Content uploaded by Ying Hwa Kee
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Ying Hwa Kee on Sep 17, 2014
Content may be subject to copyright.
RESEARCH PAPER
Validation of the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ)
in Taiwanese Undergraduate Students
Lung Hung Chen ·Mei-Yen Chen ·Ying Hwa Kee ·Ying-Mei Tsai
©Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008
Abstract The aim of this study was to translate and validate the Gratitude Questionnaire
(GQ; McCullough et al. 2002) using Taiwanese undergraduate students. A total of 608
college students (M
age
=20.19, SD =2.08) were recruited for the current study and they
completed the GQ, optimism, happiness, and big five personality questionnaires. Confir-
mation factor analysis indicated that a five item model was a better fit than the original six
item model. Cross-validation also supported the modified Chinese version of the GQ. In
addition, the Chinese version of the GQ was, as expected, positively correlated with
optimism, happiness, agreeableness, and extraversion, which supported its construct
validity. The Cronbach’s αwas .80 for the Chinese version of the GQ, indicating satis-
factory validity and reliability in a Taiwanese student sample. It was concluded that the
Chinese version of the GQ would be useful for assessing individual differences in dis-
positional gratitude.
Keywords Grateful · Positive psychology · Well-being
L. H. Chen
Graduate Institute of Physical Education, National Taiwan Sport University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
M.-Y. Chen (&)
Department of Recreation and Leisure Industry Management, National Taiwan Sport University,
Taoyuan, 250, Wen Hua 1st Road, Kueishan, Taoyuan County, Taiwan
e-mail: meiyentw@yahoo.com.tw
Y. H. Kee
Department of Physical Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
Y.-M. Tsai
Office of Physical Education, Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology,
Taichung, Taiwan
123
J Happiness Stud
DOI 10.1007/s10902-008-9112-7
1 Introduction
Psychological issues related to anxiety, depression, fear, hostility, substance abuse, and
traumatic experiences have received extensive attention (Fredrickson 1998; Seligman and
Csikszentmihalyi 2000). Of late, the heavy research focus on the negative aspects of
psychology has been criticized (Fredrickson 2001; Snyder and Lopez 2002). Research that
emphasizes the treatment and prevention of pathological issues focuses on people’s suf-
fering experience rather than cogitating people’s well-being as the first priority
(Fredrickson 2000). To promote a more proactive approach to understanding people, some
researchers directed their effort to examining positive psychological constructs such as
resilience (Yorgason et al. 2007), mindfulness (Kee and Wang 2008), humor (Olson et al.
2005), passion (Vallerand et al. 2008), and positive affectivity (Watson 2002). In this
article, we direct our attention to one important positive affective trait: gratitude, which is
only beginning to receive attention in the scientific community (McCullough et al. 2001).
Specifically, we present a report on the validation of an inventory (gratitude questionnaire;
GQ, McCullough et al. 2002) that purports to measure dispositional gratitude based on data
from a non-western sample.
McCullough et al. (2002) developed the 6-item GQ to assess individual differences in
dispositional gratitude. Their work opened a new avenue for understanding the positive
effect that gratitude has on well-being (e.g., Chen and Kee in press;Wood et al. 2008).
Gratitude is defined as an affective trait that is a “general tendency to recognize and
respond with grateful emotion to the roles of other people’s benevolence in the positive
experiences and outcomes that one obtains” (McCullough et al. 2002, p. 112). Based on
their definition, gratitude is considered a moral barometer that is sensitive to the benefits or
help received from another moral agent, especially when the cost is high for the benefactor.
McCullough et al. (2001) suggested that people who experienced grateful mood or emotion
were more likely to behave prosocially to the benefactor or a third party. Moreover,
gratitude served as a moral reinforcement underlying reciprocal altruism. In other words,
by saying “thank you,” the beneficiary confirmed the benefactor’s benevolence and
increased the likelihood of receiving support from the benefactor in the future. The
researchers pointed out that reciprocal altruism would accumulate, becoming a social
resource that can be drawn upon if people encounter adversity in the future. Therefore, it is
important to understand gratitude because it cultivates social resources and, thus, enhances
people’s well-being (Fredrickson 2004; McCullough et al. 2002).
The three aspects of the moral foundation of gratitude that involve social interaction do
not seem to be culturally specific. For example, one of the old Chinese proverbs states “to
knot grass and carry a ring” (銜草結環以報), which means to repay someone for a
kindness once the beneficiary has the opportunity to do so. Also, the traditional Chinese
religion fairly respects the immaterial power of spirits and ancestors, which leads culturally
Chinese people to believe that the millennial life comes from the grace of spirits and
ancestors; therefore, people often express their gratitude through religious rites (Yang et al.
2005). By doing so, people feel comfortable and well-being may be increased (Wang and
Sun 2005). It is easy to observe that the sources of gratitude in the East may be somewhat
similar to those of the West because they are not only limited to the human agent, but also
include God or a higher power.
For the assessment of gratitude, McCullough et al. (2002) conducted four studies based
on undergraduate students and adults to examine the validity of the GQ. Confirmatory
factor analyses show that a robust one-factor structure with satisfactory internal consis-
tency exists across studies. McCullough and colleagues also report that the GQ was
L. H. Chen et al.
123
positively related to positive affect, well-being, prosocial behavior, and religiousness/
spirituality (study 1 and study 2) and negatively correlated with envy and materialistic
attitudes (study 3). Furthermore, the association between the GQ and related variables was
robust after controlling for Extraversion/positive affectivity, Neuroticism/negative affec-
tivity, and Agreeableness (study 4). Their results suggested that the GQ possesses good
psychometric properties and is a distinctive construct.
Subsequently, other researchers in western countries conducted several studies based on
the GQ to investigate the relationship between gratitude and well-being. These studies
largely show that a positive relation between gratitude and well-being exists. For example,
Wood et al. (2007) found that highly grateful undergraduate students reported lower stress
and depression but higher happiness as well as satisfaction with life. Furthermore, they
found that coping style partially mediated the relationship between gratitude and stress. In
another study, Kashdan et al. (2006) investigated the association between gratitude and
hedonic as well as eudaimonic well-being indicators in Vietnam war veterans with post-
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They found that gratitude predicted greater affect bal-
ance, rewarding social activity, intrinsically motivating activity, and self-esteem in
veterans with PTSD. Taken together, these results not only suggest that gratitude plays an
important role in determining well-being, but also show that the GQ is a reliable and valid
tool for measuring gratitude.
Research in a non-western sample that utilizes the GQ was first undertaken by Chen and
Kee (in press). After translating the GQ items into Chinese, they used the GQ to examine
gratitude and Taiwanese athletes’ well-being indicators. They found that athletes with
higher dispositional gratitude had greater team satisfaction and life satisfaction as well as
lower athlete burnout. Chen and Kee’s (in press) research provided the first documentation
of the positive role of gratitude using the GQ items. However, at least two issues remain to
be tackled since scale validation is a continual process. First, the psychometric properties
of the GQ were not examined in Chen and Kee’s (in press) study. This might diminish the
utility of the GQ. Did the GQ maintain similar factor structure after its translation into
Chinese? Further, does the GQ possess satisfactory factorial validity? These questions were
not answered in the previous study. Second, the researchers administrated the Chinese GQ
in a very specific sample; namely, adolescent athletes. The question thus remains whether
the Chinese GQ can be applied to other more general samples such as undergraduate
students.
Further examination of the validity and reliability of the Chinese GQ will make
important contributions to the literature. A psychometrically sound measure of the Chinese
GQ would be an important tool for conducting empirical study on the Chinese-speaking
population. McCullough et al. (2001) indicated that gratitude is the parent of virtues that
motivates people to be prosocial and also enhances well-being. As the traditional Chinese
culture and religion (Yang et al. 2005) emphasized gratitude as an important virtue (Xin
2006), it is important for the international community to understand the cross-cultural
effects associated with gratitude. In doing so, a more complete picture of gratitude as a
human strength can be painted, as most published studies today are based on western
samples (e.g., McCullough et al. 2002; Wood et al. 2008a,c). Thus, the purpose of this
study was to investigative the validity and cross-validity of the GQ with a sample of
Chinese individuals in Taiwan. The confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test the
underlying structure of the items. Also, correlation analyses were conducted to examine
whether the Chinese GQ has hypothetical relationships with happiness, optimism, agree-
ableness, neuroticism, and extraversion. These five constructs were selected because of
their reliable relationship with gratitude (McCullough et al. 2002,2004; Neto 2007; Wood
Gratitude Questionnaire
123
et al. 2008a,b,c; Wood et al. 2007). It is suggested that grateful people experience greater
happiness because they appreciate life as a gift when they compare themselves to someone
who lives in a difficult position. The relationships among gratitude, optimism, agree-
ableness, and extraversion are expected to be positive while neuroticism is expected to be
negative as they share the same variance of emotional experience rooted in personality
(McCullough et al. 2002).
2 Method
2.1 Participants and Procedure
A total of 608 college students (M
age
=20.19, SD =2.08) recruited from Central Taiwan
University of Science and Technology, National Taichung Institute of Technology, and
Soochow University in Taiwan were targeted for the study. Four hundred twenty-seven of
the participants were females and 181 participants were males. A multi-section ques-
tionnaire was administered to the participants in a quiet classroom setting. One of authors
was present to answer any queries raised by the participants. The participants took about
30 min to complete the entire set of questionnaires. Participants’ involvement in this study
was voluntary and their confidentiality as well as anonymity was ensured as the partici-
pants were assigned and identified by a unique code known only to the investigators.
2.2 Measurement
2.2.1 Dispositional Gratitude
The GQ developed by McCullough et al. (2002) was used to measure disposition toward
gratitude. They demonstrated that the GQ is a psychometrically sound measure across four
studies. Previous studies utilizing the English version GQ-6 also found that the instrument
possesses good psychometric properties (e.g., Giacalone et al. 2005; Kashdan et al. 2006;
McCullough et al. 2004; Watkins et al. 2006). The translation of the GQ was originally
conducted by a doctoral student majoring in psychology who had mastered both Chinese
and English. After the GQ was translated into Chinese, a second bilingual translator (both
English and Chinese) back translated the items into English. Both Chinese and English
items were also evaluated by the authors to ensure equivalence in meaning and compa-
rability. Chen and Kee (in press) reported that the Cronbach’s αof the Chinese GQ was .80
in a sample of athletes. The Chinese GQ was positively related to life satisfaction and team
satisfaction, while negatively correlated with athlete burnout. The results supported the
preliminary reliability and validity of the Chinese GQ. In the current study, participants
indicated their responses on a 7-point Likert scale with responses ranging from strongly
disagree (1) to strongly agree (7).
2.2.2 Subjective Happiness
A short version of subjective happiness was used because of its relatedness (along with
happiness and optimism) to gratitude (as mentioned earlier). The status of participants was
assessed by one item (e.g., On the whole, do you feel that you are having a happy life
now?) that was obtained from the Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS), which was
L. H. Chen et al.
123
supported by the National Science Council of Taiwan. Previous studies in Taiwan indi-
cated that this item was significantly related to marital status (Lee 2007) and income (Chiu
2004). Participants indicated their response to this question on a 6-point Likert scale with
responses ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (6).
2.2.3 Optimism
The Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R, Scheier et al. 1994) consists of 10 items (4 of
which are filler items) used to assess individual differences in generalized optimism (3
items) versus pessimism (3 items). Previous studies indicated that the LOT-R is reliable
and valid in the Chinese-speaking population (Lai and Yue 2000; Lai et al. 1998). Given
our research interest in the relationship between optimism and gratitude, only the optimism
items were used for this study. Items were evaluated using a 6-point Likert scale.
2.2.4 Big Five Personality
The Chinese Big Five personality scale was developed by Chuang and Lee (2001). Based
on the fundamental lexical hypothesis (Goldberg 1990), they collected 148 Chinese
adjectives, formed a scale, and administrated it to teachers of elementary school students.
Factor analysis from teachers’ ratings of students indicated that these adjectives could be
clustered into five categories that correspond to the Big Five model. The Chinese Big
Five personality questionnaire is also reported to have satisfactory internal consistency
(Cronbach’s αranged from .78 to .94) as well as having a 1-year test and retest reliability
(Chuang and Lee 2001). Chen (2004) modified the Chinese Big Five personality scale into
a shorter version and administered it to a teacher sample. Factor analysis indicated that the
short version of the Chinese Big Five personality scale maintained the five factor structure
and produced acceptable reliability (Cronbach’s αranged from .60 to .86). Based on our
research interest and for sake of brevity, the short version of extraversion (5 items),
neuroticism (3 items), and conscientiousness (5 items) was used. Participants indicated
their response on a 6-point Likert scale.
2.3 Data Analysis
To ascertain that the model fit was not due to an idiosyncratic sample, we randomly
divided the participants into two equal samples using SPSS 13.0. Cohort 1 data was used to
find a best fitting model that consisted of 93 males and 211 females (M
age
=20.27,
SD =2.02) and the Cohort 2 data was used for cross-validation. Cohort 2 was composed of
88 males and 216 females (M
age
=20.11, SD =2.14). The ratio of sample size to number
of free parameters was 50:1, which is above the recommended 10:1 (Bentler and Chou
1987). The confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using LISREL 8.72 and the
Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimation was chosen because each dataset met the criterion
whereby no variable was skewed greater than 2 and no variable had a kurtosis value greater
than 7 (West et al. 1995). Overall model fit was assessed according to Hu and Bentler’s
(1999) recommendation, including standardized root mean square residual (SRMR), non-
normal fit index (NNFI), comparative fit index (CFI), and root mean square error of
approximation (RMSEA). In addition, Pearson’s correlation was also conducted to
examine the relationship between gratitude and theoretically related criteria.
Gratitude Questionnaire
123
3 Result
The mean and standardized deviation of each item is presented in Table 1for Cohort 1 and
Cohort 2 data. We used the Cohort 1 data to conduct the first confirmatory factor analysis to
evaluate the factorial validity of the Chinese GQ. Results demonstrated relatively poor fit
(χ
2
(9) =49.46, p\.001, RMSEA =.12, NNFI =.90, CFI =.94, SRMR =.07). All
parameters were significant at p\.001 except for item 6: “long amounts of time can go by
before I feel grateful to something or someone” (standardized factor loading =.01, ns).
Given that a non-significant parameter might result in a poor fit, item 6 was eliminated and a
second confirmatory factor analysis was conducted. Results based on the remaining five
items of the Chinese GQ indicated an adequate fit (χ
2
(5) =15.26, p\.001, RMSEA =.08,
NNFI =.97, CFI =.99, SRMR =.03), which was an improvement over the six items
model. The factor loadings ranged from .34 to .85.
Cohort 2 data were used for model cross-validation. The results also indicated that the
one-factor model with five items of the Chinese GQ has adequate fit (χ
2
(5) =12.34,
p\.05, RMSEA =.07, NNFI =.98, CFI =.99, SRMR =.02) and the factor loadings
Table 1 Descriptive statistics of each item of the GQ
Cohort 1 Cohort 2
MSDMSD
1. I have so much in life to be thankful for 5.92 1.29 5.88 1.37
2. If I had to list everything that I felt grateful for, it would
be a very long list
5.51 1.40 5.43 1.49
3. When I look at the world, I don’t see much to be grateful
for
2.34 1.69 2.39 1.66
4. I am grateful to a wide variety of people 5.62 1.28 5.58 1.30
5. As I get older I find myself more able to appreciate the
people, events, and situations that have been part of my
life history
5.98 1.25 5.97 1.26
6. Long amounts of time can go by before I feel grateful to
something or someone
4.20 1.72 4.12 1.72
Note: Item 3 and 6 are reverse scored
Table 2 Result of confirmatory factor analysis
Cohort 1 Cohort 2
Standardized
estimates
Standardized
estimates
1. I have so much in life to be thankful for .85 (.28) .81 (.34)
2. If I had to list everything that I felt grateful for, it would
be a very long list
.78 (.40) .71 (.50)
3. When I look at the world, I don’t see much to be grateful
for
.34 (.88) .36 (.87)
4. I am grateful to a wide variety of people .73 (.47) .84 (.29)
5. As I get older I find myself more able to appreciate the
people, events, and situations that have been part of my
life history
.68 (.54) .81 (.34)
Note: All estimates were significant at p\.001; values in parentheses are errors for estimates
L. H. Chen et al.
123
ranged from .36 to .84 (see Table 2). The results of the confirmatory factor analysis
suggested that the one-factor model with five items of the Chinese GQ possessed better
factorial validity than the original one-factor model with six items in a Taiwanese sample.
Once again, the second confirmatory factor analysis supported the validity of the one-factor
model with five items.
The Cronbach’s αof all of the scales used in this study were above the .70 benchmark
(Nunnally and Bernstein 1994) for the total sample except optimism, which was slightly
lower than the recommended limit and should be treated with care (see Table 3). To examine
the construct validity of the Chinese GQ, Pearson’s correlation was conducted with the total
sample to examine its relation with happiness score, optimism score, agreeableness score,
neuroticism score, and extraversion score. It was found that gratitude score significantly
related to happiness score (r=31, p\.001), optimism score (r=.28, p\.001), agree-
ableness score (r=42, p\.001), and extraversion score (r=.11, p\.01). However, the
relationship between the Chinese GQ and neuroticism score (r=.04, ns) was not significant.
4 Discussion
The aim of this study was to examine the validity of the GQ in a sample of Taiwanese
undergraduate students. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the 5-item GQ pos-
sessed better psychometric properties than the original 6-item model. Furthermore, the
model stability of the GQ was demonstrated when the cross-validation was conducted with
a separate sample. The Chinese GQ also has adequate factorial validity. Furthermore, the
GQ global score modestly correlated with several relevant theoretical constructs (i.e.,
happiness, optimism, agreeableness, and extraversion), supporting its construct validity.
The current results suggest that the GQ is an adequate measure for assessing gratitude.
Although the results supported the reliability and validity of the GQ in a Taiwanese
sample, there were three findings worth mentioning. First, item 6 was not retained in the
final version of the Chinese GQ since the one-factor model with 6 items did not demon-
strate a good model fit. This suggests that item 6 (Long amounts of time can go by before I
feel grateful to something or someone) was not valid for assessing individual differences on
gratitude in the sample of Taiwanese undergraduate students. One possible explanation for
this may be the absence of diverse life experiences in the current student sample. Although
the mean age of the current sample was similar to that of the McCullough et al. (2002)
sample, guileless school life events may not stimulate students to be grateful to someone or
something. An alternative explanation is that item 6 indicates a temporal definition of
gratitude and is perhaps less likely to be linear. It may be inappropriate for the current
Table 3 Correlation among variables
MSDNα123456
1. Gratitude 5.71 1.05 608 .80 1.00
2. Happiness 4.31 1.13 606 –.31*** 1.00
3. Optimism 4.00 .86 608 .63 .28*** .48*** 1.00
4. Agreeableness 4.72 .85 607 .91 .42*** .28*** .28*** 1.00
5. Neuroticism 3.87 1.09 607 .89 .04 −.19*** −.17*** .10** 1.00
6. Extraversion 3.64 1.09 603 .71 .11** .21*** .14*** .09* −.29*** 1.00
*p\.05, ** p\.01, *** p\.001
Gratitude Questionnaire
123
study as it focuses on one’s present beliefs. However, these speculations should be further
examined in the future. Second, it should be noted that item 3 had a lower factor loading
than the other items across two cohorts of data (.34 for Cohort 1 and .36 for Cohort 2).
However, we consider the low factor loading acceptable because (1) abandoning item 3
might violate the understanding of gratitude as items from differing aspects are valuable
when defining constructs (Wu and Yao 2008) and (2) the fit indices of the 5-item model
was adequate in both cohorts of the sample, leading us to recommend the 5-item model
with confidence. The third finding worth considering was the non-significant correlation
between gratitude and neuroticism. This result was not in accord with McCullough et al.
(2002) and Wood et al. (2008a,b,c), but supported Neto’s (2007) study on a Portuguese
sample. A previous study with a sample of students (study 2; McCullough et al. 2004) that
used adjectives to assess people’s daily grateful mood also found a non-significant relation
between gratitude and neuroticism. Unfortunately, the relationship between the GQ and
neuroticism was not reported in their study (study 1 and study 2; McCullough et al. 2004).
Certainly, the inconsistent association between gratitude and neuroticism must be further
investigated.
Nevertheless, other constructs related to gratitude showed expected results based on
previous studies (McCullough et al. 2002; Wood et al. 2007). It was found that more
grateful students were happier about their life, as suggested by their higher subjective well-
being. Correlation analysis also indicated a low to modest positive relationship among the
GQ, optimism, agreeableness, and extraversion, which suggested that grateful individuals
were more enthusiastic, altruistic, genuine, congenial, and optimistic. It was indicated that
gratitude was not simply a linear combination of basic constructs, but could be seen as a
distinct construct (McCullough et al. 2002). The present findings also corresponded to
those of previous studies (McCullough et al. 2002; Neto 2007).
In summary, our study supported the factorial and construct validity of the Chinese GQ,
which may be a proactive approach to understanding people’s well-being in the Chinese-
speaking population. We believe validating the Chinese GQ will facilitate research focused
on human strength. It is also important to examine the related constructs that are well
documented in the literature such as well-being and prosocial behavior in order to perform
cross-cultural comparisons. This would make significant contributions to the literature
pertaining to the Chinese population.
There are two main limitations of the research presented here that should be noted. First,
the participants in this study were all undergraduate students and research has indicated
that levels of gratitude vary with age (McAdams and Bauer 2004). Thus, this might
constrain the generalization of these findings to different aged populations. Thus, we can
only recommend that the GQ is an appropriate measure for undergraduate students. Future
studies should recruit a more diverse sample to validate the GQ and special consideration
should be placed on item 6 in these future studies. Second, the measures were all based on
self-report and the data were collected at a single time point. This might result in a
common-method effect and inflate the coefficient. Given that validation is a continual
process, future research can use multiple methods to examine the validity of the GQ such
as observer rating and experimental manipulation.
In conclusion, the results of the current study indicated that the one-factor with five
items model of the GQ possessed a more satisfactory factorial validity than the six items
model in Taiwanese undergraduate students. Furthermore, the GQ was correlated with
several theoretically related constructs, which further supports its construct validity.
L. H. Chen et al.
123
Acknowledgments This study was partially supported by a grant from the Central Taiwan University of
Science and Technology (CTU97-P-24) to Ying-Mei Tsai. We are grateful to Fong-Chou Kuo for his kind
assistance during data collection and to Chia-Huei Wu for his insightful comments on the draft of this
article. Besides, we thank one of the reviewers for encouraging us to think more deeply about the possible
differences in the sources, manifestations and social aspects of the gratitude.
References
Bentler, P. M., & Chou, C. (1987). Practical issues in structural modeling. Sociological Methods and
Research, 16, 78–117. doi:10.1177/0049124187016001004.
Chen, Y. P. (2004). The investigation of elementary school teachers’ well-being and its related factors. Ping
Tung, Taiwan: National Ping Tung University of Education.
Chen, L. H., & Kee, Y. H. (in press). Gratitude and adolescent athletes’ well-being. Social Indicators
Research.
Chiu, S. Y. (2004). Economic growth or distribution equality: The meaning of absolute income, relative
income and happiness. Unpublished master’ thesis, Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chuang, Y. C., & Lee, W. T. (2001). The structure of personality in Taiwanese children: An indigenous
lexical approach to the big five model. Chinese Journal of Psychology, 43(1), 65–82.
Fredrickson, B. L. (1998). What good are positive emotions? Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 300–319.
doi:10.1037/1089-2680.2.3.300.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2000). Cultivating positive emotions to optimize health and well-being. Prevention and
Treatment,3.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The Broaden- and Build
Theory of Positive Emotions. The American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226. doi:10.1037/0003-066x.
56.3.218.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). Gratitude, like other positive emotion, broadens and builds. In R. A. Emmons &
M. E. McCullough (Eds.), The psychology of gratitude (pp. 145–166). New York: Oxford University
Press.
Giacalone, R. A., Paul, K., & Jurkiewicz, C. L. (2005). A preliminary investigation into the role of positive
psychology in consumer sensitivity to corporate social performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 58,
295–305. doi:10.1007/s10551-004-5970-z.
Goldberg, J. R. (1990). An alternative “Description of Personality”: The big five factor structure. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 1216–1229. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.59.6.1216.
Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional
criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1–55.
Kashdan, T. B., Uswatte, G., & Julian, T. (2006). Gratitude and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in
Vietnam war veterans. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44(2), 177–199.
Kee, Y. H., & Wang, J. C. K. (2008). Relationships between mindfulness, flow dispositions and mental skills
adoption: A cluster analytic approach. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 9, 393–411. doi:10.1016/
j.psychsport.2007.07.001.
Lai, C. L., & Yue, X. D. (2000). Measuring optimism in Hong Kong and mainland Chinese with the revised
life orientation test. Personality and Individual Differences, 28, 781–796. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(99)
00138-5.
Lai, J. C. L., Cheung, H., Lee, W. E., & Yu, H. (1998). The utility of the revised life orientation test to
measure optimism among Hong Kong Chinese. International Journal of Psychology, 33, 45–56. doi:
10.1080/002075998400600.
Lee, Y. C. (2007). The study of marriage and happiness for young generations in Taiwan region: 1992–2005.
Unpublished master’s thesis, National Taipei University, Taipei, Taiwan.
McAdams, D. P., & Bauer, J. J. (2004). Gratitude in modern life: Its manifestations and development. In R.
A. Emmons & M. McCullough (Eds.), The psychology of gratitude (pp. 81–99). New York: Oxford
University Press.
McCullough, M. E., Kilpatrick, S. D., Emmons, R. A., & Larson, D. B. (2001). Is gratitude a moral affect.
Psychological Bulletin, 127(2), 249–266. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.127.2.249.
McCullough, M. E., Emmons, R. A., & Tsang, J. A. (2002). The grateful disposition: A conceptual and
empirical topography. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(1), 112–127. doi:10.1037/
0022-3514.82.1.112.
Gratitude Questionnaire
123
McCullough, M. E., Tsang, J.-A., & Emmons, R. A. (2004). Gratitude in intermediate affective terrain:
Links of grateful mood to individual differences and daily emotional experience. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 85(2), 295–309. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.86.2.295.
Neto, F. (2007). Forgiveness, personality and gratitude. Personality and Individual Differences, 43(8),
2313–2323. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2007.07.010.
Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric theory (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Olson, M. L., Hugelshofer, D. S., Kwon, P., & Reff, R. C. (2005). Rumination and dysphoria: The buffering
role of adaptive forms of humor. Personality and Individual Differences, 39(8), 1419–1428. doi:
10.1016/j.paid.2005.05.006.
Scheier, M. F., Carver, C. S., & Bridges, M. W. (1994). Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait
anxiety, self-mastery and self-esteem): A reevaluation of the life orientation test. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 67, 1063–1078. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.67.6.1063.
Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. The American
Psychologist, 55(1), 5–15. doi:10.1037/0003-066x.55.1.5.
Snyder, C. R., & Lopez, S. J. (2002). Handbook of positive psychology. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Vallerand, R. J., Mageau, G. A., Elliot, A. J., Dumais, A., Demers, M.-A., & Rousseau, F. (2008). Passion
and performance attainment in sport. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 9(3), 373–392. doi:10.1016/
j.psychsport.2007.05.003.
Wang, L. W., & Sun, C. H. (2005). Exploration of the significance of performing rites in honor of the
ancestors. Buddhism and Science, 6(2), 52–58.
Watkins, P. C., Scheer, J., Ovnicek, M., & Kolts, R. (2006). The debt of gratitude: Dissociating gratitude and
indebtedness. Cognition and Emotion, 20(2), 217–241. doi:10.1080/02699930500172291.
Watson, D. (2002). Positive affectivity: The disposition to experience pleasurable emotional states. In C. R.
Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. xviii, 829 p.). Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
West, S. G., Finch, J. F., & Curran, P. J. (1995). Structural equation models with nonnormal variables.
Problems and remedies. In R. Hoyle (Ed.), Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues, and
applications (pp. 56–75). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Wood, A. M., Joseph, S., & Linley, P. A. (2007). Coping style as a psychological resource of grateful
people. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 26(9), 1076–1093. doi:10.1521/jscp.2007.26.9.1076.
Wood, A. M., John, M., Raphael, G., Linley, P. A., & Joseph, S. (2008a). The role of gratitude in the
development of social support, stress, and depression: Two longitudinal studies. Journal of Research in
Personality, 42(4), 854–871. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2007.11.003.
Wood, A. M., Joseph, S., & Maltby, J. (2008b). Gratitude uniquely predicts satisfaction with life: Incre-
mental validity above the domains and facets of the five factor model. Personality and Individual
Differences, 45(1), 49–54. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2008.02.019.
Wood, A. M., Maltby, J., Stewart, N., Linley, P. A., & Joseph, S. (2008c). A social-cognitive model of trait
and state levels of gratitude. Emotion (Washington, DC), 8(2), 281–290. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.8.2.281.
Wu, C. H., & Yao, G. (2008). Psychometric analysis of the short-form UCLA loneliness scale (ULS-8) in
Taiwanese undergraduate students. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 1762–1771. doi:
10.1016/j.paid.2008.02.003.
Xin, S. J. (2006). Why should we fell grateful. Journal of Xinyang Normal University, 26(6), 55–59.
Yang, K. S., Hwang, K. K., & Yang, C. F. (2005). Chinese indigenized psychology. Taipei: Yuan-Liou.
Yorgason, J. B., Piercy, F. P., & Piercy, S. K. (2007). Acquired hearing impairment in older couple
relationships: An exploration of couple resilience processes. Journal of Aging Studies, 21(3), 215–228.
doi:10.1016/j.jaging.2006.10.002.
L. H. Chen et al.
123
