The mediating role of avoiding temptation on the relationship between gratitude and academic engagement

The present study examined the association between trait gratitude (a tendency to experience gratitude in daily life) and academic engagement (a fulfilling and positive state of mind that is study-related), with a primary focus on confirming the mediating role of avoidance of temptation (commitment to long-term goals by avoiding situations in which they might be threatened by short-term goals) in Chinese college students. A total of 348 university students volunteered to participate in the study. The participants completed the Trait Gratitude Scale, Avoidance of Temptation Scale, and the Academic Engagement Scale. The results show that people with higher levels of gratitude reported higher levels of avoidance of temptation (r = 0.31, p < 0.01) and academic engagement (r = 0.27, p < 0.01). Structural equation modeling revealed that avoidance of temptation fully mediated the associations between gratitude and academic engagement [CFI = 0.974]. The results show that 16.8% of the variance for academic engagement could be explained by this model. These results suggest that people with higher levels of gratitude tend to adopt proactive self-control strategies such as situation selection to avoid temptation, which might contribute to positive functioning (i.e., academic engagement). Implications and directions for future research on academic engagement are discussed.