0.83).

3.2.3 Warwick-Edinburgh Mental

Well-being Scale

This scale is used to measure mental well-being by

asking participants how often they feel optimistic

about the future; feel useful; feel relaxed; handle

problems well; think clearly; feeling close to others;

able to decide for yourself about things for the past

two weeks (Stewart-Brown and Janmohamed, 2008).

Responses ranged from 1 to 5 on a 5-point Likert

scale.

4 RESULT

In our study, (a) correlations between the study

variables were investigated; (b) optimism was tested

as the mediators for relationships between family

function and wellbeing. Descriptive statistics and

correlations for the measured variables are presented

in Table 1, wellbeing, family, and optimism was

correlated as expected with one another.

Table 1: Inter correlations and descriptive statistic

12 3 M SD

1 Mental

Wellbeing

- .240** .135** 54,87 8,79

2 Family

Functioning

- .165** 60,48 9,49

3 Optimis

- 23,69 4,09

All correlations are significant at the .001 level

The researchers conducted a mediator analysis to

independently assess whether optimism mediated the

relationship between family and well-being.

Consistent with recommendations from Baron and

Kenny (1986) several conditions are needed to show

meditation. First, the family must be related to

mediator variables and mediator variables: well-

being. Second, mediation variables (optimism), must

be significantly related to well-being. Finally, the

strength of the relationship between family and well-

being must be reduced; mediator variables are also

included in the model. However, there was evidence

for the mediating roles of optimism in the

relationship between family and wellbeing. Thus,

there are three regression equation models to be

analyzed, namely;

1. Model 1: Predictor (family functioning)

correlated with the criterion (well-being).

2. Model 2: Predictor (family functioning)

correlated with the criterion (optimism).

3. Model 3: Predictor (optimism) correlated

with the criterion (mental well-being).

Researchers conducted to assess that optimism as

a mediator for the relationship between family and

wellbeing on the student. The result showed that the

β weight when the family was regressed alone on

wellbeing was β= .240, p<.010. The optimism was

regressed on the family was β= .099, p<.010.

The Role of Optimism as the Mediator between Family and Mental Wellbeing among Secondary School Students in East Java

347

Nevertheless, the β weight dropped from β= .240 to

β= .099 when optimism was added into the equation.

It means, optimism mediated for family and

wellbeing on the student.

Figure 1: The result of indirect effect analysis

5 DISCUSSION

This study shows that family functioning directly

affects wellbeing on students. This result is in line

with the research conducted by Stacciarini et al.

(2015) who found that family conditions were able

to protect or damage wellbeing in Latin immigrants.

Other studies have shown that family characteristics

affect wellbeing in children with autism (Salomone

et al., 2018). Another study was conducted by

Thomas, Liu, & Umberson, (2017) who found a very

close relationship between family conditions and

wellbeing in children.

The effective functioning of the family is

characterized by cohesiveness in the family, freedom

to express emotions and be free from conflict among

family members (Rudolf, H., 1990). Family

conditions above can provide opportunities for

children to develop cognitive and psychological

functions optimally, they can establish positive

relationships with people around and control the

environment in which they live. In other words,

whether or not the wellbeing condition of an

individual is achieved is highly dependent on the

condition of the family where he lives. Conversely,

individuals who are in properly families, they tend to

experience cognitive, emotional and behavioral

problems.

The associations between optimism and well-

being have been found in several studies. (Wrosch

and Scheier, 2003) found that optimism was related

to low depression, deep negative emotions, and life

satisfaction. The other research found that optimism

was negatively associated with negative affect and

positively associated with positive affect (Wrosch

and Scheier, 2003)

The results also found that optimism mediated in

the relationship between family functioning and

well-being in children. Several studies have found

that optimism can be an intermediary variable in the

relationship between spirituality and depression

(Cheadle and Schetter, 2018), the relationship

between experiences of violence in children with

distress (Brodhagen and Wise, 2008), and the

relationship of the number of students in classes

with academic emphasis (Wu, 2013).

The results show that optimism mediates

relationships between families with wellbeing. This

result is in line with the research of Korkeila et al.,

(2004) who found that optimism mediates the

relationship between parent-child and child

hardiness, in other words, family conditions

effectively affect wellbeing if there is an increase in

optimism aspects of children. Other studies have

found that optimism mediates on the relationship

between meaningfulness in life and wellbeing (Ho,

Cheung and Cheung, 2010). It means that

meaningfulness in life is more effective in increasing

wellbeing if through increased optimism.

Many theories can be used to explain wellbeing

on students. Among the theories are a self-

determinant theory (Ryan, 1995), focuses on

volitional or self‐determined behavior and the social

and cultural conditions that promote it. Attachment

theory (Bowlby, 1988) focuses on the relationship

between well-being in the context of the family. A

dynamic equilibrium model or Set point theory of

wellbeing (Headey and Wearing, 1989) focus on

how people can overcome the changes that occur

and how their level of well-being is affected in their

lives. Hendry and Kloep’s (2002) Lifelong

development models also explore and explain the

interactions that occur between challenges in life and

personal resources.

According to Graham (2006), attachment theory

aims to explain the attachment process and

attachment behavior. The Attachment process is

biological in the form of a person's tendency to feel

comfortable and protected, while attachment

behavior is a behavior that is produced by a person

to gain closeness to identify individuals who are

considered more able to overcome the world and

provide the necessary comfort and protection.

The explanation from the attachment theory is:

attachment to his family can cause an individual

who has a high level of wellbeing, therefore, to

develop well-being in students must begin by

creating a family condition that works well, namely

ICP-HESOS 2018 - International Conference on Psychology in Health, Educational, Social, and Organizational Settings

348

the mutual support between family, giving freedom

to expression, and reducing the tendency for conflict

between family members.

Teenagers between the ages of 13 until 15 are

still very dependent on their parents emotionally,

cognitively and financially. They still live together

with their parents, so they still feel attached to their

parents. The results of this study imply that parents

have a beneficial and strategic role in developing

youthful optimism, which in turn can improve their

well-being.

6 CONCLUSION

The family function is an important variable to study

for developing optimism and wellbeing on the

student. Optimism is a mediator variable from the

relationship of family functioning with well-being

on students. It means that the family will play a

more active role in increasing wellbeing if the

individual has a high level of optimism.

The Suggestions that can be proposed for parents

in interacting with adolescents is that they should

play a role as parents well because this role can

become a means for teens to develop their optimism

and wellbeing in carrying out their lives.

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