Counting blessings in early adolescents: an experimental study of gratitude and subjective well-being.
The development and manifestation of gratitude in youth is unclear. We examined the effects of a grateful outlook on subjective well-being and other outcomes of positive psychological functioning in 221 early adolescents. Eleven classes were randomly assigned to either a gratitude, hassles, or control condition. Results indicated that counting blessings was associated with enhanced self-reported gratitude, optimism, life satisfaction, and decreased negative affect. Feeling grateful in response to aid mediated the relationship between experimental condition and general gratitude at the 3-week follow-up. The most significant finding was the robust relationship between gratitude and satisfaction with school experience at both the immediate post-test and 3-week follow-up. Counting blessings seems to be an effective intervention for well-being enhancement in early adolescents.
Froh
Jeffrey J
JJ
Psychology Department, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY 11549, USA. Jeffrey.Froh@hofstra.edu
Sefick
William J
WJ
Emmons
Robert A
RA
D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D000367:Age Factors; D001290:Attitude; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires