title: Thankful for the little things: A meta-analysis of gratitude interventions.
abstract: A recent qualitative review by Wood, Froh, and Geraghty (2010) cast doubt on the efficacy of gratitude interventions, suggesting the need to carefully attend to the quality of comparison groups. Accordingly, in a series of meta-analyses, we evaluate the efficacy of gratitude interventions (ks = 4-18; Ns = 395-1,755) relative to a measurement-only control or an alternative-activity condition across 3 outcomes (i.e., gratitude, anxiety, psychological well-being). Gratitude interventions outperformed a measurement-only control on measures of psychological well-being (d = .31, 95% confidence interval [CI = .04, .58]; k = 5) but not gratitude (d = .20; 95% CI [-.04, .44]; k = 4). Gratitude interventions outperformed an alternative-activity condition on measures of gratitude (d = .46, 95% CI [.27, .64]; k = 15) and psychological well-being (d = .17, 95% CI [.09, .24]; k = 20) but not anxiety (d = .11, 95% CI [-.08, .31]; k = 5). More-detailed subdivision was possible on studies with outcomes assessing psychological well-being. Among these, gratitude interventions outperformed an activity-matched comparison (d = .14; 95% CI [.01, .27]; k = 18). Gratitude interventions performed as well as, but not better than, a psychologically active comparison (d = -.03, 95% CI [-.13, .07]; k = 9). On the basis of these findings, we summarize the current state of the literature and make suggestions for future applied research on gratitude. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Department of Counseling and Psychological Services, Georgia State University.
authors.forename: Don E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: Department of Counseling and Psychological Services, Georgia State University.
authors.forename: Elise
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Choe
authors.affiliation: Department of Counseling and Psychological Services, Georgia State University.
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Meyers
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Iowa State University.
authors.forename: Nathaniel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wade
authors.affiliation: Department of Counseling and Psychological Services, Georgia State University.
authors.forename: Kristen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Varjas
authors.affiliation: Department of Counseling and Psychological Services, Georgia State University.
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gifford
authors.affiliation: Department of Counseling and Psychological Services, Georgia State University.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of North Texas.
authors.forename: Joshua N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Hook
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Hope College.
authors.forename: Daryl R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Van Tongeren
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University.
authors.forename: Brandon J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Griffin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University.
authors.forename: Everett L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Worthington
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D004644:Emotions; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans