Secure Style, PWB-related Gratitude and SWB-related Engagement as Predictors of Affect Balance among Social Science Students in Malaysia: A Pilot Study

Affect balance is sometimes used as an indicator of overall well-being. Most well-being studies have focused on differences across a number of sociodemographic categories and big five personalities, while there have been relatively few studies examining the predictors on affect balance. Therefore, this study aims to examine the associations of secure style, psychosocial well-being on affect balance and to examine secure style, psychological well-being-related gratitude and social well-being-related engagement as predictors of affect balance among social science students. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 166 social science students. A set of self-reports measuring affect balance, secure style, psychological well-being-related gratitude and social well-being-related engagement was self-administered and returned upon completion. Factorial analysis was used to examine factor loadings of items, Pearson correlations were used to see the relationships of variables to affect balance, and stepwise multiple regression was used to examine predictors of affect balance. A total of 166 (83%) social science students responded to this study. Pearson correlations showed that all variables studied were significantly correlated to affect balance. Results showed that psychological well-being-related gratitude, insecure style, and social well-being-related engagement were the strongest predictors of affect balance. The study concludes that low scores on insecure style, high scores on psychological wellbeing- related gratitude, and social wellbeing- related engagement all contributed to affect balance.