research studies on gratitude

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

The reciprocal relationship between gratitude and life satisfaction: evidence from two longitudinal field studies.

• 1 Escuela de Negocios, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile
• 2 Escuela de Psicología, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile
• 3 Facultad de Educación y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
• 4 KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
• 5 Optentia Research Programme, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

Gratitude and life satisfaction are associated with several indicators of a good life (e.g., health, pro-social behavior, and relationships). However, how gratitude and life satisfaction relate to each other over time has remained unknown until now. Although a substantial body of research has tested the link from gratitude to life satisfaction, the reverse association remains unexplored. In addition, recent cross-cultural research has questioned the link between gratitude and subjective well-being in non-Western countries, suggesting that the benefits of gratitude may only prevail in Western societies. However, previous cross-cultural studies have only compared western (e.g., American) and eastern (e.g., Asian) cultures, but this simple contrast does not adequately capture the diversity in the world. To guide further theory and practice, we therefore extended previous cross-sectional and experimental studies, by testing the bi-directional longitudinal link between gratitude and life satisfaction in a Latin American context, aiming to establish temporal precedence. We assessed two adult samples from Chile, using three-wave cross-lagged panel designs with 1 month (Study 1, N = 725) and 3 months (Study 2, N = 1,841) between waves. Both studies show, for the first time, that gratitude and life satisfaction mutually predict each other over time. The reciprocal relationships suggest the existence of a virtuous circle of human well-being: higher levels of gratitude increase life satisfaction, which in turn increases gratitude, leading to a positive spiral. Key theoretical and practical implications for the dynamics of human flourishing and field of positive psychology are discussed.

Thanks to life, which has given me so much It gave me two stars, which when I open them, Perfectly distinguish black from white And in the tall sky its starry backdrop, And within the multitudes the one that I love. Thanks to life Violeta Parra, Chilean poet

Life satisfaction and gratitude are important for living a good life. The benefits of both constructs have been extensively documented. They include, for instance, better mental and physical health, more pro-social behavior, high-quality relationships, and more meaningful lives ( Wood et al., 2010 ; Diener and Tay, 2017 ). Life satisfaction ( Diener, 1984 ) is a key predictor of well-being ( Helliwell et al., 2013 ) and a fundamental construct for advising on public policies ( Diener et al., 2009 ): the OECD, e.g., has used life satisfaction to assess the progress of the nations through the Better Life Index ( OECD, n.d. ). Gratitude, a tendency to appreciate the good and positive, is an equally essential nutrient for people flourishing ( Wood et al., 2010 ).

Research has extensively shown a positive link between gratitude and life satisfaction ( Froh et al., 2009 ; Wood et al., 2010 ; Alkozei et al., 2018 ). However, how both constructs relate to each other over time has remained unknown until now. Previous studies have only explored the link from gratitude to life satisfaction, whereas the reverse association has not been tested yet. Drawing on Watkins (2004) seminal article, we theorized a reciprocal relationship between both constructs and thus a “circle of virtue”.

As gratitude and life satisfaction likely unfold over time, we need to do more to disentangle the ongoing, naturally occurring, reciprocal relations between pre-existing (rather than momentarily primed) gratitude and life satisfaction. Appropriate and well-suited longitudinal designs—still scarce in the field—are needed in order to complement the existing evidence and test whether both constructs are reciprocally related ( Wood et al., 2008 ). This paper presents two such studies, among Chilean adults, that could contribute in this area.

Studying the directionality between gratitude and life satisfaction is important, both from a theoretical and practical point of view. From a theoretical perspective, our studies make four main contributions. First, longitudinal field research is necessary for clarifying the direction of the link between gratitude and life satisfaction, in order to identify whether there is a temporal precedence between the constructs or whether the link is only due to a shared variance with other variables. Second, clarifying the prospective direction of the link between gratitude and life satisfaction allows their conceptualizations and implications to be enriched. If our reciprocal hypothesis is supported, gratitude would be not only an antecedent of life satisfaction but also a consequence of it and vice versa. These findings would show the complexity, multi-directionality, and interdependence between both constructs. Third, the potential influence of gratitude on subjective well-being (SWB; Diener, 1984 ) has not yet been fully confirmed in the non-Western world. Indeed, recent cross-cultural research has suggested that benefits of gratitude may only reach Western societies ( Boehm et al., 2011 ; Layous et al., 2013 ; Shin et al., in press ). However, previous studies have only compared Asian and American cultures. Therefore, we think it is important to extend gratitude research by including additional non-Western countries like Chile, which allows us to go beyond the traditional Western-Eastern dichotomy ( Vignoles et al., 2016 ). Fourth, while the great majority of previous studies have explored students and young populations ( Davis et al., 2016 ), we assessed working adults.

From a practical point of view, if the reciprocal relationship is supported, it would open the possibility for a virtuous or a vicious circle in health and well-being interventions. On the one hand, higher gratitude would lead to higher life satisfaction, which in turn would increase gratitude, leading to a positive spiral in human flourishing. On the other hand, the lack of either gratitude or life satisfaction may lead to a negative process in human wellness. Policy makers and health practitioners could benefit from these findings. By teaching people the importance of gratitude and life satisfaction—and how to foster each of them, practitioners from different settings (clinical, educational, organizational, etc.) may not only help people to protect their mental health but also show them how to move toward a virtuous circle of flourishing and well-being.

Accordingly, we conducted two longitudinal studies to examine the prospective link from gratitude to life satisfaction as well as the reverse link from life satisfaction to gratitude. Before presenting the results, we first describe gratitude and life satisfaction and argue for their reciprocal relationship.

Gratitude and Life Satisfaction

Gratitude has been conceptualized from different perspectives ( McCullough et al., 2002 ). The most comprehensive approach—and the one we used in this paper–defines gratitude as a life orientation ( Wood et al., 2010 ). From this perspective, people may feel grateful because they are alive, because they are able to walk in a beautiful park, or just from the appreciations of their abilities ( Wood et al., 2010 ). Research has found that higher gratitude is associated with a better life, indexed as higher positive affect, self-esteem, positive emotions, optimism, autonomy, environmental mastery, relationships, personal growth, meaning in life, and self-acceptance. Gratitude has also been associated with lower ill-being in terms of negative affect, depression, anxiety, phobia, bulimia, addictions, negative emotions, dysfunctions, anger, and hostility. For a review and a meta-analysis, see Davis et al. (2016) and Wood et al. (2010) .

Subjective well-being (SWB; Diener, 1984 ) refers to “people’s sense of wellness in their lives, in both thoughts and feelings” ( Diener and Tay, 2017 , p. 90). Life satisfaction is the cognitive component of SWB ( Diener et al., 1985 ) and reflects the global evaluation that people make about their satisfaction with their own lives in several domains such as work, marriage, and health ( Diener et al., 2017 ). Life satisfaction is associated with a host of positive outcomes, indexed in terms of better mental and physical health, healthier weight and eating behaviors, more exercise, longer life expectancy, higher levels of career satisfaction, lower turnover intentions, and higher organizational commitment. It has also been associated with lower ill-being, indexed as lower addictions and unhealthy habits (e.g., tobacco, drugs, and alcohol use), lower mortality rates, and lower levels of anxiety and depression. The benefits of life satisfaction also reach the whole of society. Higher life satisfaction predicts altruism (e.g., donating, helping, and volunteering) as well as lower homicide, suicide, and illness rates. For a review, see Diener et al. (2017) and Diener and Tay (2017) .

Research Studying the Link Between Gratitude and Life Satisfaction: The Need for Longitudinal Studies

Cross-sectional studies have given strong support for the relationships between gratitude and life satisfaction. However, cross-sectional designs are not able to disentangle either the origins or the direction of this relationship. Experimental evidence has found support for the hypothesized causal link from gratitude to life satisfaction. Priming or experimentally inducing gratitude leads participants to feel better about their lives as a whole and to experience more life satisfaction ( Emmons and McCullough, 2003 ; Rash et al., 2011 ). Writing letters of gratitude over a 3-week period also increases participants’ happiness and life satisfaction and decreases depressive symptoms ( Toepfer et al., 2012 ). Experimental studies are the strongest evidence for causality between gratitude and life satisfaction. However, previous research has focused only on the effect of gratitude on life satisfaction, yet no experimental study to date has tested a reverse link. Longitudinal research may help to fill this gap.

Although longitudinal studies have examined several aspects of the prospective relations of gratitude, such as social support, low stress, or post-traumatic growth ( Wood et al., 2008 ; Zhou and Wu, 2016 ), according to our knowledge, only one field study has explored the link between gratitude and life satisfaction over time, using an appropriate longitudinal design. Specifically, Jans-Beken et al. (2018) found a prospective positive association from gratitude to SWB, using a four-wave design among Dutch adults. However, only a global measure of SWB was included and life satisfaction was not isolated. Importantly, the reverse link from life satisfaction to gratitude was neither hypothesized nor tested. Longitudinal research using questionnaires would help to extend previous cross-sectional and experimental evidence and shed light on the hypothesized prospective link between gratitude and life satisfaction. Conducting this kind of study is the main aim of our paper.

The Reciprocal Relation Between Gratitude and Life Satisfaction

We contend that gratitude and life satisfaction may be reciprocally related. The idea was first developed by Watkins (2004) , who proposed several psychological mechanisms to understand the so-called “circle of virtue.” Below, we will summarize some of his main ideas.

From Gratitude to Life Satisfaction

Gratitude is a life orientation towards noticing and appreciating the positive in life: it “serves as an indicator of aspects of life for which to be appreciative” ( Wood et al., 2010 , p. 3). This is a dispositional tendency. Thus, people high in trait gratitude experience all the gratitude facets frequently and strongly ( McCullough et al., 2002 ), which may lead to positive cognitive evaluations of our existence (e.g., higher life satisfaction assessments). Watkins (2004) offered several suggestions about which psychological mechanisms are involved in the prospective link from gratitude to life satisfaction.

First, when people perceive a benefit/favor as a “gift” (i.e., “a favor that has been given to one for one’s benefit,” Watkins, 2004 , p. 175), they are more likely to enjoy the benefit. This perception may be a form of cognitive amplification, which in turn fosters SWB. People higher in trait gratitude are more likely to perceive benefits as gifts, which could lead gratitude to increase life satisfaction through this cognitive amplification process. In other words, “gratitude should increase our enjoyment of a blessing” ( Watkins, 2004 , p. 176). This theorization is consistent with the broaden-and-build theory (BBT; Fredrickson, 2013 ). BBT suggests that gratitude, as a life orientation, may consistently increase our positive emotions, which in turn broadens our array of thoughts, increasing life satisfaction: when people feel grateful for a situation—especially when the situation is seen as a gift—they are more likely to feel positive emotions, and this in turn protects them from a variety of mental disorders and increases their life satisfaction and happiness ( Lyubomirsky et al., 2005 ). This process then produces an upward spiral in human wellness ( Fredrickson, 2013 ).

Second, gratitude may protect us against the law of habituation. Research has shown that people tend to adapt to their current levels of circumstances, and “over time, we tend to get used to our current level of satisfaction” ( Watkins, 2004 , p. 176). Unfortunately, adaptation to satisfaction may prevent people from being happy from ongoing circumstances. Certain activities may help to avoid being a slave to the law of habituation. Indeed, “by constantly being aware of how fortunate one’s condition is” (e.g., through gratitude), people may protect themselves from the problem of habituation ( Frijda, 1988 , p. 354). In other words, the “practice of gratitude should accomplish, consistently reminding one of how good life really is” ( Watkins, 2004 , p. 177).

Third, gratitude may direct attention away from upward social comparisons. Social comparisons lead to feelings of deprivation. Indeed, upward social comparisons and envy is associated with lower positive affect and higher unpleasant feelings. However, as shown by McCullough et al. (2002) , the practice of gratitude (e.g., focusing on our blessings), “directs attention away from making comparisons with others who have more” ( Watkins, 2004 , p. 177). In other words, changing our attention from the things we do not have to an appreciation of thing we do have may protect humans from the dangers of social comparisons ( Watkins, 2004 ).

Fourth, the practice of gratitude is an effective coping mechanism. Wood et al. (2007) showed that gratitude relates to three broad categories of coping ( Wood et al., 2010 ): People who are more grateful tend to use more social support, to actively solve their problems, and to avoid denying the existence of the problems. These coping strategies may help individuals to better face and solve various life problems, thus increasing their life satisfaction. To support this, research has shown that grateful people are better able to appreciate difficult situations, promoting better coping strategies with stressful circumstances, which is associated with long-term SWB ( Watkins, 2004 ). In other words, “gratitude may give one a helpful perspective on life that assists in mood repair following a stressful event” (p. 179).

Fifth, gratitude allows the accessibility and recollection of pleasant life events. Seidlitz and Diener (1993) state that a key aspect of happiness is the accessibility of positive memories. Following this argument, Watkins (2004) argues that gratitude “should enhance the retrievability of positive experiences by increasing elaboration of positive information” (p. 181). Further, the increased availability of positive life events should lead to more positive judgments of people’s lives and thus to higher life satisfaction.

Sixth, gratitude may increase life satisfaction by enhancing a person’s social benefits. Indeed, whereas research has shown that gratitude is significantly associated with better social relationships ( Wood et al., 2010 ), social relationships are strongly associated with higher life satisfaction ( Unanue et al., 2014 ). Further, gratitude may increase life satisfaction through the mediational role played by social contacts and the satisfaction of the need for relatedness ( Watkins, 2004 ). Seven, gratitude might increase life satisfaction through the prevention of depressive episodes. Indeed, research has shown that depression has a strong inverse association with gratitude. Because of that, it has been argued that “the lack of gratitude may be a vulnerability factor for depression” (p. 183) and thus of lower life satisfaction and SWB.

From Life Satisfaction to Gratitude

Previous arguments provide a strong argument for the link from gratitude to life satisfaction. However, it is also possible to theorize that life satisfaction may also predict gratitude over time.

Gratitude—as a life orientation—represents satisfaction in several aspects of life such as social support, work, and family ( Wood et al., 2008 ). Thus, when satisfaction with life increases, a causal effect is expected such that people’s gratitude increases accordingly. In other words, people may feel a strong sense of gratitude when experiencing high levels of life satisfaction (e.g., their lives are fantastic). In addition, according to Watkins (2004) , research suggests that people who are satisfied with their lives develop three types of perceptions when they are the recipient of the gift, which may increase gratitude. First, people who are satisfied with their lives, are more likely to value a gift, and are therefore more likely to experience gratitude. Second, when the receiver appreciates the goodness of the giver, grateful feelings increase. Third, the receiver is more likely to feel grateful if he or she thinks that the gift is gratuitous and went beyond the receiver’s social expectations. Happier people are more likely to have the previous three perceptions, which in turn lead them to feel more grateful. Research strongly supports these claims. For example, people experiencing greater life satisfaction or positive affect tend to evaluate things more positively, which increases the probability of a grateful response. In other words, people are more likely to recognize the goodness of benefits if they believe life is good, thus promoting grateful responses.

Overall, whether gratitude causes life satisfaction, and/or life satisfaction causes gratitude, is still an open question. Following Watkins (2004) seminal article, we propose that the answer to both questions is yes. In other words, we expect that gratitude and life satisfaction operate in a “cycle of virtue” (p. 185). Based on this theorizing, we thus expect a bi-directional temporal association between gratitude and life satisfaction, and hypothesize:

(H1) Gratitude prospectively predicts future life satisfaction. (H2) Life satisfaction prospectively predicts future gratitude.

The Role of Culture: Extending Research in Non-Western Countries

Despite the increasing evidence in favor of a positive link between gratitude and SWB in the Western world, cross-cultural research has questioned the potential influence of gratitude in non-Western countries ( Boehm et al., 2011 ; Layous et al., 2013 ; Shin et al., in press ). For example, while some studies in China ( Sun and Kong, 2013 ; Kong et al., 2015 , 2017 ) and Philippines ( Datu, 2014 ; Datu and Mateo, 2015 ; Valdez et al., 2017 ) have shown a positive link between gratitude and SWB, recent research in South Korea, Taiwan, and India found non-significant results.

Boehm et al. (2011) explored the effect of a gratitude intervention on life satisfaction among Anglo-American and Asian American participants. Individuals from both cultures reported higher life satisfaction after the intervention (compared with the control group), but Asian American participants benefitted significantly less. Similarly, Layous et al. (2013) studied the effect of a gratitude intervention on SWB (life satisfaction and positive emotions) among North American and South Korean participants. Results showed that SWB increased in both cultures (compared with the control group), but the increase was significantly lower for the South Korean participants. Shin et al. (in press) randomly assigned participants from India, Taiwan, and the US to a gratitude experimental condition or to a neutral condition activity. It was found that only the US participants who expressed gratitude reported a greater state of gratitude relative to the controls, which led the authors to suggest that gratitude interventions do not “elicit felt gratitude in collectivist cultures,” providing “new insights into why expressing gratitude may be a less effective happiness-promoting activity in collectivist cultures” (p. 2).

Previous findings have led scholars to argue that maybe “Eastern, collectivist cultures do not benefit as much from practicing gratitude compared to Western, individualist cultures” ( Shin et al., in press , p. 2). However, existing studies exploring the role of culture in the link between gratitude and SWB and have only compared Western (e.g., US) and Eastern (e.g., Asian) cultures, which is in line with the standard tradition in cross-cultural psychology, which “has relied excessively on contrasts between North American and East Asian samples” ( Vignoles et al., 2016 , p. 967). Nonetheless, a simple contrast between Eastern and Western countries does not adequately capture the diversity in different regions of the world ( Vignoles et al., 2016 ).

Markus and Kitayama (1991) proposed that cultures could be classified under two opposite dimensions: independent and interdependent. The authors stated that the independent view of the self is found in Western countries and the interdependent view of the self is found in non-Western societies. However, according to Vignoles et al. (2016) , “this perspective has arguably contributed to the prevalence of a rather black-and-white view of cultural diversity” (p. 969), leading academics to legitimize a misleading tendency to dichotomize cultures in terms of binary oppositions between “Western” (e.g., US) versus “non-Western” (e.g., Asia) cultures. Further, this black-and-white view between US and Asia has marginalized other non-Western regions of the world such us Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. Research on gratitude has made the same mistake. To fill this void, we extend cross-cultural research on gratitude beyond the East-West dichotomy by studying Chile.

Cultural diversity may be assessed through national socioeconomic development, religious heritage, and individualism ( Vignoles et al., 2016 ). Based on these criteria, Latin America, and in particular Chile, is different from American and Asian countries studied thus far, and studying this particular context thus adds important value to the diversity of the cross-cultural research on gratitude. First, according the World Bank, Latin America is considered an upper-middle-income region, whereas North America is a high-income economy and most Asian nations are low-income ones ( The World Bank, n.d. ). Second, according to the World Economic Forum, Chile and Latin America have a Catholic heritage, whereas most of the population in the US is atheist/agnostic, and a large majority of people from Asia are either Buddhist, Hindu, or atheist/agnostic ( Jacobs, 2019 ). Third, and finally, Chile is an interesting country in terms of the dimension of individualism-collectivism. Research has assumed that people from Western countries have an individualistic view of the self, while people from non-Western countries have a more collectivistic view. Following this tradition, Chile has been traditionally considered a collectivistic culture ( Hofstede, 1983 ; Arnulf and Silje, 2009 ). However, during the last few decades, Chile has gone through a deep social and economic transition with enormous cultural and societal changes. Indeed, recent studies have shown that Chile has moved fast toward a more individualistic culture ( Arnulf and Silje, 2009 ; Benavides and Hur, 2019 ).

Individualism is a key issue, and researchers have tried to explain why the benefits of gratitude seem only to have reached Western societies ( Boehm et al., 2011 ; Shin et al., in press ). Research has shown that “individualist cultures base their life satisfaction more on intrapersonal than interpersonal factors whereas those from collectivist cultures do the reverse” ( Boehm et al., 2011 , p. 2). In other words, goals and norms in individualistic cultures are more supportive of self-expression, self-improvement, and the pursuit of happiness rather than goals and norms in collectivistic cultures ( Boehm et al., 2011 ). If individualism is key, we may expect a positive link between gratitude and SWB in Chile, which is an unexplored non-Western cultural context.

Contributions of the Present Research

We followed Watkins (2004) , in terms that “The test of all happiness is gratitude” ( Watkins, 2004 , p. 167). Further, he states that the relation between gratitude and happiness, and more specifically, life satisfaction, should not be taken lightly and deserves to be extensively studied. Our paper aims to tap into this issue and study the link between gratitude and life satisfaction from a longitudinal perspective.

The current manuscript contributes to the scientific literature in the following ways. First, there is a lack of well-suited longitudinal field research on the association between gratitude and life satisfaction ( Alkozei et al., 2018 ). Indeed, according to our knowledge, to date, no study has explored the reciprocal link between these constructs using questionnaire research. In response, we conducted two field studies, using cross-lagged panel models (CLPMs) which help in testing prospective (i.e., temporal) directions between gratitude and life satisfaction over time ( Selig and Little, 2012 ). Although prospective designs do not test causality directly, prospective significance between variables is a key requirement for causality. CLPM allows “looking at autoregressive effects (linking a variable at earlier time points to itself at later time points) and cross-lagged effects (linking two different variables across time)” ( Joshanloo, 2019 , p. 183).

Second, we expand on the scarce amount of research conducted in the non-Western world (mainly in Asia), by assessing a country from a Latin-American context. By including Chile, we extended previous research beyond the traditional Western-Eastern paradox ( Vignoles et al., 2016 ). Third, the great majority of previous studies on the link between gratitude and life satisfaction have focused on students and young populations going through similar life transitions ( Davis et al., 2016 ). We aim to further our understanding of the relationship between gratitude and life satisfaction, by exploring two large samples of Chilean working adults, living at different stages of their lifespan. Finally, our research also has practical implications. By complementing previous experimental and cross-sectional studies, we expect to test the potential of both gratitude and life satisfaction for interventions aiming to protect people’s mental health, improve the quality of human life, and provide guidance on public policies.

Participants and Procedure

Study 1 was conducted in accordance with the American Psychological Association guidelines and followed University Ethics and Research Governance procedures to avoid coercion (e.g., participation was voluntary). Participants were informed about the goal of the study in overall terms. They were also asked about their intention to participate in future research, as the poll would be part of a longitudinal study. Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Following recent leading research, which advocates the advantages of using online designs ( Porter et al., 2019 ), we collected full panel data in a three-wave cross-lagged longitudinal design with 1 month between waves, among a wide sample of Chilean working adults. A university in Santiago provided the email addresses of alumni 1 . Participants were sent an email with an explanation of the research and a web link to the survey. In each wave, participants were advised that the survey remained opened for only 1 week, and they received a polite reminder every working day. All participants who decided not to participate in or finish the study were given the option to either unsubscribe from the mailing list or leave the survey at their convenience, without any penalty. For the rest of the participants, all questions were compulsory, so we did not have missing data within each wave.

Seven hundred and twenty-five participants (52.1% male) between the ages of 21 and 72 years (mean age = 38.30; SD = 10.01) completed the T1 measures. At T2, 275 participants (52.7% male) between the ages of 21 and 72 years (mean age = 39.62; SD = 10.23) completed the T2 measures (37.93% of Wave 1). At T3, 252 participants (55.2% male) between the ages of 21 and 72 years (mean age = 40.35; SD = 10.15) completed the T3 measures (34.76% of Wave 1). In total, 161 respondents (54.7% male) between the ages of 21 and 72 (mean age = 40.65; SD = 10.50) answered the three waves (22.21% of Wave 1). Those who completed only T1 ( N = 564) did not differ significantly in gender {[ χ 2 (1)] = 0.53, p = 0.468}, gratitude [t(275.67) = −1.86, p = 0.064], or life satisfaction [t(723) = −1.02, p = 0.307] from those who participated in the three waves ( N = 161). Participants only differed in age [t(723) = −3.40, p < 0.01]. Therefore, our analysis suggests that younger participants were especially likely to drop out of the study. Little’s MCAR test ( Little, 1988 ) showed that missing data were completely at random {[ χ 2 (141)] = 115.24, p = 0.945}. Following the recommendations of Newman (2014) , we employed a full information maximum likelihood estimation (FIML 2 ), which allowed us to include all 725 participants in our structural analyses, irrespective of the pattern of missing data ( Muthén et al., 1987 ).

We conducted a sensitivity power analysis using G*Power 3.1 ( Faul et al., 2009 ) to estimate the statistical power for our cross-lagged structural equation modeling (SEM) model. Adopting the conventional criterion of 0.80 power, considering 124 parameters, and including only participants who completed the three waves, which is a conservative criterion, our study was sufficiently powered to detect a predictor with a population effect size of f 2 = 0.051, representing a small effect ( Cohen, 1992 ). Our sample size was thus considered sufficient. The distributions were adequate for all constructs ( George and Mallery, 2010 ). Skew values were appropriate for gratitude (T1: −0.79; T2: −0.94; and T3: −0.97) and life satisfaction (T1: −0.81; T2: −0.82; and T3: −0.92). Kurtosis values were also appropriate for gratitude (T1: 0.23; T2: 1.52; and T3: 0.74) and life satisfaction (T1: 0.58; T2: 0.94; and T3: 0.82).

We translated highly validated scales for gratitude and life satisfaction into Spanish, and equivalence of meaning with the original version was checked using standard back-translation procedures ( Brislin, 1970 ) 3 .

We used the gratitude questionnaire developed by McCullough et al. (2002) , which includes six items (e.g., “If I had to list everything that I felt grateful for, it would be a very long list”). Respondents rated the items from 1 (completely disagree) to 7 (completely agree). Cronbach’s alphas were good at T1 (0.76), T2 (0.74), and T3 (0.78). We built a latent variable using all the scale items.

Life Satisfaction

We used the Satisfaction with Life Scale ( Diener et al., 1985 ), which includes five items (e.g., “In most ways my life is close to my ideal”). Respondents rated the items from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). Cronbach’s alphas were good at T1 (0.89), T2 (0.88), and T3 (0.88). We built a latent variable using all the scale items.

Demographics

We used gender (male = 1) and age (in years) as control variables.

Descriptive statistics and intercorrelations for all Study 1 variables are shown in Table 1 . We used MPlus 7.1 ( Muthén and Muthén, 2012 ) to estimate the relations among our constructs. We used SEM to test our hypotheses. We used latent variables to reduce the biasing effects of measurement error ( Finkel, 1995 ). According to standard statistical criteria ( Hu and Bentler, 1999 ; Kline, 2005 ), we evaluated the model fit by using the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) and comparative fit index (CFI). Values of RMSEA <0.06 (or < 0.08) and CFI > 0.95 (or > 0.90) were considered to be evidence of a good (or acceptable) fit.

Table 1 . Descriptives and inter-correlations for all Study 1 and Study 2 variables.

Measurement Model and Invariance Test

First, we tested a six-factor measurement model where we constrained all the gratitude factor loadings as well as all the life satisfaction factor loadings to be equal across the three waves. As suggested by Jöreskog (1979) , we incorporated auto-correlated error terms for the observed indicators, and we allowed all latent variables to co-vary freely. The model fit was acceptable: χ 2 (465) = 1020.632, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.937, RMSEA = 0.041. Then, we tested a baseline model where no constraints were imposed. The model fit was also acceptable: χ 2 (447) = 993.733, p < 0.001; CFI = 0.938; RMSEA = 0.041. Finally, we compared both models. According to Cheung and Rensvold (2002) , the assumption of invariance is tenable if the reduction in CFI, when constraints are imposed, is less than 0.01. Here, the change in CFI met this criterion (ΔCFI = 0.001). Despite Cheung and Rensvold (2002) is a widely accepted criterion, recent literature (e.g., Koomen et al., 2012 ) has highlighted the importance of relying on multiple criteria for testing invariance. The assumption of invariance is also supported when the difference in RMSEA is lower than 0.01 ( Chen, 2007 ) and the constrained model has an expected cross-validation index (ECVI) smaller than the unconstrained model ( Browne and Du Toit, 1992 ; Ruiz et al., 2017 ). In our case, the change in RMSEA (ΔRMSEA = 0.00) and the change in ECVI (ΔECVI = −0.05) met both criteria. Therefore, it can be concluded that the pattern of factor loadings was invariant across waves for both gratitude and life satisfaction. Hence, we maintained these constraints in all structural models reported below.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis Analyses

The definition of gratitude as a life orientation opens the possibility that both gratitude and life satisfaction belong to one single factor. Thus, we performed a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in order to examine the factorial validity of the measures in each assessment time. At T1, results showed that the collapsed model [11 indicators; χ 2 (44) = 881.45, p < 0.001] is significantly worse than a model where gratitude (six indicators) and life satisfaction (five indicators) were modeled as two different latent variables [ χ 2 (43) = 271.26, p < 0.001], Δ χ 2 (1) = 610.19, p < 0.001. At T2, the collapsed model [ χ 2 (44) = 356.74, < 0.001] is significantly worse than the two-factor model [ χ 2 (43) = 111.78, p < 0.001], Δ χ 2 (1) = 244.96, p < 0.001. At T3, the collapsed model [ χ 2 (44) = 399.07, p < 0.001] is significantly worse than the two-factor model [ χ 2 (43) = 185.38, p < 0.001], Δ χ 2 (1) = 213.70, p < 0.001. Our results show that gratitude and life satisfaction are two different constructs, replicating the findings of McCullough et al. (2002) .

Longitudinal Analysis

We tested a structural cross-lagged reciprocal model to determine the relationships between gratitude and life satisfaction over time. Following Ribeiro et al. (2011) , we controlled this by gender and age. We allowed the two latent variables (life satisfaction and gratitude) to co-vary within each time point, and we modeled lagged paths from each measure to the other two measures at the successive time points. Thus, all constructs were represented as potential antecedents and as potential consequences of the other constructs, while controlling for stability effects. The model fit was acceptable, χ 2 (514) = 1158.80, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.04. We constrained all factor loading (measurement invariance) and paths (to maximize statistical power) to be equal between waves, following Unanue et al. (2016) . The model fit remained acceptable: χ 2 (536) = 1192.08, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.04, and this more parsimonious model showed no significant loss of fit compared to a model where all factor loadings and structural paths were estimated freely: Δ χ 2 (4) = 5.50, p = 0.239. Values of R 2 ranged from 0.68 to 0.74 (all p < 0.001). Supporting H1, we found that gratitude at T1 was a positive prospective predictor of life satisfaction at T2: β = 0.10 (95% CI: 0.03, 0.18), p < 0.01. Supporting H2, life satisfaction at T1 was a positive prospective predictor of gratitude at T2: β = 0.11 (95% CI 0.03, 0.19), p < 0.01. We also found that life satisfaction at T1 was a positive prospective predictor of life satisfaction at T2 [ β = 0.76 (95% CI 0.69, 0.83), p < 0.001] and gratitude at T1 was a positive prospective predictor of gratitude at T2 [ β = 0.78 (95% CI 0.71, 0.86), p < 0.001]. Gender was positively related to gratitude: β = 0.17 (95% CI 0.10, 0.25), p < 0.001. No other significant paths were found. Details may be found in Figure 1 4 . Finally, we constrained the path from gratitude to life satisfaction as well as the path from life satisfaction to gratitude to be equals. The model fit remained acceptable: χ 2 (537) = 1192.17, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.04, and it did not show significant differences in comparison with the previous model, Δ χ 2 (1) = 0.093, p = 0.760. Thus, the strength of the link from gratitude to life satisfaction is not significantly different from the strength of the link from life satisfaction to gratitude.

Figure 1 . Study 1. Structural longitudinal model for the associations between gratitude and life satisfaction. Coefficients shown are standardized paths. Error terms and loadings are not shown to enhance visual clarity. Loading are all between 0.40 and 0.9 ( p < 0.001). T1: Time 1; T2: Time 2; and T3: Time 3. Gi, Gratitude item i. Li, Life satisfaction item i. Solid lines = significant paths. Dashed line = not significant paths. Confidence intervals are reported in square brackets for significant paths. *** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01.

Voelkle et al. (2012) show that over shorter periods of time, different lags (e.g., 1 versus 2 months) may yield different conclusions about the strength of the effect sizes. Thus, in order to establish robustness, Study 2 tested the same hypotheses as Study 1 but used a larger sample size as well as a longer period of time between waves (3 months).

Study 2 was conducted in accordance with the same ethical standard and followed the same procedure as Study 1. A three-wave cross-lagged longitudinal design with 3 months between each wave was employed.

In total, 1,841 Chilean working adults (54.9% male) between the ages of 21 and 71 years (mean age = 36.94; SD = 8.59) completed T1 measures. At T2, 979 participants (56.0% male) between the ages of 23 and 75 years (mean age = 38.57; SD = 9.56) answered T2 measures (53.2% of Wave 1). At T3, 700 participants (54.0% male) between the ages of 24 and 72 (mean age = 38.96; SD = 9.77) completed T3 measures (38.0% of Wave 1). Finally, 421 respondents (54.4% male) between the ages of 24 to 71 (mean age = 38.70; SD = 9.63) answered the three waves (22.9% of Wave 1). Those who completed only T1 ( N = 1,420) did not differ significantly in gender {[ χ 2 (2)] = 0.64, p = 0.730} from those who participated in the three waves ( N = 421). However, participants differed in age [t(609.84) = −4.47, p < 0.001], gratitude [t(762.96) = −2.14, p = 0.033] and life satisfaction [t(740.29) = −2.41, p = 0.016]. Our analysis suggests that younger participants as well as respondents with lower gratitude and life satisfaction were especially likely to drop the survey. Little’s MCAR test ( Little, 1988 ) showed that missing data were not completely at random {[ χ 2 (98)] = 150.512, p < 0.001}. Thus, following the recommendations of Newman (2014) , we used FIML to deal with missing data.

The sensitivity power test indicated that our study was sufficiently powered to detect a predictor with a population effect size of f 2 = 0.018, representing a small effect ( Cohen, 1992 ). The distributions were adequate for all constructs ( George and Mallery, 2010 ). Skew values were appropriate for gratitude (T1: −1.01; T2: −0.87; and T3: −0.85) and life satisfaction (T1: −0.67; T2: −0.71; and T3: −0.53). Kurtosis values were also appropriate for gratitude (T1: 1.21; T2: 0.46; and T3: 0.64) and life satisfaction (T1: 0.21; T2: 0.45; and T3: 0.07).

We used the same measures as in Study 1. Cronbach’s alphas were good for gratitude at T1 (0.78), T2 (0.77), and T3 (0.77) as well as for life satisfaction at T1 (0.88), T2 (0.89), and T3 (0.88).

We followed the same procedure as in Study 1 for testing our hypotheses. Descriptive statistics and inter-correlations for all Study 2 variables are shown in Table 1 . Again, we used SEM and latent variables to reduce the biasing effects of measurement error ( Finkel, 1995 ).

We followed the same procedure as in Study 1. First, we tested a six-factor measurement model where we constrained all the gratitude factor loadings as well as all the life satisfaction factor loadings to be equal across the three waves. We incorporated auto-correlated error terms for the observed indicators ( Jöreskog, 1979 ) and allowed all latent variables to co-vary freely. The model fit was acceptable, χ 2 (465) = 1376.928, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.954, RMSEA = 0.033. Then, we tested a baseline model where no constraints were imposed. The model fit was also acceptable: χ 2 (447) = 1335.096, p < 0.001; CFI = 0.955; RMSEA = 0.033. Finally, we compared both models. Because the change in CFI was less than 0.01 (ΔCFI = 0.001), the difference in RMSEA was lower than 0.01(ΔRMSEA = 0.00), and the constrained model had an ECVI smaller than the unconstrained model (ΔECVI = −0.02); therefore, it can be concluded that the patterns of factor loadings were invariant across waves for both gratitude and life satisfaction ( Browne and Du Toit, 1992 ; Cheung and Rensvold, 2002 ; Chen, 2007 ; Ruiz et al., 2017 ). Hence, we maintained these constraints in all structural models reported below.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis

CFA showed, again, that gratitude and life satisfaction are different constructs. At T1, the collapsed model [11 indicators: χ 2 (44) = 1967.79, p < 0.001] was significantly worse than a model where gratitude (six indicators) and life satisfaction (five indicators) were modeled as two different latent variables [ χ 2 (43) = 506.27, p < 0.001], Δ χ 2 (1) = 1461.52, p < 0.001. At T2, the collapsed model [ χ 2 (44) = 1151.50, p < 0.001] was significantly worse than the two-factor model [ χ 2 (43) =303.02, p < 0.001], Δ χ 2 (1) = 848.48, p < 0.001. At T3, the collapsed model [ χ 2 (44) = 628.13, p < 0.001] was significantly worse than the two factor model [ χ 2 (43) =194.77, p < 0.001], Δ χ 2 (1) = 433.36, p < 0.001.

We replicated the same cross-lagged model we tested in Study 1. The model fit for our final model (loadings and paths constrained to be equal across waves) was acceptable, χ 2 (536) = 1717.43, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.04 and showed no significant loss of fit compared to a model where all structural paths were estimated freely, Δ χ 2 (4) = 6.06, p = 0.194. The values of R 2 ranged from 0.54 to 0.67 (all p < 0.001). The significant paths from this model are shown in Figure 2 . Supporting H1, we found that gratitude at T1 was a significant and positive prospective predictor of life satisfaction at T2, β = 0.11 (95% CI 0.05, 0.16), p < 0.001. Supporting H2, life satisfaction at T1 was a significant and positive prospective predictor of gratitude at T2, β = 0.15 (95% CI 0.09, 0.21), p < 0.001. We also found that life satisfaction at T1 was a positive prospective predictor of life satisfaction at T2 [ β = 0.70 (95% CI 0.65, 0.75), p < 0.001] and gratitude at T1 was a positive prospective predictor of gratitude at T2 [ β = 0.63 (95% CI 0.57, 0.69), p < 0.001]. Gender was significantly and positively related to gratitude, β = 0.16 (95% CI 0.00, 0.21), p < 0.001 and to life satisfaction, β = 0.05 (95% CI 0.01, 0.10), p < 0.05, while age was significantly and positively related to gratitude, β = 0.06 (95% CI 0.01, 0.11), p < 0.01 and to life satisfaction, β = 0.06 (95% CI 0.01, 0.11), p < 0.01. No other significant path was found. Finally, we constrained the paths from gratitude to life satisfaction, and the paths from life satisfaction to gratitude to be equal. The model fit remained acceptable, χ 2 (537) = 1717.92, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.04, and it did not show significant differences in comparison with the previous model, Δ χ 2 (1) = 0.093, p = 0.760. Thus, the strength of the link from gratitude to life satisfaction is not significantly different than that from life satisfaction to gratitude.

Figure 2 . Study 2. Structural longitudinal model for the association between gratitude and life satisfaction. Coefficients shown are standardized paths. Error terms and loadings are not shown to enhance visual clarity. Loading are all between 0.40 and 0.9 ( p < 0.001) T1: Time 1, T2: Time 2, and T3: Time 3. Gi, Gratitude item i; Li, Life satisfaction item i. Solid lines = significant paths. The confidence intervals are reported in square brackets for significant paths. *** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01; * p < 0.05.

Research has extensively shown that gratitude and life satisfaction are associated with several indicators of a better life ( Wood et al., 2010 ; Diener and Tay, 2017 ), but surprisingly, it has remained unknown until now how both constructs relate to each other over time. In addition, despite strong evidence for the gratitude—SWB link in the Western world, cross-cultural research has questioned the results in non-Western countries ( Boehm et al., 2011 ; Layous et al., 2013 ; Shin et al., in press ). In addition, most research into the mentioned link has focused mainly on students and young populations. Based on previous research gaps, we conducted two longitudinal studies, aiming to complement previous experimental and cross-sectional evidence in order to clarify the origin of the link between gratitude and life satisfaction. We tested a reciprocal model, among two large samples of Chilean working adults, using three-wave cross-lagged panel designs with 1 month (Study 1) and 3 months (Study 2) between waves. In both studies, we found that a person with higher than average gratitude at T1 is likely to show higher than average life satisfaction at T2, controlling the stability effect of life satisfaction at T1. In addition, a person with higher than average life satisfaction at T1 is likely to show higher than average gratitude at T2, controlling the stability effect of gratitude at T1. Our data also show that the effect of gratitude on life satisfaction is as strong as—and equally important for the dynamic of human wellness—as the effect of life satisfaction on gratitude. We found these results even when controlling age and gender.

Our findings complement previous experimental and cross-sectional studies, thus providing critical evidence about the benefits of both gratitude and life satisfaction for improving people’s quality of life. Gratitude may help to increase life satisfaction, which is a key element of people’s wellness and functioning. However, the power of life satisfaction also goes beyond what is already known ( Diener et al., 2017 ; Diener and Tay, 2017 ) as life satisfaction also predicts gratitude. This is the most novel aspect of our paper, as by linking life satisfaction to gratitude over time, our results open the possibility for enriching life satisfaction conceptualization. Besides being understood as cognitive evaluation, life satisfaction would be an experience in itself, full of thankfulness, emotions, and positive ways of living our lives.

Previous literature has highlighted the role of culture in the link between gratitude and SWB ( Boehm et al., 2011 ; Shin et al., in press ). However, previous cross-cultural research has only contrasted Western American and Eastern Asian populations, which is not enough to reflect the variety of cultures around the world ( Vignoles et al., 2016 ). Further, we assessed a sample of Chileans, from a Latin American country. Chile presents important differences with Western and Eastern countries previously studied (e.g., economic development, religious heritage, and individualism), adding more diversity to gratitude research across the world. Our results support the bi-directional link between gratitude and life satisfaction in this unexplored non-Western, Latin American context.

Interesting findings emerge when inspecting the longitudinal effects of age and gender in our outcome variables. Both studies showed, consistently, that gratitude is significantly higher for women than men, whereas Study 2 also found that women are more likely to experience life satisfaction. Moreover, Study 2 also showed that older participants report higher levels of both life satisfaction and gratitude. Further research may explore the psychological process behind these results, which may in turn help policy makers and clinicians to design better interventions to improve people’s lives at particular stages.

Our findings yield practical implications, e.g., for organizations, as our participants are all working adults. Companies may start a reciprocal process of happiness and flourishing by creating the necessary conditions for fostering either employees’ gratitude or life satisfaction. Previous research has found a significant association between job satisfaction and life satisfaction ( Unanue et al., 2017 ). Thus, by improving working conditions, leaders may increase worker satisfaction, and thus, life satisfaction. This process may naturally lead employees to feel more grateful, thus reinforcing life satisfaction and allowing an upward spiral in human wellness.

Despite the positive loop, it is important to notice that a lower level of gratitude may also lead to a negative spiral in human wellness through the reinforcing effect of lower life satisfaction. For example, if companies affect people’s lives and/or job satisfaction negatively, they may start a negative process in those individuals’ well-being through a lack of gratitude. Indeed, the virtuous circle between gratitude and life satisfaction could become a vicious one. This highlights how important it is to develop strategies for improving gratitude and life satisfaction over time. Otherwise, people’s mental health and well-being could be at risk.

In sum, our results show that gratitude and life satisfaction are both prospectively and positively related to each other over time. Higher levels of gratitude may lead to an increase in life satisfaction, which in turn may increase gratitude, thus enabling a spiral of human flourishing. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first research that has shown these patterns of results, thereby allowing a better interpretation of previous cross-sectional and experimental findings.

Limitations

Some limitations in this research should be acknowledged. First, our measures were all self-reported and shared method variance could potentially have inflated the correlations between gratitude and life satisfaction within each wave. However, self-reports of one’s experience are the most valid way of measuring gratitude and life satisfaction, since these are facets of people’s subjective experience. In addition, we took several a priori precautions to mitigate a common method bias. For example, we adapted highly validated measures for our constructs. Moreover, shared method variance within each measure was reduced within the stability paths that we controlled while testing the lagged paths that formed the main focus of our research. Finally, we protected respondent anonymity and informed participants that there were no right or wrong answers ( Podsakoff et al., 2003 ; Conway and Lance, 2010 ). Nonetheless, despite these previous precautions, future studies might supplement the current findings with alternative methods, such as implicit measures of gratitude and life satisfaction, as well as proximal mechanisms such as biomarkers, as suggested by Davis et al. (2016) .

Second, by providing evidence of temporal precedence, the prospective bi-directional longitudinal link between gratitude and life satisfaction reported in our research substantially strengthens the hypothesized causal relationships between both constructs. However, these results do not provide conclusive evidence for causality. A third variable may be involved. Thus, future research should investigate the role of possible mediators (such as the ones we explicitly theorized across the paper) in the link we studied. Third, we found small lagged paths between gratitude and life satisfaction. However, effect sizes in CLPMs are typically small because most of the variance is captured by the stability paths. Fourth, although we sampled adults from a non-Western country, the participants were all from Chile. Thus, we should be careful about generalizing these results to different non-Western cultures and populations.

Fifth, it would be important to attempt to reduce attrition rates in future research. However, as the review by Wood et al. (2010) has shown, attrition in online studies of gratitude is “commonly very high” (p. 8). Indeed, “the law of attrition” is almost a fact in all data collection without human contact, and “high dropout rates may be a natural and typical feature” ( Eysenbach, 2005 , p. 1). Sixth, CLPMs are not exempt from criticism. For example, one potential limitation is that they do not explore how variables are evolving and changing over time, which may be useful for understanding individual differences. However, this issue is beyond our aim here. We were only interested in prospective directions. Further research should also explore our hypothesis using, for example, latent growth models aiming to test within-person changes.

Seven, we recognized the possibility that our studies may suffer from uncareful responses, which may affect the quality of the data collected ( Chandler et al., 2014 ). However, the main constructs used in the present paper showed adequate reliabilities and were invariant across time, allowing us to think that most people provided true and careful answers. Nonetheless, future research should follow Porter et al. (2019 , p. 19) suggestions, in terms of “create unique attention checks” and “use conventional attention checks to identify and potentially remove responses provided by careless”. Eighth, the quantitative nature of this study could limit the potential understanding and the complexity of the phenomena we explored. Further, qualitative methodology may help to complement our findings, helping to understand the underlying process between gratitude and life satisfaction in more detail.

Nine, we advocated for several underlying mechanisms that may explain the virtuous circle between gratitude and life satisfaction. First, e.g., drawing on BBT ( Fredrickson, 2013 ), gratitude may enhance a positive affectivity ( Watkins et al., 2003 ) that would foster congruent positive cognitions which, in turn, would improve positive evaluations that people make about their lives ( Watkins, 2004 ), thereby enabling a positive spiral in human functioning. Second, the positive spiral between gratitude and life satisfaction might also be explained due to the emotional benefits that individuals experience when something is interpreted as a gift ( McCullough et al., 2001 ; Watkins, 2004 ). Indeed, positive cognitions and positive affects linked to life satisfaction and gratitude respectively, could gradually generate a cognitive bias that would impact on the availability of people’s memories, thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of life events. In line with this, Watkins (2004) suggests that gratitude could promote a mood-congruent memory bias that could enhance both the encoding and retrievability of positive experiences, increasing the elaboration of positive information. Lambert et al. (2012) support previous theorization, proposing that individuals high in trait gratitude are more likely to reframe negative or neutral events in a positive way which, in turn, lead them to experience fewer depressive symptoms. Third, Watkins (2004) argues that happy people are “more likely to acknowledge the good intentions of a giver” (p. 184). In other words, people with high SWB would be more prompt to attribute positive intentions from others and, in doing so, to experience gratitude. Thus, the more someone values the gift, or the more people recognize the benevolence acts of a giver, the more likely he/she will feel grateful ( Tesser et al., 1968 ; Watkins, 2004 ). We suggest that these positive attributions could also have a positive effect on the quality of social contacts, which could be strengthened due to the consequent gratitude of the beneficiary and his or her motivation to act in a reciprocal way towards the giver (i.e., helping him or her). This is consistent with previous findings that identify social support as a mediator between gratitude and life satisfaction ( Wood et al., 2010 ; Kong et al., 2015 ) as well as between SWB and the quality of the individual’s friendship ( Diener et al., 1999 ). Fourth, different aspects of gratitude may act as a catalyst from one to another. Further, cognitive aspects of gratitude such as mood-congruent elaboration and cognition ( Watkins, 2004 ) could be followed by noticing and appreciating the positive in the world, which in turn, may be validated by social comparison and experiences (e.g., perception, attribution, and experiences) reinforcing positive mood-congruent cognitions. However, despite previous mechanisms possibly playing a key role in the reciprocal link between gratitude and life satisfaction, we did not test them. Therefore, future research may expand on these underlying psychological processes.

Then, and finally, we acknowledge that in this paper we only investigated the link between gratitude and the “bright” side of human experiences (i.e., life satisfaction). However, we strongly encourage future research to explore the link between gratitude and the “dark” side of people’s mental health (i.e., depression). Based on our findings, we would expect a negative reciprocal link between gratitude and depression. However, to the best of our knowledge, only Wood et al. (2008) have examined this reciprocal relationship. In two studies, the authors found a significant and negative link from gratitude to depression, but the reverse hypothesis was not supported. Methodological issues may help to understand these unexpected results. We think that there is a chance that the small sample sizes in both studies (156 and 87 participants, respectively) were not powerful enough for the sophisticated and complex SEM longitudinal models Wood et al. (2008) tested. This issue may play a role in the non-significant findings from depression to gratitude. In addition, only young participants going through the same life transition were assessed, which limits the variability in the data collected as well as the generalization of the results. We encourage the replication of findings of Wood et al. (2008) . Patients diagnosed with clinical depression tend to focus more on negative than on positive thoughts and have fewer resources to appreciate the positive and good in life. Therefore, we expect that by using larger sample sizes, adult populations, and ideally, different cultures, yield results which show that higher (lower) levels of depression may lead to lower (higher) levels of trait gratitude.

Violeta Parra wrote one of the most famous Chilean songs almost 50 years ago: Thanks to life. Her gratitude used to come from her life satisfaction, nut research has neglected the possibility of this link. Could this be possible? To date, research has only claimed a link from gratitude to life satisfaction, not the reverse. Notably, we found that gratitude and life satisfaction are mutually linked to each other in a “circle of virtue”. Violeta was right!

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author.

Ethics Statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Comité de Ética universidad Adolfo Ibañez. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

Author Contributions

All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work. The original idea, as well as the data collection was developed by WU. All authors wrote several sections of the out initial analysis draft, carried and interpreted results. All authors wrote, read, and revised the final paper and approved it for publication collaboratively.

WU acknowledges a grant received by the Chilean Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (Fondecyt 1338 Iniciacion) Project No. 11160389. AV acknowledges and thanks KU Leuven (VKH-C9278-StG/14/035) for the grant support.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

WU thanks the Chilean Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica.

1. Study 1 and Study 2 are part of a large project on happiness and well-being, funded by the Chilean Government and KU Leuven. We collected several other measures regarding life and work, but they are not relevant to the present research.

2. We use full information maximum likelihood (FIML), because this procedure outperforms traditional techniques regarding parameter estimation bias, model fit and parameter estimation efficiency ( Peters and Enders, 2002 ). In addition, FIML shows unbiased and more efficient estimates compared with other methods of imputation such as listwise deletion, pairwise deletion and similar response patterns imputation ( Enders and Bandalos, 2001 ). Moreover, FIML generate a lower proportion of convergence failures ( Enders and Bandalos, 2001 ).

3. Nowadays, there are validated Spanish versions for both gratitude ( Langer et al., 2016 ) and life satisfaction ( Bagherzadeh et al., 2018 ) scales. However, they were not available at the time when we started the data collection. Nonetheless, we have checked them against our back translation, and we do not find any particular difference between the items.

4. In Study 1 and Study 2, we reported standardized paths only between T1 and T2. Paths between T2 and T3 may be found in their respective figures, but they are similar in significance and magnitude.

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Keywords: gratitude, life satisfaction, subjective well-being, positive psychology, longitudinal analysis, prospective design, adults, Chile

Citation: Unanue W, Gomez Mella ME, Cortez DA, Bravo D, Araya-Véliz C, Unanue J and Van Den Broeck A (2019) The Reciprocal Relationship Between Gratitude and Life Satisfaction: Evidence From Two Longitudinal Field Studies. Front. Psychol . 10:2480. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02480

Received: 20 July 2019; Accepted: 21 October 2019; Published: 08 November 2019.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2019 Unanue, Gomez Mella, Cortez, Bravo, Araya-Véliz, Unanue and Van Den Broeck. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Wenceslao Unanue, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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The Effect of Gratitude on Well-being: Should We Prioritize Positivity or Meaning?

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• Volume 23 , pages 1245–1265, ( 2022 )

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• Ofer I. Atad   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5678-4022 1 &
• Pninit Russo-Netzer   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0633-1137 2 , 3  

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The psychological research into gratitude has overwhelmingly focused on the benefits of higher levels of gratitude. However, recent research suggests that positive psychology interventions to enhance gratitude are not always suitable and the effectiveness of an intervention depends on psycho-contextual factors, personal characteristics, and boundary conditions. The current study aimed to explore and compare the effect of two possible boundary conditions (prioritizing positivity and prioritizing meaning) on well-being levels, following a gratitude intervention. Replicating and extending the findings of the seminal 2005 study by Seligman et al., the current study explored the complex dynamics of gratitude and well-being in a sample of 448 participants. This study’s results replicated Seligman et al.’s finding suggesting a significant increase in satisfaction with life following a gratitude intervention. However, this trend was not significant when eudaimonic well-being was used as the dependent variable. Further analysis revealed that the intervention was most beneficial for people who prioritized both meaning and positivity in their lives, whereas those with different prioritizing patterns enjoyed only short-term gains. In addition, those who prioritize neither positivity nor meaning in their lives did not benefit from the intervention. This suggests implications for practitioners, mental health providers and organizations as consciously integrating the prioritization of meaning and positivity into one’s daily routines along with various gratitude activities which are aligned with one’s values and interests may contribute to gratitude interventions’ efficacy.

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Atad, O.I., Russo-Netzer, P. The Effect of Gratitude on Well-being: Should We Prioritize Positivity or Meaning?. J Happiness Stud 23 , 1245–1265 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00448-4

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Gratitude Really Is Good for You. Here’s What the Science Shows.

Giving, receiving and even witnessing gratitude can improve your well-being, especially during difficult times.

By Christina Caron

In 2022, Stacy Batten said, her “whole year was on fire.”

Her husband died of cancer, and her father died after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Her mother was diagnosed with cancer. And she moved across the country from Seattle to Fairfield County, Conn., after selling the home that she had lived in for 26 years.

In her devastation, she noticed that she felt better when she looked for the good parts of each day. So she took a large Mason jar and turned it into a “gratitude jar,” which she now keeps on her night stand.

Every night, she writes down a few things that she is grateful for on a scrap of paper and drops it inside. They are often as simple as “I met a new neighbor” or “I took a walk with the dog and my mom.”

“The grief is still there,” Batten, 56, said. “But writing those daily notes has helped.”

Two decades ago, a landmark study led by the psychologist Robert A. Emmons sought to understand how people benefit from gratitude, a question that scientists had rarely explored until then.

Dr. Emmons’s findings — which suggested that gratitude may improve psychological well-being — inspired a spate of additional research. To date, numerous studies have found that having a grateful outlook, “counting one’s blessings” and expressing gratitude to others can have positive effects on our emotional health as well as on interpersonal and romantic relationships .

In addition, some studies, but not all , have shown that gratitude can benefit physical health.

“Gratitude heals, energizes and changes lives,” Dr. Emmons said. “It is the prism through which we view life in terms of gifts, givers, goodness and grace.”

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Your brain on gratitude: How a neuroscientist used his research to heal from grief

Gratitude journaling, it turns out, transformed the neuroscientist’s grief — and likely his brain.

An image from neuroscientist Glenn Fox's study on the neural correlates of gratitude. (Image courtesy of Glenn Fox)

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Neuroscientist Glenn Fox has dedicated his life to studying gratitude — how it improves our resilience, lowers stress, and boosts overall health. He’s an expert on the ability of gratitude to help us through tough times.

But on Thanksgiving in 2013, Fox was feeling anything but grateful. That’s because, just a few days before, he’d lost his mother to ovarian cancer.

The day after, going down to Starbucks for coffee and some pastries, “it was like the most intense experience ever. And I just thought, how am I even going to get through this? How am I even going to order?”

Fox was just months away from completing his Ph.D. on the neural bases of gratitude. He knew from his research how therapeutic gratitude can be — and how it could help him in his long journey recovering from grief. What he didn’t know was how to make that happen on a practical level.

“I thought, you know, I really need to put this into action,” he said. “I don’t want to be flattened by this forever. I don’t want this to define me.”

Fox’s personal journey into the power of gratitude began after his mother’s diagnosis with stage 4 ovarian cancer. She was interested in his work, but also interested in how it could help her.

“There are studies of gratitude in cancer patients that I would send her,” Fox said. “And she would look at them, and she would say, ‘Well, how can I practice this? What can I do?’”

One of the answers was to keep a gratitude journal, which Fox said she did religiously in the final years of her life.

“I mean, she was dying, and yet she would still write down things that she was grateful for,” he said. “It might be simple things like being able to eat a piece of chocolate, right? Or it might be profound like a blood transfusion.”

The practice had a profound effect on his mother’s ability to stay in the moment, and appreciate the time she had left, he said.

That fit with what Fox and other researchers have learned over the years about the power of gratitude.

“Grateful people tend to recover faster from trauma and injury,” Fox said. “They tend to have better and closer personal relationships and may even just have improved health overall.”

Fox knew all this — and he’d seen first-hand how a gratitude practice had affected his mother. Despite that, he found himself nagged by skepticism that gratitude could really help him out of this deep pit of grief.

“The day after she died, I woke up and started thinking, ‘Okay, gratitude guy … Like, what do you got?’”

Fox may have believed in gratitude, but he’d never really given structured practice a fair shake. So, in the months after his mother’s death, he resolved to begin keeping a gratitude journal.

“I don’t think I really knew the extent to which gratitude could work when you actually wrote things down,” he said.

Research on gratitude

The study of gratitude is a relatively recent phenomenon, according to Emiliana Simon-Thomas, who heads the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

“Gratitude, in many ways, was one of the first ideas to launch the field of positive psychology,” Simon-Thomas said. “So instead of only trying to figure out how to correct what’s gone wrong, can we figure out how to optimize what is just fine? … Can we build strength and tenacity and resilience so that individuals can be their best selves, rather than simply ensure that should they get sick, we know how to ameliorate the symptoms of that illness?”

Positive psychology has helped establish a classification of positive emotions, including how and why they evolved.

“Gratitude fits into a category of what we would call pro-social emotions, and these are emotions that orient us towards the welfare of others,” Simon-Thomas said. “It creates this kind of bond, this enduring sense of connection, with another person or another organism who we’re poised to cooperate with.”

That cooperation, Simon-Thomas said, has been key to our survival as a species.

“That’s what it’s for,” she said. “And humans have it from a very early time as a way to kind of create the social relationships that are so important for our evolutionary success.

Simon-Thomas said gratitude is also tied to other emotions that connect humans.

“I do think that there’s an argument to be made in support of the idea that gratitude scaffolds other emotional experiences,” she said. For example, there’s research supporting relationships between gratitude and love, as well as gratitude and interpersonal trust.

In addition to supporting our relationships, other research has found that gratitude can have myriad positive effects on our health.

It’s been shown to lower stress, reduce pain, and even improve our immune systems, blood pressure, and heart function.

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Tracing back the benefits of gratitude

One of the big questions Glenn Fox and other researchers have been trying to answer is: What is it about gratitude that leads to this whole host of positive benefits?

To find out, Fox did an experiment using brain-imaging scans to map which circuits in the brain become active when we feel grateful.

“We saw that the participants’ ratings of gratitude correlated with activity and a set of brain regions associated with interpersonal bonding and with relief from stress,” Fox said.

Part of this has to do with the rewarding feeling of social interaction. The regions associated with gratitude, Fox said, are part of the larger networks that light up when we socialize and experience pleasure. They also happen to be connected with stress relief.

“You know, that feeling of relief is itself quite rewarding,” Fox said. “We call that reward from relief.”

The sensation not only feels good, it’s good for us.

“We know stress is extremely toxic,” Fox said. “And so anything we can do to relieve stress, will probably lead to health benefits.”

Stress relief has also been shown to reduce pain — which is a big part of what Fox was looking for in the months after his mother’s death.

Beginning journaling

At first, Fox said, his gratitude journal entries were relatively mundane.

“I had some very banal ones, like, ‘Good day ahead, chance to be productive,’” he said, reading from his journal. “Oh, I made a cutting board, and it said, ‘Cutting board is holding up very well.’”

There were also entries about easy commutes, and a few about his foot, which Fox had broken with too much jogging.

Those entries didn’t change the way he felt — at least not at first.

“It didn’t make me feel like, oh, everything is great, because gratitude isn’t a synonym for happiness,” he said. “So what gratitude got me in that moment wasn’t that I didn’t feel any pain — far from it. In fact, it may have even made that sense of pain more acute. But it made me aware of it in a way that I felt I could manage it.”

How gratitude functions in the brain

So if gratitude wasn’t delivering a quick hit of relief, how exactly was it helping?

Another recent brain-imaging study from Indiana University Bloomington offers a clue.

“We wanted to understand: Are there changes that happen over time in the brain as people express gratitude?” Josh Brown, the study’s co-author, said. “And if so, what are those changes?”

To answer those questions, the study recruited locals who were seeking help for depression and other mental health issues. All of them received counseling, but there was also an intervention. A third of the subjects wrote letters of gratitude, a third wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings, and a third wrote nothing at all.

At first, Brown said, they didn’t register a change among the three groups. But that changed when they went back to scan the subjects’ brains three months later.

“The group that wrote the gratitude letters, over time, showed better mental health scores than the group that didn’t,” Brown said. “And the gratitude-writing group also showed better mental health scores than the group that did the deepest-thoughts-and-feelings writing exercise. So specifically writing about and expressing gratitude improved mental health.”

That jives with Fox’s understanding of how gratitude conditions the brain.

“I think that gratitude can be much more like a muscle, like a trained response or a skill that we can develop over time as we’ve learned to recognize abundance and gifts and things that we didn’t previously notice as being important,” he said. “And that itself is its own skill that can be practiced and manifested over time.”

Fox said increased sensitivity doesn’t necessarily mean that you become constantly grateful, but rather it means you become more attuned to the full range of gratitude, from holding the door for someone to donating a kidney.

“It’s that we actually increase our resolution of gratitude,” he said. “Meaning, we see it in high fidelity. It’s like HD gratitude.”

It’s something Fox sees in his own gratitude journaling when he compares his entries from five years ago to his entries now.

“The more recent ones are much more specific,” he said. “You know, so, ‘A brisk spring morning walk and a new book,’ ‘sunshine through the windows during meditation,’ ‘warm sun at the pond at the ranch,’ ‘my new niece giggling during our trip to North Carolina.’ So they’re a lot more specific. The earlier ones are much more like, ‘Woke up early, foot feels better.’ And so they’re not necessarily getting even super long or elaborate, but they’re much more specific, and I think that’s really where you get the HD gratitude.”

None of this has been a magic bullet, Fox emphasized. It didn’t save him from the grief of losing his mother, or from his daily frustrations. But slowly, over time, it’s made a difference.

“You know, it’s like water cutting rock through a canyon,” he said. “It’s not done all at once, and it’s just steady practice is where you start to get things.”

Fox said it’s a mistake to think of gratitude as a cure for pain — something that can be applied when things get bad to lessen the blow. Instead, he said, it’s a regular practice that shores up our reserves, and changes how we perceive the bad times.

“I think you shift your perspective to sort of being grateful for the pain, grateful for the chance to have a sense of putting the pain in perspective,” he said. “And that to me is a skill, and that’s why the journaling has been so important.”

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Benefits of Gratitude: 28+ Surprising Research Findings

It includes some excellent tips, ideas, and exercises to start being more grateful.

However, most people like to know how they can benefit before they start a regular practice. That’s an understandable desire, of course. I would never start eating boring but healthy food on a daily basis without hearing about the fantastic benefits it could bring to my life!

In the interest of informing our readers about how they can benefit from practicing gratitude, and perhaps encouraging some of you who are on the fence, we put together findings from multiple studies and articles into one resource that you can use to decide whether practicing gratitude is a good decision for you.

Once you’ve seen all of these wonderful potential benefits, I think I know what your decision will be!

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Gratitude Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients connect to more positive emotions and enjoy the benefits of gratitude.

This Article Contains:

The 28 benefits of gratitude, the most important gratitude research articles, measuring gratitude with questionnaires and scales, a take-home message.

This piece from Happier Human is a good starting place when exploring the benefits of gratitude (Amin, 2014).

The benefits are split into five groups:

• Emotional benefits
• Social benefits
• Personality benefits
• Career benefits
• Health benefits

There are many benefits of gratitude, but these categories cover quite a few of them.

Gratitude and Emotional Benefits

1. Make us happier

Simply journaling for five minutes a day about what we are grateful for can enhance our long-term happiness by over 10% (Emmons & McCullough, 2003; Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005)! It turns out that noticing what we already have can make us feel more positive about our lives, which makes a simple sort of sense:

those who pay attention to what is good in their life instead of what is bad are more likely to feel positively about their life.

2. Increase psychological wellbeing

Researcher Chih-Che Lin (2017) found that even when controlling for personality, a high level of gratitude has a strong positive impact on psychological wellbeing, self-esteem, and depression. Basically, this means that we can reap the best benefits of gratitude by embodying gratitude and truly living a life of gratitude, a state that we can get to through regular practice and commitment.

3. Enhance our positive emotions

Feeling grateful every day keeps the envy at bay! Research has shown that gratitude reduces envy, facilitates positive emotions, and makes us more resilient (Amin, 2014). After all, if we are grateful for what we have, what room is there for envy to sneak in?

4. Increase our self-esteem

Participants who completed a four-week gratitude contemplation program reported greater life satisfaction and self-esteem than control group participants (Rash, Matsuba, & Prkachin, 2011). Gratitude can help you feel better about your circumstances, which can lead to feeling better about yourself.

5. Keep suicidal thoughts and attempts at bay

A study on the effects of gratitude on depression, coping, and suicide showed that gratitude is a protective factor when it comes to suicidal ideation in stressed and depressed individuals (Krysinska, Lester, Lyke, & Corveleyn, 2015). Enhancing our own practice of gratitude can help protect us when we are weakest.

Gratitude and Social Benefits

It makes sense, then, that all of these positive effects result in social benefits as well. After all, happy and healthy people are fun to be around!

Regarding social benefits, regularly practicing gratitude can…

6. Make people like us

Those who are more grateful have access to a wider social network, more friends, and better relationships on average (Amin, 2014). This is likely because of the effect that being grateful has on how trustworthy, social, and appreciative we seem to others.

7. Improve our romantic relationships

A recent study found evidence that expressing gratitude to our significant others results in improved quality in the relationship (Algoe, Fredrickson, & Gable, 2013). Showing our gratitude to loved ones is a great way to make them feel good, make us feel good, and make the relationship better in general!

8. Improve our friendships

Similar to the effects of gratitude on romantic relationships, expressing gratitude to our friends can improve our friendships. Those who communicate their gratitude to their friends are more likely to work through problems and concerns with their friends and have a more positive perception of their friends (Lambert & Fincham, 2011).

9. Increases social support

Unsurprisingly, given the other social benefits of gratitude, those who are more grateful have access to more social support. The same study that confirmed this finding reported that higher gratitude also leads to lower levels of stress and depression, suggesting that gratitude not only helps you get the social support you need to get through difficult times, but it lessens the need for social support in the first place (Wood, Maltby, Gillett, Linley, & Joseph, 2008)!

10. Strengthen family relationships in times of stress

Gratitude has been found to protect children of ill parents from anxiety and depression , acting as a buffer against the internalization of symptoms (Stoeckel, Weissbrod, & Ahrens, 2015). Teenage and young adult children who are able to find the positives in their lives can more easily deal with difficult situations like serious illness in the family.

Gratitude and Personality Benefits

Here are a few things gratitude has been found to impact. Gratitude can…

11. Make us more optimistic

Showing our gratitude not only helps others feel more positively, it also makes us think more positively. Regular gratitude journaling has been shown to result in 5% to 15% increases in optimism (Amin, 2014), meaning that the more we think about what we are grateful for, the more we find to be grateful for!

12. Increase our spiritualism

If you are feeling a little too “worldly” or feeling lost spiritually, practicing gratitude can help you get out of your spiritual funk. The more spiritual you are, the more likely you are to be grateful, and vice versa (Urgesi, Aglioti, Skrap, & Fabbro, 2010).

13. Make us more giving

Another benefit to both ourselves and others, gratitude can decrease our self-centeredness. Evidence has shown that promoting gratitude in participants makes them more likely to share with others, even at the expense of themselves, and even if the receiver was a stranger (DeSteno, Bartlett, Baumann, Williams, & Dickens, 2010).

14. Indicate reduced materialism

Unsurprisingly, those who are the most grateful also tend to be less materialistic, likely because people who appreciate what they already have are less likely to fixate on obtaining more. It’s probably also not a surprise to learn that those who are grateful and less materialistic enjoy greater life satisfaction (Tsang, Carpenter, Roberts, Frisch, & Carlisle, 2014).

15. Enhance optimism

A study on the effects of gratitude on positive affectivity and optimism found that a gratitude intervention resulted in greater tendencies towards positivity and an expanded capacity for happiness and optimism (Lashani, Shaeiri, Asghari-Moghadam, & Golzari, 2012).

Gratitude and Career Benefits

Of course, many of the social, emotional, and personality benefits of regularly practicing gratitude can carry over to affect work life as well, but some effects are seen primarily over the course of daily work.

In the workplace, gratitude can…

16. Make us more effective managers

Gratitude research has shown that practicing gratitude enhances your managerial skills, enhancing your praise-giving and motivating abilities as a mentor and guide to the employees you manage (Stone & Stone, 1983).

17. Reduce impatience and improve decision-making

Those that are more grateful than others are also less likely to be impatient during economic decision-making, leading to better decisions and less pressure from the desire for short-term gratification (DeSteno, Li, Dickens, & Lerner, 2014). As anyone who has ever worked a stressful job already knows, decisions made to satisfy short-term urges rarely provide positive work results or a boost to your career!

18. Help us find meaning in our work

Those who find meaning and purpose in their work are often more effective and more fulfilled throughout their career. Gratitude is one factor that can help people find meaning in their job, along with applying their strengths, positive emotions and flow, hope, and finding a “calling” (Dik, Duffy, Allan, O’Donnell, Shim, & Steger, 2015).

19. Contribute to reduced turnover

Research has found that gratitude and respect in the workplace can help employees feel embedded in their organization, or welcomed and valued (Ng, 2016). This is especially important in the early stages of a career when new employees are still finding their way and are less likely to be afforded respect from their older or more experienced peers.

20. Improve work-related mental health and reduce stress

Employing gratitude at work can have a significant impact on staff mental health, stress, and turnover. In a rigorous examination of the effects of gratitude on stress and depressive symptoms in hospital staff, researchers learned that the participants randomly assigned to the gratitude group reported fewer depressive symptoms and stress (Cheng, Tsui, & Lam, 2015). Finding things to be grateful for at work, even in stressful jobs, can help protect staff from the negative side effects of their job.

Gratitude and Physical Health

For example, it has been shown that gratitude can…

21. Reduce depressive symptoms

A study on gratitude visits showed that participants experienced a 35% reduction in depressive symptoms for several weeks, while those practising gratitude journaling reported a similar reduction in depressive symptoms for as long as the journaling continued (Seligman et al., 2005). This is an amazing finding and suggests that gratitude journaling can be an effective supplement to treatment for depression.

22. Reduce your blood pressure

Patients with hypertension who “count their blessings” at least once a week experienced a significant decrease in blood pressure, resulting in better overall health (Shipon, 1977). Want a healthy heart? Count your blessings!

23. Improve your sleep

A two-week gratitude intervention increased sleep quality and reduced blood pressure in participants, leading to enhanced wellbeing (Jackowska, Brown, Ronaldson, & Steptoe, 2016). If you’re having trouble sleeping or just waking up feeling fatigued, try a quick gratitude journaling exercise before bed – it could make the difference between groggy and great in the morning!

24. Increase your frequency of exercise

It’s true: being grateful can help you get fit! It may not be a very effective “fast weight loss” plan, but it has been shown that study participants who practiced gratitude regularly for 11 weeks were more likely to exercise than those in the control group (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).

25. Improve your overall physical health

Evidence shows that the more grateful a person is the more likely he or she is to enjoy better physical health, as well as psychological health (Hill, Allemand, & Roberts, 2013). Apparently, grateful people are healthy people!

Gratitude’s Role in Recovery

Whether the issue is substance abuse or a physical ailment, gratitude might be able to help those who are suffering to take control of their lives and get well again.

Gratitude may…

26. Help people recover from substance misuse

Researchers and addiction programs alike have noticed that gratitude can play a key role in recovery from substance misuse or abuse. It seems to help by enabling the development of strengths and other personal resources that individuals can call on in their journey towards a healthier life (Chen, 2017).

27. Enhance recovery from coronary health events

A study out of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital found that acute coronary syndrome patients experienced greater improvements in health-related quality of life and greater reductions in depression and anxiety when they approached recovery with gratitude and optimism (Millstein, Celano, Beale, Beach, Suarez, Belcher, … & Huffman, 2016).

28. Facilitate the recovery of people with depression

A case study of a woman with depression revealed that the adoption of Buddhist teachings and practices, with a strong emphasis on utilizing gratitude as a recovery tool, helped her to heal (Cheng, 2015). This should be taken with a grain of salt as a case study, but there is also plenty of evidence that techniques and exercises drawn from Buddhist teachings can have profound benefits for those who practice them.

Related: Gratitude Meditation: A Simple But Powerful Happiness Intervention .

Robert Emmons: the power of gratitude – Greater Good Science Center

These three articles are some of the most important pieces of gratitude research that you should familiarize yourself with if you would like to know more about the state of our knowledge on gratitude’s precursors, mediators, and impacts.

Emmons & McCullough: Counting Blessings

This article was already mentioned a few times in the section on the benefits of gratitude, and for good reason. Emmons and McCullough’s (2003) work was groundbreaking and has set the stage for much of the research that has been conducted since it was published.

Their article, titled “Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective wellbeing in daily life,” describes three studies conducted to explore the potential emotional and interpersonal benefits of gratitude.

Study 1 involved a group of around 200 undergraduate students, split into one gratitude group, one “hassles” group, and one neutral control group. The gratitude group received instructions to think back over their past week and write down up to five things they were grateful for in their life. The hassles group was instructed to write down up to five hassles or irritants they had experienced over the past week. The control group indicated up to five events that had an impact on them over the last week.

The students completed these “weekly reports” for 10 weeks, along with items assessing wellbeing, physical symptoms, reactions to aid or help-giving, and appraisals of their overall state. Results from this study showed that participants in the gratitude group felt better about their life on the whole, more optimistic about the upcoming week, and reported fewer physical complaints than participants in the other groups.

In study 2, a sample of about 160 undergraduate students in a health psychology class completed 16 “daily experience rating forms.” These rating forms were nearly identical to the forms from study 1 but referenced the daily time period instead of the previous weekly time period. The first two groups were also given the gratitude and hassles instructions, respectively, but the third group was instructed to write about the ways in which they were better off than others. This was dubbed the “downward social comparison” group.

Participants also indicated the frequency with which they exercised, the number of hours of sleep they got the previous night, and whether they had engaged in prosocial behaviors each day.

Results from study 2 showed that those in the gratitude group reported greater positive affect and more prosocial behavior than participants in the other groups, although there was no significant difference found in the frequency of exercise or amount of sleep.

Study 3 was conducted with a group of adults who suffered from a neuromuscular disease. They completed a packet of 21 daily experience rating forms similar to those employed in study 2. Participants were assigned to either the gratitude group, where they were given the same instructions as the gratitude group in the previous studies and completed measures of daily affect, wellbeing, and other health and daily living activities, or the control group, in which participants completed only the measures portion of the daily tasks.

The findings from study 3 showed that those in the gratitude condition reported increased subjective wellbeing , greater positive affect, and more hours of quality sleep. Ratings from the participants’ significant others confirmed that there was a noticeable difference in their wellbeing as well.

These three studies provided evidence that gratitude can have a significant impact on an individual’s emotional, mental, and possibly even physical state. While there had been other explorations of gratitude as a psychological construct, this was one of the first articles suggesting that the benefits of gratitude may be far greater than we realized at the time.

If you remember anything about this article, remember this: Emmons and McCullough (2003) showed that counting your blessings seems to be a much more effective way of enhancing your quality of life than counting your burdens.

Bartlett & DeSteno: Gratitude and Prosocial Behavior

The previous studies had hinted at this relationship, but Bartlett and DeSteno made this relationship their main focus in their 2006 article.

This article also consists of three studies:

Study 1 paired 105 individuals with a study confederate, an actor complicit with the researchers who the participants believed was just another study participant. They completed tasks independently but side by side, although the participant was under the impression that their work would contribute to a single score for both of them.

After these tasks, including a general knowledge task and a hand-eye coordination task, the next activity depended upon the participant’s randomly assigned condition.

Some participants were assigned to the gratitude condition, in which the study confederate was secretly complicit with researchers in introducing a problem with the participant’s task completion. The confederate would help the participant figure out the problem, saving him or her time and effort on redoing their tasks.

Some participants were placed in the amusement group, where they would watch a humorous video clip after completing the tasks and be engaged in conversation about the clip by the confederate. Afterward, they were given a meaningless task of checking off which words from a list had appeared in the clip.

The rest of the participants were assigned to the control group, in which the confederate briefly engaged the participant in the conversation about where the experimenter might be, before “finding” him or her, at which point the next tasks were introduced.

After the activities of the above conditions, participants completed a questionnaire designed to assess their emotional state and feelings towards their “partner” (i.e., the confederate). Once the questionnaire was completed, participants were also approached by the confederate once again, this time with a request to fill out a long and effort-intensive survey the confederate was ostensibly handing out for her work-study advisor.

The experimenter noted how long the participant worked on this survey, coding a refusal to take the survey as 0 minutes.

Results from this study showed that those in the gratitude condition were more likely to help the confederate, and their efforts lasted longer than the efforts of those in the other conditions, on average. This was the expected outcome of the study, as the researchers predicted that participants with a reason to be grateful to their “peer” would be more willing to help them out with a completely voluntary (and boring) task.

In study 2, 97 participants completed nearly the exact same process as described in study 1, but with two differences:

1) The amusement condition was dropped.

2) Another factor was added in; in one condition, the person asking for help was the confederate who the participant thought was a peer, while in the other condition a stranger (also supposedly a participant, but not one the participant had actually spoken to) requested help.

The results of this study showed that participants who were approached for help by the friendly confederate were more likely to agree to complete the survey than those who were approached by a stranger, regardless of whether they were in the gratitude group or the control group. However, those in the gratitude group who were approached by a stranger for help were still more likely to agree than those in the control group who were approached by a stranger.

These findings suggest that the gratitude manipulation really does encourage people to be prosocial, although it’s more likely that they will want to help the individual they are specifically grateful to than strangers.

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Finally, in study 3, 35 participants completed nearly the same process as described in study 2, except:

1) Instead of employing a confederate and a stranger to alternate requests for help, study 3 used only a stranger for the request.

2) Another condition was included, dubbed the “gratitude-source” condition, in which the usual gratitude group process included a brief encounter with the experimenter before leaving the lab and being approached for help from a stranger. The experimenter asked “Was it the other participant who figured out what was wrong with your computer?”, drawing attention to the source to which the participant should be grateful.

The results of study 3 provide showed that participants in the gratitude condition helped the stranger significantly more than those in the neutral and gratitude-source conditions, indicating that gratitude not only enhances prosocial behavior, but the effect is present without the coercion of a norm of reciprocity (i.e., feeling that you must pay it forward because you have received).

This article was important because it solidified the theoretical link between gratitude and prosocial behaviors, indicating that those who are more grateful are more likely to engage in voluntary helping behaviors. This is an important link to understand, and one that can have very positive impacts when applied to our communities (Bartlett & DeSteno, 2006).

The main point from this paper is that gratitude can evoke positive effects, even for those who were neither the one who was grateful nor the one on the receiving end of the gratitude.

A small act of gratitude can cause ripple effects that reach farther than you would imagine.

Increasing and Sustaining Positive Emotion through Gratitude

This article made a major contribution to the research surrounding gratitude and positive affect, and the relationship between the two.

This study was conducted as a four-week longitudinal exploration of what happens when people regularly practice two popular happiness strategies. The participants were a group of 67 undergraduate students who were split into three experimental groups:

• The first group was assigned to the gratitude exercise, otherwise known as the “counting your blessings” exercise (this exercise was used in McCullough and Emmons’ 2003 research!). These participants completed this exercise, instructing them to think about the things in their life that they are grateful for and to continue to do so over the next few weeks.
• The second group received instructions for the “best possible selves” exercise. In this exercise, participants are instructed to visualize their best possible selves, now and during the next few weeks. They imagine their future if everything in life has gone as well as it possibly could, and they have met all of their important goals, and are told to continue this visualization over the next few weeks.
• The third group, or the “life details” group, was instructed to “pay more attention” to their lives. They were encouraged to think about all the details they usually don’t notice, regarding their classes or regular meetings they attend, interactions they engage in with others, and their typical schedule as they move through the day. They are also told to continue paying more attention to their life over the next few weeks.

After participants in each group finished their assigned exercises, they completed a mood questionnaire, a mental exercise, a second mood questionnaire, and a rating of their motivation to keep engaging in their assigned exercise in the near future. The questionnaires included a well-known scale of affect, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, or PANAS (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988).

Participants completed these exercises and measurements at a small-group laboratory session and completed online surveys approximately two weeks and four weeks after the session to in which they reported their mood and indicated how well frequently they were actually performing the exercise.

The results of this study showed that each condition reported immediate reductions in negative affect, but that only the “best possible selves” group experienced a significant increase in positive affect. In addition, participants in this condition reported the greater motivation and interest in continuing this exercise outside of the lab.

Those who reported higher motivation were also more likely to follow through on their exercise. Completing the exercise more faithfully also resulted in a more positive mood in the follow-up assessments, especially for those in the “best possible selves” group (Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2007).

These findings showed two important things, among others:

1) A regular practice of gratitude and/or positive visualization can lead to a higher quality of life, measured by affect.

2) It can be difficult to motivate people to consistently practice gratitude.

It seems counterintuitive that we are often so resistant to doing something that can make our lives objectively better, but that’s the truth: it’s hard to cultivate a regular gratitude practice.

Towards this end, it may be useful to measure your own levels of gratitude. You may find that you have room to improve in this area, in which case you may want to try a gratitude exercise or institute a regular practice of being grateful. The measures below can help you with this goal.

Download 3 Free Gratitude Exercises (PDF)

These detailed, science-based exercises will equip you or your clients with tools to build daily gratitude habits, express more appreciation toward others, and experience more positive emotions in everyday life.

Download Download 3 Gratitude Tools (PDF)

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As with any psychological construct, there are many different ways to measure it. The three measures that are most popular and most used in research are listed and described here.

The Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test (GRAT)

This measure was developed in 2003 by researchers from Eastern Washington University, and provides a measure of trait gratitude (i.e., the more permanent type of gratitude that is ingrained in your personality).

It includes 44 items representing characteristics that a grateful person tends to exhibit.

To complete the measure, you simply indicate how much you agree or disagree with each statement on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 9 (strongly agree). Some of these statements are decidedly not indicative of a grateful person, but not to worry – these are reverse scored, so a “strongly agree” would be a 1 on this item instead of a 9.

The total score represents the survey taker’s overall level of trait gratitude, which has been shown to correlate with subjective wellbeing and positive affect (Watkins, Woodward, Stone, & Kolts, 2003).

Some sample items include:

• “I think it’s important to enjoy the simple things in life.”
• “More bad things have happened to me in my life than I deserve.” (reverse-scored)
• “I think that it’s important to sit down every once in a while and “count your blessings.”
• “I believe that I’ve had more than my share of bad things come my way.” (reverse-scored)

You can see multiple versions of the GRAT at this link .

The Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6)

This scale is a stunningly simple one, with only six items to rate. It was developed by Emmons, McCullough, and their colleague Tsang, and used in their 2002 article on gratitude and the “grateful disposition.”

The statements are rated on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), with two reverse-scored items. The total score is added up from each item, and indicates your “GQ-6 score.” The number will be between 6 and 42, with higher numbers indicating a more grateful outlook on life.

The six items are as follows:

• “I have so much in life to be thankful for.”
• “If I had to list everything that I felt grateful for, it would be a very long list.”
• “When I look at the world, I don’t see much to be grateful for.” (reverse-scored)
• “I am grateful to a wide variety of people.”
• “As I get older I find myself more able to appreciate the people, events, and situations that have been part of my life history.”
• “Long amounts of time can go by before I feel grateful to something or someone.” (reverse-scored)

As a benchmark for comparing your score to others, if you scored below a 35 out of the possible 42, your gratitude level is in the bottom 25% of participants. If you scored a 42, you are in the top 13% of participants.

Whatever your score is, don’t worry too much about it – just see what you can do to be more grateful for what you have, and watch your wellbeing expand because of it!

Gratitude Adjective Checklist (GAC)

Because it is not tied down by a time frame, it can be used to measure gratitude in any form, whether you are viewing it more as an emotion, a mood, or a trait.

The Gratitude Adjective Checklist is even simpler than the GQ-6. It consists of only three adjectives, and participants rate the intensity with which they are experiencing these adjectives on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely).

These adjectives are:

• “Appreciative”

A total score is calculated by simply adding the ratings on these three adjectives. The score can range from 3 to 15, with 3 indicating the lowest possible levels of gratitude and 15 indicating the highest possible level of gratitude.

As simple as it is, it has been found to be reliable and internally consistent and is used frequently in research, although not as often as the GRAT and the GQ-6.

You can find out more about measuring gratitude, scales and questionnaires here .

17 Exercises To Nurture Gratitude & Appreciation

Empower others with more hope, satisfaction, and fulfilling relationships with these 17 Gratitude & Appreciation Exercises [PDF] that harness the powerful benefits of gratitude.

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

As always, I sincerely hope that you both enjoyed this piece and learned a little something from it.

Please remember to cultivate gratitude in your life whenever you can. You never know how far the impacts of a little gratitude can reach!

What do you think of these gratitude benefits? Have you experienced any yourself? Do you have any other suggestions for important gratitude research articles to share? Let us know in the comments!

For further reading:

• 5 Best Books on Gratitude + Oliver Sacks’ Gratitude Book
• Gratitude Messages, Letters and Lists
• The Gratitude Tree for Kids (Incl. Activities + Drawings)

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Gratitude Exercises for free .

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What our readers think.

What a terrific resource! Thank you, Courtney! I have run a GRATITUDE community on Facebook for the past 8 years called “Attitude of Gratitude with Chronic Pain.” We use the tools of a regular GRATITUDE practice and our group connection to help us to recover from the emotional debilitation we have from living with chronic pain/illness. We have 8,000 members who all join us knowing that we are a very different group in that we don’t talk about the specifics of our conditions and we are positive/solution-based. Every day I have people telling me that our group and a regular GRATITUDE practice has dramatically improved the quality of their lives! I’m currently writing a book on the subject and am GRATEFUL to find this amazing resource! I have done much research over the years on the effects of GRATITUDE on living with chronic pain and have seen the benefits myself. I firmly believe that sharing our GRATITUDE in a group setting within our community strengthens the benefits, and I have had researchers point out that this has been proven (Dr. Fuschia Sirois from U of Sheffield, UK).

Love, Love, Love! Be Grateful in everything.

I love the research on the connection between gratitude and the body. I’ve personally found that having gratitude for my body makes me want to take better care of it (via movement, nourishment, etc.). Thanks for sharing!

This is such a meaningful and beautiful article. Enjoyed reading it and lots to take home and use in everyday life. Thank you.

very informative and useful article to apply in our life

Thanks for sharing the information. I have started expressing gratitude on regular basis after reading this article and I can see drastic positive changes in my life. Thanks once again.

Thank you for this very informative piece which I will refer to in my work and share with my family. I grew up in India in a family where gratitude was a core family value. As a result, I have embodied it my daily life and have found it to be magical in living life with purpose, being positive, cultivating resiliency amidst life’s challenges and being able to make a difference in my personal and professional life across cultural, racial and gender stereotyping divides.

Hi Courtney Well done for your work and I am very grateful that I came across it. I find it useful to have some formal research verify a positive practice that can enhance one’s life.-especially when promoting the process to others. One does not need to engage in journaling on a daily basis, as an ongoing practice. However, one can take the time each day -even for a quick thought on the run- to mentally relate one thing to be grateful for. This helps develop a pattern in order to help change the brain wiring and firing-until it becomes a joyful habit. So thank you and I wish you all the best in your future studies.

Great work. I found the article useful as it is enriched with comprehensive information presented systematically with references.

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Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude

Over the past two decades, studies have consistently found that people who practice gratitude report fewer symptoms of illness, including depression, more optimism and happiness, stronger relationships, more generous behavior, and many other benefits.

That’s why the Greater Good Science Center, in collaboration with Robert Emmons of the University of California, Davis, launched Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude, a multiyear project funded by the John Templeton Foundation . The general goals of this initiative are to:

• Expand the scientific database of gratitude, particularly in the key areas of human health, personal and relational well-being, and developmental science;
• Raise awareness and engage the public in a larger cultural conversation about the meaning and significance of gratitude; and
• Promote evidence-based practices of gratitude in educational, medical, and organizational settings.

Learn more about the initiative’s goals and activities from the menu on the left.

“Our work with the GGSC has perhaps had a greater influence on our school than any other initiative in the past five years. The Culture of Care that you helped us to develop has had a huge impact, and we are beginning to see real benefits.”

― Graeme Scott, Deputy Head of School for Learning, International School of Bangkok

Get Involved

There are many ways to support our mission: become a greater good member , make a donation , volunteer for an event , or subscribe to our e-newsletters ..

Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

Six New Studies That Can Help You Rediscover Gratitude

While society at large turns its interest to gratitude in November, National Gratitude Month, some researchers spend their whole years—and careers—studying what gratitude means, its benefits, and how to practice it.

Here at Greater Good , we’ve reported on new research suggesting that gratitude at work can reduce your stress and help your team feel heard , and that gratitude journaling was a helpful tool for people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But there were a few more gratitude studies published this year that we think you’ll be interested in—studies that can help you figure out the best way to express your gratitude, navigate culture differences around saying thank you, and find the motivation to start your own gratitude practice.

Here are six more insights that researchers have learned from studying gratitude in 2022. 

1. A gratitude letter might be better than a gratitude journal…

Researchers from the University of California, Riverside, aimed to figure out the best way to practice gratitude if you want to be happier in life.

To find out, they recruited 958 Australian adults to try out different practices daily for a week: writing a gratitude letter to someone (but not sending it), writing a gratitude essay about some thing they were thankful for (not a person), writing lists of people or things they were grateful for, or simply keeping track of their daily activities.

Before, after, and one week later, the participants filled out surveys measuring their life satisfaction, and positive and negative emotions.

Among all those practices, writing a gratitude letter to someone appeared to be the most beneficial. When compared to the people who only kept track of daily activities, those who wrote gratitude letters felt more gratitude, positive emotions, elevation , and connectedness.

More broadly, the longer writing activities—letters and essays—seemed to be more beneficial than shorter lists (the typical gratitude journal practice).

There’s one caveat: Gratitude letters made people feel a greater sense of indebtedness compared to all the other gratitude practices. The benefits were also small and short-lived, the researchers found, suggesting that we should practice gratitude regularly if we want to keep getting something out of it.

This study might inspire you to write a gratitude letter…but could there be an even better practice?

2. …but there’s no “best” way to practice gratitude

The same researchers published a second study this fall that compared gratitude letters to two other practices—practices that involved expressing gratitude directly to others rather than simply reflecting on it in solitude.

They recruited over 900 undergraduate students, mostly Asian and Latino, to try out writing gratitude letters (again, not sending them), sending a thank-you text, or expressing gratitude publicly in a social media post or tweet.

The participants tried their practice four times, expressing gratitude for four different people. Before and after the experiment, they reported on their emotions, satisfaction with life, and feelings of connectedness and support.

Gratitude Letter

Write a letter expressing thanks, and deliver it in person

Contrary to expectations, the gratitude activities all seemed to have similar benefits, when compared to a simple non-gratitude activity. No matter how they expressed gratitude, people tended to feel greater positive emotions, satisfaction with life, elevation, connectedness, and support, as well as less loneliness.

Texting a thank-you did have a slight edge, though. Compared to writing a private letter or broadcasting a public post, it made people feel even more connected and supported.

These two studies build on an earlier experiment that compared expressing gratitude via text, on video chat, or in person—and also found that the medium didn’t really matter (though people felt slightly more connected and happy saying thanks on video or in real life).

Overall, it seems like we shouldn’t fret about the “best” way to say thank you. What’s much more important is that we reflect on our gratitude in the first place—and, if possible, share that thanks to create a positive connection with others.

3. We start appreciating gratitude in others as young as age four

When do kids start to notice and understand other people’s expressions of gratitude?

Researchers recently explored this question with 40 (mostly white) preschoolers who watched different videos of a gift-giver and a gift-receiver. In some videos, the gift-receiver was grateful: Although they didn’t specifically say “thank you,” they showed their gratitude by saying that the gift-giver was nice and a good friend. In other videos, the gift-receiver was happy but didn’t show gratitude in these ways.

Next, the researchers asked the children questions comparing the two gift-receivers.

The results? The five year olds thought that the gift-giver liked the grateful person more than the happy person, and they also thought the grateful gift-receiver would be more likely to give a gift in return. When asked to give away flowers, the five year olds also wanted to be more generous to the grateful person. Four year olds responded in a similar way, but just not as consistently.

These findings suggest that even young preschoolers interpret expressions of gratitude as important indicators of social information. “This understanding increasingly allows children to evaluate the reliability and trustworthiness of potential cooperative partnerships,” explain researchers Amrisha Vaish and Shannon Savell. In other words, gratitude helps even young children distinguish between people who are caring and worthy of getting to know better, and people who are selfish whom they might want to avoid.

4. A gratitude app can help you ruminate less

When we were locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic, our well-being took a hit, as we suffered from worry, stress, and isolation. But researchers from the Netherlands and Belgium found that using a gratitude app could help people cope better under stress.

In the experiment, hundreds of European adults first reported how stressed, anxious, and depressed they were, as well as their tendency to be grateful, ruminate, or reframe negative experiences in positive ways. Then, half the adults used a gratitude app for six weeks, while others waited to use it. The app featured writing assignments focused on things like appreciating the good things in life, expressing gratitude toward others, and finding the positive in adversity. People were encouraged to write 10-15 minutes per day for five days of the week.

Gratitude Journal

Count your blessings and enjoy better health and happiness

Afterward, researchers re-measured the participants’ well-being and found that those who’d used the gratitude app were less depressed, anxious, and stressed at week six than those on the waitlist. Their greater well-being, which lasted until week 12, was tied to less rumination, more positive reframing, and more gratitude.

As the researchers conclude, “Practicing gratitude using a mobile application has potential to make a significant impact on the mental health of the general population, even during the difficult times of a pandemic.”

5. Gratitude can protect you from regret

According to one study, regret is the emotion we experience the most frequently —after love. So how do we deal with feelings of regret?

An October study found that practicing gratitude may help.

In one experiment, Chinese participants imagined a friend supporting them with their difficulties in life and how grateful they would feel toward this person, while others just thought about their recent life experiences. Then, everyone imagined making a decision that would typically induce regret: a poor investment, or choosing the wrong hotel for a trip.

Ultimately, the participants who had reflected on a gratitude experience felt less regret about their mistaken decisions.

Gratitude Meditation

Feel grateful as you reflect on all the gifts in your life

In other experiments, the researchers uncovered the reason why gratitude seemed to protect people from regret: It keeps our minds from dwelling on the past. In general, they found, grateful people tend to focus less on the past. And if you guide a grateful person to mull over past mistakes, they are no longer protected from regret.

“Gratitude has been reported to make people think less about the negative past and cherish what they have here and now, which helps to reduce regret,” write the Beijing-based researchers. Gratitude orients us to the present, which is why it may help protect against future-oriented emotions like anxiety , too.

Of course, regret isn’t all bad—it can inspire us to grow and make better decisions in the future . But perhaps gratitude can help us avoid getting stuck in endless, pointless regret and allow us to move forward in life.

6. Should you say thanks or apologize?

Because much research on gratitude has focused on Western cultures, it may represent a biased view of what gratitude looks like and how it’s practiced. For example, past studies have found that South Koreans are more likely than Americans to apologize when asking for a favor—and more likely to grant favors when they include apologies, like “I’m sorry to bother you”—whereas Americans prefer to use a thank-you in this context. Situations that call for gratitude in one culture may not call for gratitude in another.

Complicating these findings, though, a 2022 study found that thank-yous may be more effective than apologies in certain circumstances in Japan, even though Japanese people also frequently use apologies when asking for favors.

Japanese college students read an email (hypothetically, from a friend) asking them to provide feedback on an essay. After the students gave their feedback, their “friend” offered one of four responses before requesting feedback on a second essay: a thank you, an apology for bothering them, both, or neither.

The students were most likely to offer additional help—and say they would trust the friend with a secret—when the friend gave thanks only.

Does that mean that a simple “thank you” is the best way to connect with the people in your life who are helping you, no matter their cultural background? Much more research across different cultures needs to be done to answer this question. For now, the message might be that expressing gratitude makes a difference in our relationships, but we should be thoughtful about when and how we do it.

About the Authors

Kira M. Newman

Kira M. Newman is the managing editor of Greater Good . Her work has been published in outlets including the Washington Post , Mindful magazine, Social Media Monthly , and Tech.co, and she is the co-editor of The Gratitude Project . Follow her on Twitter!

Hannah J. Villareal

Hannah J. Villareal (they/them) is a writer and research assistant at Greater Good specializing in diversity, equity, and inclusion. In addition to writing pieces for Greater Good magazine, they work to improve the inclusivity and cultural sensitivity of the practices on Greater Good in Action. They have been working with Greater Good since their undergraduate days at the University of California, Berkeley, where they majored in psychology and minored in gender and women’s studies.

Jill Suttie

Jill Suttie, Psy.D. , is Greater Good ’s former book review editor and now serves as a staff writer and contributing editor for the magazine. She received her doctorate of psychology from the University of San Francisco in 1998 and was a psychologist in private practice before coming to Greater Good .

Maryam Abdullah

Uc berkeley.

Maryam Abdullah, Ph.D., is the Parenting Program Director of the Greater Good Science Center. She is a developmental psychologist with expertise in parent-child relationships and children’s development of prosocial behaviors.

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Use Gratitude to Counter Stress and Uncertainty

• Christopher Littlefield

Research shows a positive emotion can help balance out negative thoughts.

Right now, we’re living in a constant state of uncertainty, and it can feel like running a race with no finish line or making a puzzle without a reference picture.

• What can we do to minimize the impacts of uncertainty on our mental health? Research shows that gratitude may just help balance out our mental state.
• To cultivate gratitude in ourselves, we need to intentionally shift our focus to that which we are thankful for. You can do this by: 1) Pausing and reflecting on what’s working for you; 2) Writing a gratitude journal; 3) Taking small steps to build it in like a practice or ritual.

Where your work meets your life. See more from Ascend here .

Taking care of our mental health during a pandemic isn’t easy. Since the outbreak began, we’ve all been feeling — understandably — a lot more stressed. One study found that 57% of people are experiencing greater anxiety, and 53% of us are more emotionally exhausted. These kinds of emotions tend to arise when we lose some form of stability in our lives. Right now, we just don’t know what comes next. Living in a constant state of uncertainty can feel like running a race with no finish line or completing a puzzle without a reference picture. Everything seems unclear, and the worst seems possible.

• Christopher Littlefield is an International/TEDx speaker specializing in employee appreciation and the founder of  Beyond Thank You . He has trained thousands of leaders across six continents to create cultures where people feel valued every day. He is the author of 75+ Team Building Activities for Remote Teams—Simple Ways to Build Trust, Strengthen Communication, and Laugh Together from Afar . You can follow his work through his weekly mailing  The Nudge .

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A season of gratitude

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Harvard experts say gratitude is not only beneficial for individual health, but also for the wellbeing of society.

Saying thank you.

Members of the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine Class of 2023 took a moment to thank those who helped them most.

Read the Harvard Gazette article

To my father, whose left leg was afflicted with polio: Thank you for teaching me what it means to be a man and to walk with dignity.” William Mbongo

I want to thank my mom and my grandmothers, who have taught me that women are powerful." Logan Beyer

Mommy, I want you to know I have the privilege of putting on this white coat and feeling like a superhero because of you." LaShyra “Lash” Nolen

Living gratefully during a pandemic

Finding gratitude in challenging times

On the “Harvard EdCast” podcast, Kristi Nelson says we should determine what things are essential and stay connected to those, while figuring out how to let the rest go.

Kristi Nelson : The big challenge right now is how not to take anything for granted. Because I think this is what we’re learning is, there’s so much uncertain. There’s so much that we used to have that we don’t have anymore, so much is unpredictable. And I think this whole idea of returning to what really matters, remembering what matters the most to us. I think that’s how we live gratefully during a pandemic, is knowing what’s essential, being connected to those things and figuring out how to bless and release the rest of it. Just for now, knowing that we have to learn to adapt to changing circumstances and cultivate the interior approach to life, that will give us the gratification we’re looking for, not look for it from outside circumstances.

Jill Anderson : So I imagine a lot of people have been asking about, how you actually do that and put that into action during this year.

Kristi Nelson : Well, I really consider every moment a grateful living practice, right? So it’s not just gratitude as we’ve typically known it, which tends to be super fleeting and very conditional and transactional for the most part, right. So how do we get gratitude? It’s Oh, well I’ve got exactly what I want. So I feel grateful. I got what I needed, I feel grateful. And I think it’s something else which is really to appreciate the most basic things. And I’ve been talking a lot with people about if we can become rooted literally in being grateful for the breath, just our very basic ability to breathe and not take that for granted, because we know that it could be otherwise and around us, a lot of people who used to be able to breathe on their own can no longer breathe on their own, right?

So COVID is a huge teaching about what we can lose. And so how do we take the most basic simple things in our lives, and wrap those things in our gratitude, wrap those things. So having the ability to walk, having the ability to get outdoors at all, having technology, having electricity. Just seeing all of the ordinary things in our lives as extraordinary, that’s the sure-fire way to feeling grateful all the time, is see everything as an amazing gift that you didn’t use to have some people don’t have. You might never have at some point again, and we can’t count on things. So when we have them savor them, treasure them, relish them.

Jill Anderson : Why do people seem to have such a hard time doing that?

Kristi Nelson : That’s the million dollar question. I really honestly think it has to do with the culture that we live in and the messages that we get. And especially in economic systems that rely on commerce, we become consumers and we have this idea that if we only had more or better or different than we would be happier and we’d be more grateful. But the truth is, I think the people who are happiest if you travel around the world, it’s not always more that makes us happy. And yet we forget that. We get caught in the trance of consumption. We get caught in that hamster wheel of everything, more status, more degrees, more stuff. And I think it takes us away really from what matters. So I do think it’s quite culturally bound. And I also think that we can therefore unlearn it.

We can cultivate something different by being conscious of the ways that those messages are impacting us all the time, and the ways that we are being subjected to images and messages that make us envious covetous. And we want more and we want something different and there’s this new thing. And even in the pandemic that hasn’t shifted, having things is still pitched as something to aspire to. And yet what we know really matters is being close to the people we love, staying connected to our hearts. The things that really, really matter. Our values, those things are unconditional and those things we can access any time.

Jill Anderson : This may seem like a silly question to ask, but I keep thinking, are there people out there who are just good at gratitude other cultures? That type of thing. Is this something you really need to learn how to do?

Kristi Nelson : Some of us are raised by parents who have a much higher degree of being grateful for what they have. And so that’s inculcated in us, that’s a benefit to grow up that way. And to be taught that the simple things really matter. That it’s who you are, not what you have that matters and how you are that matters. Those are really beneficial. And then also of course, culturally, it’s something that we can learn and we can practice all the time, for sure. And lucky are the people who know that being grateful is the path to happiness. That happiness doesn’t make us grateful, right. So that’s something we say all the time, if you’re not grateful for what you have and you don’t learn that, and it really is learned to shift your orientation, to change your gaze, to experience things differently.

And that happens often with wake-up calls Jill, right? People… You can have things that happen that absolutely wake you up. So you’re more grateful for everything. And so it is learned, it’s learnable. And sometimes another cultures Buddhism is really about simple living and about appreciating what’s here and now in the moment, much more. We tend to be future-oriented, we kind of lose the moment for the future. I think there’s lots of ways to learn this, but I think being really awake to what matters, which is with COVID is offering us the opportunity to do for sure, this pandemic. Can we be awake all the time much more to what really matters, because we can’t count on anything so much right now. The old things that you could expect are no longer in play in the same way.

So it’s a good idea to be awake and not need a wake up call. I love saying that because wake up calls are scary and wake up calls can be hard, and we don’t want to have to lose or almost lose the things that matter most to us to know that they matter.

Jill Anderson : Right. But that often seems like what happens, right?

Kristi Nelson : It is.

Jill Anderson : I’m wondering if there’s a way to cultivate gratitude through education and what that might look like?

Kristi Nelson : Well, we have a lot of teachers who are really interested in teaching from a grateful place. And certainly if you’re a professor or a teacher, it helps to ground yourself in your own practice. So boy, there’s so much about education that we can appreciate. And it’s so easy to take it for granted. I think part of it is the mindset that we go into teaching with and that we go into learning with. And we can start classes and start our learning experiences, really registering what a privilege it is to have education, what an extraordinary gift it is. And how precious it is to have these moments where we’re learning and to create a construct around a learning experience, that really values learning and values teaching. And recognizes that in a relative frame of things, we’re incredibly lucky to have access to education period. And there’s lots of ways to help teach students about that.

Jill Anderson : How about teaching young children gratitude? Why is that important and how do you do that?

Kristi Nelson : The reason it’s important is because the absolutely most content joyful, generous people are the most grateful people. If you look around, it’s pretty verifiable that if you see people who are really grateful for everything that they have, grateful to be alive, grateful for a roof over their heads, grateful for food on their table, grateful for family, for friends, for love, grateful for every… you just see that all and wonder, and that’s the pathway to happiness. So it’s important to teach it because if you raise children from an early age, having that framework for happiness is really about being grateful for what you have and not being always caught by covetousness and consumption. You’re going to have happier kids and they’re going to be more generous. They’re going to be more… There’s so much research about gratitude now, more altruistic behaviors and more compassionate behaviors.

And how we do that, I think is as parents making sure that our way of going through our life is not taking what we have for granted. And watching our own behavior because of course, what do kids learn? They learn from what they see and hear not from what they’re told. So how do we, ourselves as parents model that contentment, that simplicity is enough rather than being run by scarcity and insatiability in some way. So we can teach a lot, taking moments to stop to really recognize the gift of a beautiful meal, to understand it, to deconstruct it a little bit, to talk about it, to start our days with gratitude, with kids, to end our days with gratitude with kids. And to punctuate moments throughout the day, where you really ask kids about what they’re grateful for and about what they could lift up in their awareness, that they could be more grateful for.

What do you want to be more grateful for? Teaching them about tending and appreciating what they have rather than wanting more. And I think that’s a really powerful lesson for all of us, honestly.

Jill Anderson : Yeah. I think a lot of adults, myself included struggle with this. I’m wondering what’s a simple, accessible exercise that people can do to help cultivate gratitude and gratefulness that is easy to stick with?

Kristi Nelson : Yeah, absolutely. So there’s this practice that our founder Brother David Steindl-Rast, he kind of came up with kids, it’s stop, look, go and which we do when we’re crossing the streets and all that stuff, so they kids know that. But it really is about stopping and learning to notice. So I’ll tell you a teeny bit about this and then I’ll tell you a very simple practice that I think really helps with perspective enhancement, but stop is really slowing down pausing awareness. So like literally so many families at Thanksgiving say grace before their meal, or just appreciate the food and talk about whether it’s an indigenous blessing or some kind of cultural blessing from your past or… It’s not about being religious. It’s about seeing the act of being able to eat and having food as sacred, as profound as a gift, not something to be taking for granted because a lot of people don’t have the food that we do. And we could have those moments of stopping and appreciating before we do things way more.

So stop look go is kind of stop, pause, become aware, notice, notice what you’re grateful for and notice the opportunity and then do something with it. So before you take a bath, before you brush your teeth, just take a second and pause and notice when you turn on the water that water comes out, notice that there’s hot water and cold water. Literally. I mean, these are not small things and it’s not just about saying, Oh, you know, some people somewhere don’t have it. It’s like if we lose power, we’re so grateful for electricity. The rest of the time we forget it, we completely forget it and we take it for granted. Lose power for four days and then get it back. You’ll appreciate electricity a lot more. And you won’t take it for granted for about a day. And then you can take it for granted again.

So here’s one little exercise that I think people of all ages can do. And this is I think a really important one and it’s about changing our language, and therefore changing our experience of our lives. And it’s something that we call seeing our responsibilities instead of burdensome as privileges and as opportunities. So when I’m doing workshops or I’m working with people, I have people write down, think of five things you have to do before you go to bed tonight. And I can usually write a list of 20 things. And I have lists all around me right now on my desk, all the things I have to do and it’s a Friday. So it’s all the things I want to do before the weekend I have to do, I have to do. And I feel that as a burden. And then cross those words I have to out and put, I get to.

So, I get to write this email. I get to go to this meeting. I get to have a conversation. I get to complete a project. I get to run an errand. I get to make dinner for my kids. And that one shift is so profound, it can change literally kind of everything, both in how you experience as a parent, the responsibilities of being a parent and how kids experience the responsibilities of being a kid. It’s really profound because then when you say, you know what? You get to do homework. Not everybody gets to do homework, not everybody… And it’s really just putting yourself in a larger frame of reference, a larger vantage point. A higher level perspective. It’s all about perspective enhancement. Everything I’m talking about to me is about perspective enhancement and learning that perspective is something that we are in charge of absolutely almost all the time.

And yet we lose it, we get it back. We lose it, we lose it. We get… So it’s a continual practice of gaining perspective and enriching our perspective. And that’s a very intentional practice.

Jill Anderson : I love that because it does, it automatically just makes you look at everything differently. Nothing feels like a burden and suddenly feels like a privilege, right? If you just start thinking, I get to.

Kristi Nelson : Yeah, it’s pretty stunning because when we really don’t take life for granted, then we know that there are a lot of people who would give anything for what we have. And they’re no longer here. And in COVID a lot of people are losing their lives. A lot of people are in hospitals. There’s people who would give anything to be able to get up out of a bed and walk into another room, but they can’t. So it’s like, how do we forget in our moments what huge privileges and opportunities these are that we have every single day of our lives. And we don’t want to wait for these wake up calls that are so serious, in order to really fully appreciate what’s immediately at our disposal, what’s available to us.

Jill Anderson : In your work, what have you discovered about people that makes it so challenging to kind of stick with this change perspective?

Kristi Nelson : I think one of the biggest things is dividing the world up into wrong and writing good and bad. It sounds so super simplistic, but those of us who are beleaguered by judging our emotional experiences and sorting them into, this is an okay feeling this is a bad feeling as opposed to kind of befriending and embracing whatever we feel, like trying to really create a bigger space for self-acceptance and self-compassion. And the people who have the hardest time, I think are people who are really driven. People who are… The more kind of opinionated we are, the more besieged we are by standards of kind of where we’ve bought into something outside ourselves. And we’re really subject to the external influences around us.

That makes it really harder because the more that we think that it’s all about our circumstances, that happiness is all about our circumstances or gratitude is all a better circumstances. Oh, I’ll be grateful when, or I’ll be happy when, I mean, I think the pursuit of happiness has really put us into some funny thing where it’s like, I’ve got to have that stuff and it’s all out there. And I think people think of gratitude really similarly. And I think of it as really much more of an inside job or an orientation. And so the more that we’ve put those things outside of us that are going to make us happy, the harder it’s going to be to really accept how profoundly it really is an interior orientation to how we go through life.

Jill Anderson : Do you think gratefulness builds resilience?

Kristi Nelson : Oh yeah. If we recognize that we can really cultivate that experience of being grateful in most, every moment of our lives. Not for everything that happens, but all of our moments, then it’s something to return to as a baseline it’s always there. And the truth is all kinds of really hard things can happen. But think about the people who say, wow, it could have been worse. I got a really terrible car accident, but it could have been worse. Or this is a really hard thing, but I’m luckier than a lot of people. Or, wow, I had a really hard day this too shall pass. There’s so much for me to be grateful for. Look, I’m still alive, even though I’m not connected to it. I can feel that there’s love in my life and there’s enough in my life. I can connect with things that are gifts and that I can experience wonder about and appreciation of.

When we have the ability to do those things and those are really learned and gratitude, I think is a deep reinforcement of them. Then resilience is that organic outcome. I think it makes us much more adaptable, much more flexible. We have a returning place. We have a place to keep returning, which is wow, life is a gift. It is precious and it is fleeting. I’m here right now. What am I going to do about that? It could be otherwise it could always be otherwise. And when we forget that it’s not morbid, it’s just really remembering that life is a femoral that it’s unpredictable, that it’s uncertain for all of us. And we’re reminded of that now, but it’s always been true. Always been true.

Jill Anderson : Oh, Kristi. Thank you so much for finding the time to talk to me.

Kristi Nelson : Oh joy. Thank you. It’s been a real pleasure Jill, thank you.

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7 scientifically proven benefits of gratitude that will motivate you to give thanks year-round.

• Developing an “attitude of gratitude” is one of the simplest ways to improve your satisfaction with life.
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It’s that time of year where many people begin thinking about everything they have to be thankful for. Although it’s nice to count your blessings on Thanksgiving, being thankful throughout the year could have tremendous benefits on your quality of life.

In fact, gratitude may be one of the most overlooked tools that we all have access to every day. Cultivating gratitude doesn’t cost any money and it certainly doesn’t take much time, but the benefits are enormous. Research reveals gratitude can have these seven benefits:

1. Gratitude opens the door to more relationships. Not only does saying “thank you” constitute good manners, but showing appreciation can help you win new friends, according to a 2014 study published in Emotion . The study found that thanking a new acquaintance makes them more likely to seek an ongoing relationship. So whether you thank a stranger for holding the door or you send a quick thank-you note to that co-worker who helped you with a project, acknowledging other people’s contributions can lead to new opportunities.

2. Gratitude improves physical health . Grateful people experience fewer aches and pains and they report feeling healthier than other people, according to a 2012 study published in Personality and Individual Differences . Not surprisingly, grateful people are also more likely to take care of their health.  They exercise more often and are more likely to attend regular check-ups with their doctors, which is likely to contribute to further longevity.

3. Gratitude improves psychological health. Gratitude reduces a multitude of toxic emotions, ranging from envy and resentment to frustration and regret. Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., a leading gratitude researcher, has conducted multiple studies on the link between gratitude and well-being. His research confirms that gratitude effectively increases happiness and reduces depression.

4. Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression. Grateful people are more likely to behave in a prosocial manner, even when others behave less kind, according to a 2012 study by the University of Kentucky . Study participants who ranked higher on gratitude scales were less likely to retaliate against others, even when given negative feedback. They experienced more sensitivity and empathy toward other people and a decreased desire to seek revenge.

5. Grateful people sleep better. Writing in a gratitude journal improves sleep, according to a 2011 study published in Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being . Spend just 15 minutes jotting down a few grateful sentiments before bed, and you may sleep better and longer.

6. Gratitude improves self-esteem. A 2014 study published in the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology found that gratitude increased athlete’s self-esteem, which is an essential component to optimal performance. Other studies have shown that gratitude reduces social comparisons. Rather than becoming resentful toward people who have more money or better jobs – which is a major factor in reduced self-esteem- grateful people are able to appreciate other people’s accomplishments.

7. Gratitude increases mental strength. For years, research has shown gratitude not only reduces stress, but it may also play a major role in overcoming trauma.   A 2006 study published in Behavior Research and Therapy found that Vietnam War Veterans with higher levels of gratitude experienced lower rates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  A 2003 study published in the  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that gratitude was a major contributor to resilience following the terrorist attacks on September 11.  Recognizing all you have to be thankful for – even during the worst times of your life – fosters resilience.

We all have the ability and opportunity to cultivate gratitude. Simply take a few moments to focus on all that you have – rather than complain about all the things you think you deserve.  Developing an “attitude of gratitude” is one of the simplest ways to improve your satisfaction with life.

Amy Morin is a psychotherapist and the author of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do .

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What Do We Know About the Influence of Believers' Religiosity on Happiness and Gratitude? - A Perspective for Clinical Practice

Affiliations.

• 1 Faculty of Psychology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, Ho Chi Minh City, 700000, Vietnam.
• 2 Faculty of Social Sciences and Public Relations, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH), Ho Chi Minh City, 700000, Vietnam.
• 3 Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Thu Duc City Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, 700000, Vietnam.
• PMID: 38912159
• PMCID: PMC11193991
• DOI: 10.2147/PRBM.S465729

Introduction: The recognition of religion's significance in mental health has led to several scientific advances in diagnosis or treatment. In contrast, Vietnam is a multi-religious Southeast Asian country with a large number of believers, but there is almost no research addressing the impact of religiosity among Vietnamese believers on mental health concerns such as depression, happiness, and gratitude.

Participants and methods: Our cross-sectional study was focused on Vietnamese believers (N = 374), surveyed directly at different religious facilities in Vietnam. The present study was evaluated utilizing the partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) methodology.

Results: The primary findings of the study indicate that (i) age was found to positively moderate the association between intrinsic religiosity and gratitude (β = 0.191, 95% CI [0.116, 0.277], p < 0.001); (ii) Intrinsic religiosity has a positive influence on depression-happiness scale (β = 0.276, 95% CI [0.168, 0.373], p < 0.001) and gratitude (β = 0.337, 95% CI [0.205, 0.466], p < 0.001); Moreover, (iii) gratitude has a positive influence on depression-happiness scale (β = 0.381, 95% CI [0.280, 0.491], p < 0.001); Finally, (iv) the study revealed that gratitude mediates the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and depression-happiness scale (β = 0.128, 95% CI [0.071, 0.197], p < 0.001).

Discussion: The findings of this study suggest that gratitude could potentially play a significant role in comprehending the association between religiosity and the levels of depression and happiness experienced by religious individuals in Vietnam.

Keywords: Vietnam; depression; gratitude; happiness; intrinsic religiosity; religiosity.

© 2024 Huynh et al.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Partial least squares structural equation…

Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) results.

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Gratitude and Well Being

Randy a. sansone.

Dr. R. Sansone is a professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Internal Medicine at Wright State University School of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio, and Director of Psychiatry Education at Kettering Medical Center in Kettering, Ohio

Lori A. Sansone

Dr. L. Sansone is a family medicine physician (government service) and Medical Director of the Family Health Clinic at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, WPAFB, in Dayton, Ohio. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or the position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or US government.

The word “gratitude” has a number of different meanings, depending on the context. However, a practical clinical definition is as follows— gratitude is the appreciation of what is valuable and meaningful to oneself; it is a general state of thankfulness and/or appreciation. The majority of empirical studies indicate that there is an association between gratitude and a sense of overall well being. However, there are several studies that indicate potential nuances in the relationship between gratitude and well being as well as studies with negative findings. In terms of assessing gratitude, numerous assessment measures are available. From a clinical perspective, there are suggested therapeutic exercises and techniques to enhance gratitude, and they appear relatively simple and easy to integrate into psychotherapy practice. However, the therapeutic efficacy of these techniques remains largely unknown. Only future research will clarify the many questions around assessment, potential benefits, and enhancement of gratitude.

This ongoing column is dedicated to the challenging clinical interface between psychiatry and primary care—two fields that are inexorably linked.

Introduction

In this edition of The Interface, we discuss the subject of gratitude. While retaining slightly different meanings depending on the context, gratitude may be broadly defined as the appreciation of what is valuable and meaningful to oneself. The majority of available research studies indicate that gratitude is associated with an enhanced sense of personal well being. We review several of these studies, highlight some nuances related to the current research on gratitude, provide an overview of assessment approaches to gratitude, and suggest several simple techniques for enhancing the experience of gratitude in patients in the psychotherapy setting.

A Definition of Gratitude

Like most words, gratitude appears to have a number of different meanings, depending on the context. For example, gratitude has been conceptualized as a moral virtue, an attitude, an emotion, a habit, a personality trait, and a coping response. 1 A number of researchers have defined gratitude as a positive emotional reaction in response to the receipt of a gift or benefit from someone. 2 Gratitude has also been conceptualized both as a state phenomenon (i.e., an emotional reaction to a present event or experience) as well as a dispositional characteristic or trait phenomenon. 2 For our purposes, we would like to define gratitude in a much broader sense. Gratitude is the appreciation of what is valuable and meaningful to oneself and represents a general state of thankfulness and/or appreciation. This proposed definition transcends the interpersonal overtones attributed to the term (i.e., the construct of receiving something from someone) and allows for a more inclusive meaning (e.g., being thankful for experiences, such as being alive and coming into contact with nature). This definition also allows for both state and trait contexts.

Associations between Gratitude and Well Being

A number of authors have espoused a theoretical relationship between gratitude and well being. 3 – 6 In a very pragmatic way, this association seems logical. Experiencing gratitude, thankfulness, and appreciation tends to foster positive feelings, which in turn, contribute to one's overall sense of well being. Therefore, gratitude appears to be one component, among many components, that contributes to an individual's well being. However, in addition to theoretical postulation, there are a number of empirical endeavors that support this association—all from the first decade of this century.

Empirical evidence of a gratitude/well being connection. Emmons and McCullough examined gratitude and well being under three experimental conditions. 7 Participants were divided into three groups (i.e., one group was asked to journal about negative events or hassles, a second group about the things for which they were grateful, and a third group about neutral life events) and were required to journal either daily or weekly. Across the various study conditions, the gratitude subsample consistently evidenced higher well being in comparison with the other two study groups.

Dickerhoof 8 designed an experiment in which students could participant in one of two exercises—one that purportedly would boost happiness or another that consisted of “cognitive exercises.” To equalize the expectations of participants, the students were informed that participation in either group was likely to increase their overall sense of well being. The “happiness” paradigm required participants to either write about their best possible future selves (optimism exercise) or write letters of gratitude (gratitude exercise). In contrast, in the control paradigm, participants were required to write about the events of the past week. As predicted, compared with the control group, the happiness-paradigm group demonstrated increases in well being.

Froh et al 9 conducted a study in which 221 adolescents were assigned to either a gratitude exercise (i.e., counting one's blessings), a hassles condition, or a control condition. As predicted, the gratitude condition was associated with greater life satisfaction. The authors concluded from their experience that counting blessings seems to be an effective intervention for enhancing well being in adolescents.

In a sample of 389 adults, Wood et al 10 examined gratitude and well being in the context of personality style. In this study, gratitude was most strongly correlated with personality attributes related to well being, and the researchers concluded that gratitude has a unique relationship with life satisfaction.

Like the preceding authors, other studies have found similar findings. For example, among Taiwanese high school athletes, Chen and Kee 11 found that gratitude positively predicted life safisfaction. Tseng 12 found an association between gratitude and well being among 270 Taiwanese college students. Finally, Froh et al 13 examined 154 adolescents and confirmed associations between gratitude and life satisfaction.

Facets of the gratitude/well being relationship. In addition to the general association between gratitude and well being, a number of investigators have examined particular facets of this relationship. For example, Wood et al 14 found that coping styles did not seem to influence or mediate this relationship. 14 Verduyn et al 15 found that state, or current, gratitude could be enhanced by the importance of the stimulus, by the intensity of the emotion at onset, and through the physical or mental reappearance of the eliciting stimulus. Wood et al 16 determined that higher levels of gratitude predicted better subjective sleep quality and sleep duration. Gysels et al 17 found that, among cancer patients, gratitude was one of the motivations to participate in a research study related to palliative care. Froh et al 18 determined that participants with lower levels of positive feelings, in contrast to those with higher levels of positive feelings, were more likely to experience gratitude in a gratitude intervention. Finally, Polak and McCullough 19 found that gratitude may have the potential to reduce the negative effects of materialistic strivings. In summary, these findings indicate that the gratitude/well being association has a number of adjunctive aspects that warrant further study, particularly with regard to ways to enhance the experience of gratitude in the clinical setting.

Conflicting empirical data. As expected, not all investigators have confirmed associations between gratitude and well being. For example, Kashdan et al 20 examined veterans with and without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 20 Among the participants with PTSD, trait gratitude did demonstrate a relationship with well being, but not among nontraumatized veterans. Likewise, in college students, Gurel Kirgiz 21 compared a gratitude condition (i.e., composing a letter to someone who made a positive difference in the life of the participant) with a neutral emotional condition, but present levels of gratitude did not evidence a relationship with well being. (In this study, trait gratitude did evidence an association with well being.) Among divorced middle-aged women, Henrie 22 compared those who journaled gratitude experiences with those who read educational materials and those on a wait-list group; the treatment groups showed no improvement in their satisfaction with life. Finally, Mallen Ozimkowski 23 examined the effect of a “gratitude visit” (i.e., the writing and delivering of a letter of gratitude to someone in their lives who was never properly thanked) in children and adolescents. In this study, the gratitude exercise was not associated with enhanced well being. These findings suggest that there are conditions or circumstances that temper the association between gratitude and well being, which warrant further investigation if gratitude exercises are to be undertaken and be consistently effective in the clinical setting.

Assessment Measures for Gratitude

For interested readers, Emmons et al 24 have summarized the available assessment measures for gratitude. In addition, we were able to locate two questionnaires in the empirical literature, the Gratitude Questionnaire-Six-Item Form (GQ-6) and the Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test (GRAT).

Gratitude Questionnaire-Six Item Form. The GQ-6 is a brief, six-item, self-report measure that assesses one's disposition to experience gratitude ( Table 1 ). 25 With Likert-style response options (1 =strongly disagree and 7=strongly agree), the GQ-6 is positively related to optimism, life satisfaction, hope, spirituality/religiousness, forgiveness, empathy, and prosocial behavior, and negatively related to depression, anxiety, materialism, and envy. Two items are reverse scored to inhibit response bias. The GQ-6 has reportedly good internal reliability.

The Gratitude Questionnaire-Six Item Form (GQ-6)

Reprinted with the permission of Dr. Emmons.

Scoring Instructions:

• Add up your scores for items 1, 2, 4, and 5.
• Reverse your scores for items 3 and 6. That is, if you scored a “7,” give yourself a “1,” if you scored a “6,” give yourself a “2,” ;etc.
• Add the reversed scores for items 3 and 6 to the total from Step 1.This is your total GQ-6 score. This number should be between 6 and 42.

Interpretation:

• 25th Percentile: a score below 35 (bottom quartile)
• 50th Percentile: a score below 38 (bottom half)
• 75th Percentile: a score of 41 (higher than 75%)
• Top 13%: a score of 42

Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test. There are three versions of the GRAT. The original GRAT consists of 44 items that contain the following three factors: abundance, simple appreciation, and appreciation of others. 26 There is also a Revised GRAT consisting of 16 items with Likert-style response options as well as a nine-item GRAT Short Form. This measure has shown good reliability, validity, and internal consistency.

Clinical Exercises that May Reinforce Gratitude

According to Bono and McCullough, 27 gratitude can be enhanced experimentally through relatively simple psychological interventions, which suggests that uncomplicated interventions may be reasonably effective in the clinical setting ( Table 2 ). 27 While few of the techniques listed in Table 1 have much empirical substantiation, the field of gratitude is in its infancy and validated techniques for clinical use may soon be available.

Psychological strategies that may enhance feelings of gratitude

Conclusions

Gratitude may be broadly defined as the appreciation of what is valuable and meaningful to oneself. It represents a general state of thankfulness and/or appreciation. An existing body of research supports an association between gratitude and an overall sense of well being, although occasional negative findings are also evident in the literature. Research also indicates that there are a number of potential nuances in the relationship between gratitude and well being that may eventually be relevant to the effective integration of gratitude techniques into psychotherapy treatment. A number of measures exist for the assessment of gratitude and we have presented two examples. According to some authorities, the available techniques for enhancing gratitude and, therefore, well being are relatively simple and easy to integrate into psychotherapy practice, although the characteristics of these techniques in terms of efficacy and sustained change remain largely unknown. Only future research will clarify the many questions around assessing and enhancing gratitude.

Contributor Information

Randy A. Sansone, Dr. R. Sansone is a professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Internal Medicine at Wright State University School of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio, and Director of Psychiatry Education at Kettering Medical Center in Kettering, Ohio.

Lori A. Sansone, Dr. L. Sansone is a family medicine physician (government service) and Medical Director of the Family Health Clinic at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, WPAFB, in Dayton, Ohio. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or the position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or US government.

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Researchers find that gratitude is a useful emotional tool in reducing desire to smoke

by Harvard University

Smoking continues to rank as the foremost preventable cause of premature death. In a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science , Harvard researchers report findings that evoking feelings of gratitude in people who smoke helps reduce their urge to smoke, and increases their likelihood of enrollment in a smoking cessation program. They note that these findings could inform newer approaches to public health messaging campaigns that aim to reduce so-called "appetitive" risk behaviors like smoking, drinking, and drug use.

The research team built on the Appraisal Tendency Framework , a theoretical model of emotional and decision making, and earlier experimental studies on the connection between emotions and risk behaviors to hypothesize that sparking the specific positive emotion of gratitude could drive reductions in smoking . Previous meta-analyses had concluded that positive emotion has no effect on these types of behaviors .

"The conventional wisdom in the field was to induce negative emotions in anti-smoking campaigns," said lead researcher Ke Wang, Harvard Kennedy School Ph.D. 2024. "Our work suggests that such campaigns should consider inducing gratitude, a positive emotion that triggers cascading positive effects."

Through a series of multi-method studies, the researchers found consistent evidence that inducing feelings of gratitude was associated with lower rates of smoking behavior . Nationally representative surveys in the U.S. and a global sample found that higher levels of gratitude correlated with a lower likelihood of smoking, even after accounting for other known drivers of smoking.

Experimental studies further demonstrated causality. Inducing feelings of gratitude in adults who smoke significantly reduced their self-reported craving to smoke, whereas inducing compassion or sadness did not have these beneficial effects. Critically, inducing gratitude also increased participants' enrollment in an online smoking cessation program, showing effects on actual quit-smoking behaviors.

These findings create opportunities to re-think the scientific foundations of anti-smoking campaigns. The investigators examined the largest federally funded anti-smoking public service campaign, Tips from Former Smokers, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unfortunately, this landmark campaign has seldom induced gratitude.

Instead, it has most often induced emotions of sympathy, sadness, and compassion—three emotions that may not produce intended effects on smoking cessation behaviors. In the case of sadness, earlier research by the research team found that evoking sadness actually increased desire to smoke, as well as the intensity with which smokers inhale immediately after the emotion is triggered.

"Compared to how much money tobacco companies spend on advertising, public health campaigns have paltry budgets; they need to make the most of every dollar," said Professor Jennifer Lerner.

"The theoretically-grounded and empirically-tested framework presented here will hopefully help public health officials design more effective public media campaigns across a broad spectrum of appetitive risk behaviors that have underlying emotional components."

Unlike other positive emotions (e.g., happiness, compassion, and hope), gratitude has the unique quality of making people less inclined toward immediate gratification and more focused on long-term relationships and health. The research team posits that this unique effect is related to the emotion's influence on smoking behaviors and desires to quit.

The researchers believe designing public health messaging campaigns to more effectively induce gratitude could help them have greater impact on reducing smoking rates and other risky health behaviors.

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• SCIENCE NEWS

Harvard researchers find that gratitude is a useful emotional tool in reducing desire to smoke

Smoking continues to rank as the foremost preventable cause of premature death. In a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), Harvard researchers report findings that evoking feelings of gratitude in people who smoke helps reduce their urge to smoke, and increases their likelihood of enrollment in a smoking cessation program. They note that these findings could inform newer approaches to public health messaging campaigns that aim to reduce so-called “appetitive” risk behaviors like smoking, drinking, and drug use.

The research team built on the Appraisal Tendency Framework , a theoretical model of emotiona and decision making, and earlier experimental studies on the connection between emotions and risk behaviors to hypothesize that sparking the specific positive emotion of gratitude could drive reductions in smoking. Previous meta-analyses had concluded that positive emotion has no effect on these types of behaviors .

“The conventional wisdom in the field was to induce negative emotions in anti-smoking campaigns,” said lead researcher Ke Wang, Harvard Kennedy School PhD 2024. “Our work suggests that such campaigns should consider inducing gratitude, a positive emotion that triggers cascading positive effects.”

Through a series of multi-method studies, the researchers found consistent evidence that inducing feelings of gratitude was associated with lower rates of smoking behavior. Nationally representative surveys in the U.S. and a global sample found that higher levels of gratitude correlated with a lower likelihood of smoking, even after accounting for other known drivers of smoking. Experimental studies further demonstrated causality. Inducing feelings of gratitude in adults who smoke significantly reduced their self-reported craving to smoke, whereas inducing compassion or sadness did not have these beneficial effects. Critically, inducing gratitude also increased participants’ enrollment in an online smoking cessation program, showing effects on actual quit-smoking behaviors.

These findings create opportunities to re-think the scientific foundations of anti-smoking campaigns. The investigators examined the largest federally funded anti-smoking public service campaign, Tips from Former Smokers , by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unfortunately, this landmark campaign has seldom induced gratitude. Instead, it has most often induced emotions of sympathy, sadness, and compassion – three emotions that may not produce intended effects on smoking cessation behaviors. In the case of sadness, earlier research by the research team  found that evoking sadness actually increased desire to smoke, as well as the intensity with which smokers inhale immediately after the emotion is triggered. 

“Compared to how much money tobacco companies spend on advertising, public health campaigns have paltry budgets; they need to make the most of every dollar” according to Professor Jennifer Lerner.  “The theoretically-grounded and empirically-tested framework presented here will hopefully help public health officials design more effective public media campaigns across a broad spectrum of appetitive risk behaviors that have underlying emotional components.”

Unlike other positive emotions (e.g., happiness, compassion, and hope), gratitude has the unique quality of making people less inclined toward immediate gratification and more focused on long-term relationships and health. The research team posits that this unique effect is related to the emotion’s influence on smoking behaviors and desires to quit. The researchers believe designing public health messaging campaigns to more effectively induce gratitude could help them have greater impact on reducing smoking rates and other risky health behaviors.

The paper was authored by :

Ke Wang , 2024 PhD graduate, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University (as of July 1, 2024 will begin a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Virginia);

Vaughan W. Rees , Senior Lecturer on Social and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Global Tobacco Control, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University;

Charles A. Dorison , Assistant Professor of Management, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University (former PhD student and postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Kennedy School);

Ichiro Kawachi , John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Social Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University;

Jennifer S. Lerner , Thornton Bradshaw Professor of Public Policy, Decision Science, and Management, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University

Interviews with or quotes from the authors are available upon request.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

10.1073/pnas.2320750121

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Article title.

The role of positive emotion in harmful health behavior: Implications for theory and public health campaigns

Article Publication Date

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A new tool to combat burnout among health care workers

• Feinberg School of Medicine
• Mental Health

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated already rising rates of burnout among American health care workers. A new Northwestern University study found learning and practicing skills that increase positive emotion like gratitude, mindful awareness and self-compassion helped improve health care workers’ well-being and reduce stress and anxiety.

“Even before COVID-19, health care workers were significantly challenged by the stresses of the job, and any tools we can give them to lessen that stress even a little bit is a win,” said corresponding author Judith Moskowitz , chief of intervention science in the department of medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

But just like with any intervention — diet, exercise, addiction recovery, etc. — these skills only work if you practice them, Moskowitz said.

Burnout is strongly correlated with depression and anxiety, as well as a host of negative physical health outcomes and concerns. Additionally, for health care workers, it’s associated with reduced effectiveness in health care delivery and increased risk to patient well-being and medical errors.

Published in PLOS ONE , the study enrolled 554 health care workers in a five-week, online, self-guided intervention that targeted positive emotion with the goal of improving well-being. The intervention included eight skills that evidence shows improve well-being: noticing and savoring positive events, gratitude, mindful awareness, positive reappraisal, personal strengths, attainable goals and self-compassion.

The results

More than half (52.8%) of participants who signed up to learn the positive emotion skills never logged in to complete any of the lessons. The 9% of workers who completed all five weekly skill lessons of the intervention improved significantly more on positive emotion compared to those who did not use the intervention.

Behind the data

When asked why they didn’t complete the intervention, participants pointed to logistical issues (i.e. not receiving the initial email to login to the platform or not recalling enrolling in the study). One participant said, “I totally forgot that I opted in and ignored the emails because of my busy schedule. I wish I made more time to participate as I intended. I would have loved to see if it worked.” Others found the daily reminders to practice the skills too demanding, saying once they missed a few lessons, “it seemed impossible to catch up and I lost interest, but would love to have an opportunity to participate again now that I understand the time requirement.”

The takeaway

Positive emotion skills can help health care workers well-being and reduce stress and anxiety, but, as with many interventions, only if practiced — something that can be difficult to find time for in their busy schedules. (One participant said, “An online module was just an extra thing for me to do on top of the billions of other tasks I had to do.”)

Constraints in the U.S. health care system can make it really hard for individuals to take any time for self-care.”

Moskowitz said future studies teaching this intervention may restructure the skill delivery to include an introductory session that summarizes all eight skills at the beginning, so participants know what to expect.

“We’d say, ‘Here’s a number of things you can try that have been shown to improve well-being for people experiencing all kinds of life stress. We’d like you to try them all because you don’t always know which ones work for you until you try them. Once you figure out which ones are your go-tos, make practice of those skills a habit,’” Moskowitz said.

Additionally, Moskowitz said the intervention is more likely to be successful if implemented in parallel with policy changes addressing health care systems-level factors in the U.S. that drive burnout, such as low staffing, limited childcare options and workday breaks.

“Constraints in the U.S. health care system can make it really hard for individuals to take any time for self-care, and that’s a big problem,” Moskowitz said. “While systemic and organization-level changes in health care are critically important to address the causes of burnout, health care workers also need individual-level tools that are easily accessible to help them cope with the stress of the job.”

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