title: Preschool-aged children's understanding of gratitude: relations with emotion and mental state knowledge.
abstract: Developmental precursors to children's early understanding of gratitude were examined. A diverse group of 263 children was tested for emotion and mental state knowledge at ages 3 and 4, and their understanding of gratitude was measured at age 5. Children varied widely in their understanding of gratitude, but most understood some aspects of gratitude-eliciting situations. A model-building path analysis approach was used to examine longitudinal relations among early emotion and mental state knowledge and later understanding of gratitude. Children with a better early understanding of emotions and mental states understand more about gratitude. Mental state knowledge at age 4 mediated the relation between emotion knowledge at age 3 and gratitude understanding at age 5. The current study contributes to the scant literature on the early emergence of children's understanding of gratitude.
authors: School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas, Dallas, TX, USA. Jackie.Nelson@utdallas.edu
authors: Jackie A
authors: JA
authors: Nelson
authors: Lia Beatriz
authors: LB
authors: de Lucca Freitas
authors: Marion
authors: M
authors: O'Brien
authors: Susan D
authors: SD
authors: Calkins
authors: Esther M
authors: EM
authors: Leerkes
authors: Stuart
authors: S
authors: Marcovitch
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D032882:Comprehension; D003210:Concept Formation; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male