Self-regulation and solution-focused thinking mediate the relationship between self-insight and subjective well-being within a goal-focused context: An exploratory study

Self-insight, the clarity of one’s understanding of one’s thoughts, feelings and behaviour, has long been thought to be an important factor in change methodologies. It has been assumed that higher levels of self-insight are related to self-regulation and solution-focused thinking which facilitates goal striving. There has been little to no research that has explored the links between self-insight and self-regulation, or between solution-focused thinking and self-regulation. Further, there has been little research exploring the relationship between self-insight and subjective well-being (SWB). In a goal-priming process, 169 participants identified three specific goals that they have strived for over the past 3 years. The aim of this priming process was to make salient participants’ understanding of their personal capacity for self-regulation in the light of a real-life goal striving experience. Participants then completed measures related to self-regulation, self-insight, solution-focused thinking and SWB. Path analysis indicated that there was no direct path from self-insight to SWB, but self-insight significantly predicted self-regulation which in turn predicted solution-focused thinking, which then predicted SWB. Self-regulation displayed a significant positive relationship with SWB which was fully mediated by solution-focused thinking. These exploratory findings have important implications for understanding the psychological “mechanics” of positive change processes.