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Examining the Pathways between Gratitude and Self-Rated Physical Health across Adulthood
Abstract
The current study examined whether dispositional gratitude predicts physical health among adults, and if so, whether this relationship occurs because grateful individuals lead healthier lives, either psychologically or physically. Specifically, we examined whether psychological health, healthy activities, and willingness to seek help for health concerns mediated the link between gratitude and self-reported physical health, as well as if these mediational pathways are moderated by age, in a broad sample of Swiss adults (N = 962, M(age) = 52 years, age range: 19 to 84). Dispositional gratitude correlated positively with self-reported physical health, and this link was mediated by psychological health, healthy activities, and willingness to seek help for health concerns. However, the indirect effects for psychological health and healthy activities were stronger for older than younger adults. In other words, the mechanisms explaining why gratitude predicts health appear to differ across adulthood.
... Higher levels of gratitude are associated with enhanced wellbeing and prosocial behavior. Cross-sectional studies have found that gratitude is positively associated with self-reported physical health (26), psychological health (26)(27)(28), hope (29,30), sleep quality and quantity (31,32), and engagement in health behaviors (26). A few studies have assessed gratitude and related outcomes in healthcare education stakeholders. ...
... Higher levels of gratitude are associated with enhanced wellbeing and prosocial behavior. Cross-sectional studies have found that gratitude is positively associated with self-reported physical health (26), psychological health (26)(27)(28), hope (29,30), sleep quality and quantity (31,32), and engagement in health behaviors (26). A few studies have assessed gratitude and related outcomes in healthcare education stakeholders. ...
... Higher levels of gratitude are associated with enhanced wellbeing and prosocial behavior. Cross-sectional studies have found that gratitude is positively associated with self-reported physical health (26), psychological health (26)(27)(28), hope (29,30), sleep quality and quantity (31,32), and engagement in health behaviors (26). A few studies have assessed gratitude and related outcomes in healthcare education stakeholders. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to diminished sleep and increased stress, anxiety, and burnout for many health professionals and health professions students. One simple approach that may be effective for bolstering personal well-being is consciously cultivating gratitude. Gratitude is positively associated with physical health, psychological health, hope, sleep, and health behavior engagement; and randomized studies indicate that gratitude interventions can improve psychological well-being and sleep. The primary aim of this study was to assess the impact of practicing Tiny Habits® on self-reported gratitude, as measured by the 6-Item Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6). In January 2021, 154 adult participants with GQ-6 <35/42 were randomized to one of 3 groups: Tiny Habits for Gratitude (n = 50), Tiny Habits Control (n = 52), and Inactive Control (n = 52). Both Tiny Habits groups chose 3 Tiny Habits Recipes to practice daily and participated in the free, email-based 5-Day Program with automated daily check-in emails and personalized feedback from a Certified Tiny Habits Coach. The Recipes for the Tiny Habits for Gratitude group focused on cultivating gratitude, while those for the Tiny Habits Control group did not. Post-intervention, the mean change in GQ-6 scores in the Tiny Habits for Gratitude (Δ = ↑6.9 ± 5.6; n = 37/50, 74%; p< 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.85) and Tiny Habits Control (Δ = ↑5.6 ± 4.1; n = 31/52, 60%; p = 0.009, Cohen's d = 0.71) groups were greater than that of the Inactive Control group (Δ = ↑2.5 ± 4.4; N = 42/52, 81%). At 1 month, the mean change in GQ-6 scores in the Tiny Habits for Gratitude group (Δ = ↑7.0 ± 5.3; N = 28/50, 56%) was greater than that of the Inactive Control group (Δ = ↑2.9 ± 5.4; N = 39/52, 72%; p = 0.002, Cohen's d = 0.78). These findings suggest that practicing Tiny Habits Recipes and participating in the 5-Day Program can significantly increase gratitude in the short term and focusing specifically on gratitude during this process can sustain the increase in gratitude for up to 1 month. Implementation is quick, simple, and free. This has significant implications for healthcare education stakeholders.
... Alternatively, the feeling of appreciation and delightful feelings developed at the moment the person acquire support is defined as state gratitude. Previous research has also found that trait gratitude positively affects biological and psychological well-being (Cheng et al., 2015;Hill et al., 2013;O'Connell et al., 2016). ...
... Furthermore, studies across multiple approaches have supported the notion that women tend to convey and express gratitude, and subsequently acquire benefit from gratitude (Froh et al., 2008;Kashdan et al., 2009). Accordingly, Hill et al. (2013) also tested the moderating effect of gender and marital status on the effect of gratitude and well-being and discovered that the results are insignificant. Such contradictory results may imply cultural differences whereby social influence is a more significant predictor in Asian samples than in North American samples. ...
... However, this result is contradicting with the results of Hill et al., (2013) that found out that marital status and gender do not play an important moderating role in the effect of gratitude on well-being. Similar to Hill et al. (2013) findings, gender is not a significant moderator for the effect of gratitude on well-being on Malaysian adults. ...
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted the well-being and mental health of people around the world. Positive emotions like resilience and gratitude have been proven to be able to improve one’s well-being. The theory of Broaden-and-build was used to explore resilience’s mediating role in the relationship between gratitude and well-being among Malaysian adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data of 530 participants aged 18 to 35 years was analyzed using SmartPLS. The results showed that grateful and more resilient participants showed a better well-being, and the effects were further moderated by financial income and marital status. The results also supported the hypothetical statistical mediation model in which resilience is the statistical mediator for the association between gratitude and well-being. The results highlighted the significant influence of gratitude and resilience on Malaysian adults’ well-being and explained the role of gratitude in boosting their well-being. It is suggested that policymakers and mental health professionals should consider promoting gratitude and resilience to increase positive emotions and well-being in young adults and help society to be prepared for challenging times of adversity in the future.
... Trait gratitude has been related to indicators of mental well-being (Green et al., 2019) and mental ill-being (Valikhani et al., 2019). Trait gratitude is correlated with general indicators of mental health including mind wellness (Green et al., 2019), psychological health (Hill et al., 2013), psychological well-being (Washizu & Naito 2015;Wood et al., 2009b), and psychological flexibility (i.e., the ability to flexibly cope with adversity; Frinking et al., 2019). Several crosssectional survey studies identified the association between trait gratitude and self-esteem (e.g., Aghababaei et al., 2018;Corona et al., 2020;Kong et al., 2015), whereas only one study employed a time-lagged study design (i.e., Chen & Wu, 2014). ...
... Trait gratitude is associated with physical well-being including health symptoms, health behaviors and intentions, and sleep-related outcomes. Health symptoms related to trait gratitude include perceived body wellness (Green et al., 2019), subjective health (e.g., Hill et al., 2013) and health symptoms (Deichert et al., 2019b). Trait gratitude is associated with various health behaviors and intentions such as healthy activities (Hill et al., 2013), reduced substance use (Wood et al., 2007), reduced substance misuse (Kaniuka et al., 2020), and an increased willingness to seek medical help (Hill et al., 2013). ...
... Health symptoms related to trait gratitude include perceived body wellness (Green et al., 2019), subjective health (e.g., Hill et al., 2013) and health symptoms (Deichert et al., 2019b). Trait gratitude is associated with various health behaviors and intentions such as healthy activities (Hill et al., 2013), reduced substance use (Wood et al., 2007), reduced substance misuse (Kaniuka et al., 2020), and an increased willingness to seek medical help (Hill et al., 2013). One study has also examined the sleep-related outcomes of trait gratitude. ...
Though gratitude research in organizational behavior (OB) is nascent, this emotion has a rich history in the social sciences. Research has shown gratitude to promote prosocial behaviors, encourage personal well-being, and foster interpersonal relationships. However, gratitude research has been siloed among these three outcomes of gratitude (moral, wellness, and relational). Similarly, past reviews of gratitude have focused on only one group of outcomes, one of its forms (trait, state, or expressed), or empirical findings without emphasis on the theoretical underpinnings. In contrast, this review recognizes that each type of gratitude, its functions, and outcomes are part of a single process model of gratitude. As such, in the current review we provide a comprehensive assessment of gratitude in the social sciences by distilling and organizing the literature per our process model of episodic gratitude. Then, we translate the insights for management scholars, highlighting possible differences and synergies between extant research and workplace gratitude thereby helping advance “gratitude science” in the workplace. In all, this review (a) examines definitions and operationalizations of gratitude and provides recommendations for organizational research; (b) proposes a process model of episodic workplace gratitude as a conceptual map to guide future OB research on gratitude; (c) reviews empirical gratitude research through the lens of our process model; and (d) discusses the current state of the literature, important differences for workplace gratitude, and future directions for organizational scholars.
... The 5-item Health Activities Scale was used to measure different domains of respondents' health-promoting behaviors 67 : nutrition behavior (i.e., ''I make sure to get healthy nutrition''), exercise behavior (i.e., ''To keep fit I try to stay in motion''), psychological self-care (i.e., ''To sustain mental well-being, I try to do something good for myself regularly''), being socially active (i.e., ''I regularly meet up with friends''), and avoiding substance use (i.e., ''I try to avoid negative influences on my health, such as alcohol consumption and/or the use of drugs''). The items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very). ...
... 17 Other cultural characteristics specific to these Taiwanese sexual minority men, such as filial piety, face concerns, and familism also fall outside the scope of this study. Fourth, the psychometric properties of the translated scales 63,66,67 have not been extensively examined, and thus further work is needed to validate the measures and/or develop culturally sensitive instruments among Taiwanese gay and bisexual men. Comparative studies among East Asian countries can also elucidate other sociopolitical correlates in this minority stress response model. ...
Purpose: Health disparities among sexual minority men remain and continue to demand novel interventions. Other than risk reduction, a promising approach is to identify pathways to health-promoting behaviors. In this study, depressive symptoms, internalized homophobia, and sense of community connectedness were hypothesized to result from the experience of harassment and rejection, and in turn either promote or inhibit an individual's tendency toward health-promoting behaviors. We accounted for subgroup differences by examining the hypothesized model in gay and bisexual men separately.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey study. One thousand three hundred eighty-one gay (81.5%) and bisexual (18.5%) Taiwanese men 18–49 years of age (mean = 26.56, standard deviation = 6) were recruited through a social media advertisement and completed an online survey. Structural equation modeling was employed to simultaneously examine multiple hypothesized paths.
Results: Harassment and rejection were associated with greater depressive symptoms, internalized homophobia, and sense of community connectedness, which in turn yielded direct or indirect associations with health-promoting behavior among gay men. For bisexual men, depressive symptoms remained an important mechanism linking harassment and rejection and health-promoting behavior, whereas the roles of internalized homophobia and sense of community connectedness appeared less obvious.
Conclusion: These findings cast new light on the behavioral implications of minority stress and elucidate the possible underlying mechanisms. The study suggests that more effort should be invested to understand and promote the drivers of health-promoting behavior to reduce health disparities in this population.
... Attempts to understand the relationship between gratitude and aspects of QOL have been documented in the literature. In one study conducted by Hill and colleagues, 23 psychological health, health-related activities, and willingness to seek help for health worries were found to explain the relationship between gratitude and physical health. In another study conducted by Eaton et al, 24 higher levels of positive affect among people with chronic illness mediated the relationship between gratitude and QOL. ...
Dispositional gratitude has been negatively associated with perceived stress (PS) and positively associated with higher well-being in both general and chronically ill people. Attempts to understand the relationship between gratitude and aspects of quality of life (QOL) have been documented; however, there is limited research on determining the potential mediating effect of PS on gratitude and QOL factors in individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). In this cross-sectional study, participant demographics, dispositional gratitude, PS, and QOL factors were collected online via self-report measures from a sample of 68 participants diagnosed with MS. Results indicated that both dispositional gratitude and PS were associated with aspects of QOL and that PS was found to partially and indirectly account for the relationship between gratitude and improved QOL. Findings are consistent with existing research conducted with non-chronically ill samples. Clarifying relationships between PS and dispositional factors in MS is necessary to inform future interventions aimed at maintaining and enhancing an individual's QOL.
... There is also ample evidence that practicing gratitude can improve physical health in addition to helping people balance their emotions and improve their relationship. Research has shown that gratitude can reduce depressive symptom, can reduce blood pressure, and improve sleep quality as well as improve overall physical health (Jackowska, Brown, Ronaldson, & Steptoe, 2016;Hill, Allemand, & Roberts, 2013). Gratitude facilitates healthy eating behavior as well (Fritz, Armenta, Walsh, & Lyubomirsky, 2019). ...
... There is also ample evidence that practicing gratitude can improve physical health in addition to helping people balance their emotions and improve their relationship. Research has shown that gratitude can reduce depressive symptom, can reduce blood pressure, and improve sleep quality as well as improve overall physical health (Jackowska, Brown, Ronaldson, & Steptoe, 2016;Hill, Allemand, & Roberts, 2013). Gratitude facilitates healthy eating behavior as well (Fritz, Armenta, Walsh, & Lyubomirsky, 2019). ...
The present study explored the mediating effect of social support and optimism in the relationship between gratitude and resilience of young adults. To achieve this objective, a package of questionnaire consisting of Gratitude Questionnaire, Revised Life Orientation Test-Revised, Social Support Questionnaire, and Resilience Scale for Adults were administered to a convenience sample of 315 students of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University, Gopalgonj. Their ages ranged from 19 through 26 with a mean age being 22.72 years (SD = 1.23). The results of independent sample t test reveals that there is no significant gender difference between male and female in social support number, optimism and resilience except support satisfaction and gratitude. Results of Pearson-product moment correlation reveals that gratitude, social support, optimism and resilience are correlated with one another. Findings of multiple regression analysis confirm the predictive role of support satisfaction, gratitude and optimism on resilience. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis confirms the partial mediating effect of optimism and rejects the mediating role of social support in the relationship between gratitude and resilience of young adults.
... While gratitude has shown consistent beneficial effects for health (Boggiss et al., 2020;Hill et al., 2013), this is not to say that one should only practice gratitude for the putative health benefits. Rather, it is to acknowledge exploring the determinants of health mean, examining both negative and positive psychological constructs (Fredrickson, 2004). ...
Objective:
This study examines the relationship between trait gratitude and acute myocardial infarction. A burgeoning body of literature suggests that gratitude can play a role in regulating individual's cardiovascular responses to stress which in turn, may reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease such as acute myocardial infarction. However, to date no research has examined these effects.
Method:
This study used the Mid-Life in the United States dataset (MIDUS; N= 1,031) to assess these relationships. Participants completed a standardised cardiovascular stress-testing laboratory protocol and were assessed at a second time-point; on average 6.7 years later.
Results:
Results from logistic parallel mediation models suggest that trait gratitude was found to be significantly associated with reduced risk of acute myocardial infarction through the mechanism of increased heart rate reactivity, β = -0.098, 95%CI [-0.331, -0.010]. However, neither systolic nor diastolic blood pressure reactivity mediated this relationship.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that gratitude may be associated with certain aspects of physical health. Specifically, our study reveals a potential link between gratitude and cardiovascular reactivity, which could be a mechanism through which trait gratitude contributes to reductions in the risk of myocardial infarction. As such, this study highlights the potential utility of positive psychological factors, such as gratitude, in promoting cardiovascular health.
... As a state, gratitude is "a felt sense of wonder, thankfulness, and appreciation for life" (Emmons and Shelton 2002, p. 460). Many researches have shown that trait gratitude plays an important role in physical health and mental health (Cheng et al. 2015;Hill et al. 2013;O"Connell et al. 2016). Therefore, the present study focused on the relationship between trait gratitude and subjective well-being (SWB) of postgraduates. ...
The purpose of the present study was to explore whether trait gratitude correlates with subjective well-being (SWB) among Chinese university postgraduates as well as gender and only-child differences in the mean scores on measures of SWB and gratitude. A sample of 50 Chinese postgraduates participated in the research including the measurements of trait gratitude and subjective well-being. The findings indicate that gratitude was not associated with all items of SWB. However, the results find that gratitude was significantly and negatively correlated to negative affect, besides, satisfaction with life was positively correlated to the lack of deprivation and the gratitude to society. And the level of gratitude could be different in terms of gender and only child. The results indicate that female and not only-child reported higher levels of gratitude in comparison with male and only-child postgraduates respectively.
... Specifically, prior impressions of interpersonal situations guide people as they navigate through new interpersonal situations, trigger cognitive and emotional reactions to new interpersonal situations, and help downregulate the stress response system and negative health behavior, ultimately enhancing health (Cohen & Pressman, 2006;Pietromonaco, DeBuse, & Powers, 2013;Pietromonaco, Uchino, & Dunkel Schetter, 2013). Among those with relatively positive impressions of their childhood, the positive emotions afforded by reflections can also provide benefits, like reducing stress or helping to facilitate positive health behavior (Hill et al., 2013;Sin et al., 2015). By now, it is relatively uncontroversial to say that more positive impressions of one's caregiving environment are associated with adaptive development, adjustment, lower substance abuse, and better health and well-being across the life span (Chopik & Edelstein, 2019;Enns et al., 2002;Luecken, 2000;Newcomb & Bentler, 1988;Oriña et al., 2011;Richman & Flaherty, 1986;Russek & Schwartz, 1997;Shaw, 2006;Shaw et al., 2004;Shaw & Krause, 2002;Wills & Cleary, 1996). ...
Childhood experiences and impressions are important for individuals' health and well‐being—they often set the stage for how people approach relationships across the lifespan and how they make sense of their relational worlds. However, impressions of these experiences are likely not static and can change over time, even years after these experiences happened. The current study examined how impressions of parental relationships in childhood changed over time, and predictors of these changes, among middle‐aged and older adults followed over a 4‐year period ( N = 2692; M age = 66.67, SD = 9.15; 64.1% women). Childhood impressions of parental care were mostly stable over time, with 53.5%–65.0% of participants reporting consistent impressions. Becoming divorced/separated as an adult was associated with more negative impressions about relationships with fathers in the past. Having a mother pass away was associated with more positive impressions of mothers' caregiving when participants were children. Higher depressive symptoms at follow‐up were associated with darker perceptions of the past—more negative impressions of mothers and fathers as caregivers. The current study is one of the most comprehensive studies of late‐life changes in childhood impressions to date, suggesting future directions for studying the organization of relational experiences and recollection over time.
... Prior research from a clinical sample of patients with heart disease has documented salubrious associations of gratitude with health-related outcomes, including lower levels of inflammatory biomarkers [67]. A national sample of Swiss adults also found that gratitude is associated with more favorable self-rated health [68]. The results of our study show that gratitude is the most consistent predictor of lower hypertension across our female samples, even after adjustment for several other R/S variables and several known risk factors of hypertension. ...
Background:
Hypertension is a significant public health issue, particularly for Blacks, Hispanics/Latinos, and South Asians who are at greater risk than whites. Religion and spirituality (R/S) have been shown to be protective, but this has been identified primarily in whites with limited R/S measures examined (i.e., religious service attendance).
Purpose:
To assess hypertension prevalence (HP) in four racial/ethnic groups while incorporating an array of R/S variables, including individual prayer, group prayer, nontheistic daily spiritual experiences, yoga, gratitude, positive religious coping, and negative religious coping.
Methods:
Data were drawn from the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health, a consortium of ethnically diverse U.S. cohorts. The sample included 994 Black women, 838 Hispanic/Latino men and women, 879 South Asian men and women, and 3681 white women. Using a cross-sectional design, prevalence ratios for R/S and hypertension were reported for each cohort, in addition to pooled analyses. Given differences in R/S among men and women, all models were stratified by gender.
Results:
Different patterns of associations were found between women and men. Among women: 1) religious attendance was associated with lower HP among Black and white women; 2) gratitude was linked to lower HP among Hispanic/Latino, South Asian, and white women; 3) individual prayer was associated with higher HP among Hispanic/Latino and white women; 4) yoga was associated with higher HP among South Asian women, and 5) negative religious coping was linked to higher HP among Black women. Among men: significant results were only found among Hispanic/Latino men. Religious attendance and individual prayer were associated with higher HP, while group prayer and negative religious coping were associated with lower HP.
Conclusion:
Religion/spirituality is a multifaceted construct that manifests differently by race/ethnicity and gender. Medical practitioners should avoid a one-size-fits-all approach to this topic when evaluating prevalent hypertension in diverse communities.
... Previous research suggests age differences in attachment across the lifespan (e.g., Chopik et al., 2013), and gender differences in Switzerland and other Western European countries (Schmitt et al., 2003). Furthermore, age is an important predictor of self-rated health (e.g., Hill et al., 2013;McCullough & Laurenceau, 2005), while there is slight variation in how female and male individuals rate their health across the adult lifespan (Zajacova et al., 2017). Thus, the models were controlled for age and gender (coded as -1 = female, 1 = male). ...
Attachment has previously been linked to people’s health. However, less is known about how romantic attachment in currently partnered and single people predicts their health. The present study examines the association between romantic attachment and health outcomes at different timescales (i.e., cross-sectional and across 2 years) while considering individuals’ relationship status (i.e., partnered and single). The concurrent results based on 516 partnered individuals suggest that more anxious partnered individuals experience lower health satisfaction while more avoidant partnered individuals place less importance to their health. Our results suggest no long-term prediction of partnered individuals’ romantic attachment on their health satisfaction and health goal importance. For the results based on a sample of 173 singles, the picture was painted differently regarding the role of romantic attachment in their health: Avoidance was concurrently negatively linked to health satisfaction and health goal importance; yet, longitudinally, it emerged as a positive predictor for health satisfaction and health goal importance.
... Previous research suggests age differences in attachment across the lifespan (e.g., Chopik et al., 2013), and gender differences in Switzerland and other Western European countries (Schmitt et al., 2003). Furthermore, age is an important predictor of self-rated health (e.g., Hill et al., 2013;McCullough & Laurenceau, 2005), while there is slight variation in how female and male individuals rate their health across the adult lifespan (Zajacova et al., 2017). Thus, the models were controlled for age and gender (coded as -1 = female, 1 = male). ...
Attachment has previously been linked to people’s health. However, less is known about how romantic attachment in currently partnered and single people predicts their health. The present study examines the association between romantic attachment and health outcomes at different timescales (i.e., cross-sectional and across 2 years) while considering individuals' relationship status (i.e., partnered and single). The concurrent results based on 516 partnered individuals suggest that more anxious partnered individuals experience lower health satisfaction while more avoidant partnered individuals place less importance to their health. Our results suggest no long-term prediction of partnered individuals' romantic attachment on their health satisfaction and health goal importance. For the results based on a sample of 173 singles, the picture was painted differently regarding the role of romantic attachment in their health: Avoidance was concurrently negatively linked to health satisfaction and health goal importance; yet, longitudinally, it emerged as a positive predictor for health satisfaction and health goal importance.
... We concluded that these findings were consistent with those of other researchers in the sense that when people manage to reduce their levels of anxiety, they have chances to bring gratitude into their lives, which is intrinsically pleasant, and, in turn, leads to IM (McCullough, et al., 2001). Furthermore, people with lower anxiety levels can focus on what is fulfilling in their lives than on what goes wrong (Hill, et al., 2013). The reason is that they can connect to less punishing and more compassionate relationships with the self (Jiang, et al., 2022). ...
University students experience new academic demands during their transition from school to college. This study explored variables that positively or negatively influence first-year university students' levels of academic self-efficacy, providing insights into teachers' practices and Higher Education Institutions. Data were collected at two points over the course of 6 months from a convenient sample of 311 students, and regression-based path analysis was undertaken using mediation and moderation analysis. The findings showed that positive emotions, negative emotional states, motivational processes, and internal states affect students' academic performance, beliefs, and judgments of their academic self-efficacy. More specifically, the results revealed that students' emotions, such as gratitude, negative emotional states, intrinsic motivation, perceptions of academic control, and motivational processes named obsessive and harmonious passion undermine or facilitate students' academic self-efficacy levels. Limitations and recommendations for future research, as well as practical implications for counselors and teachers, leaders and administrators, and students, are discussed.
... A greater tendency to experience gratitude is also associated with the subjective assessment of physical health, and the mediator of this relationship is mental health, health activity and the willingness to seek help in the event of health problems. The above effect is stronger for the elderly compared to younger adults (hill, Allemand, Roberts, 2013). ...
In the article there is measured and discussed the relationship between dispositional gratitude and the holistic concept of quality of life in the personalist-existential approach, with a psychophysical, psychosocial, subjective, metaphysical and global dimension of the quality of life. The aim of this study is to identify the relationship between gratitude, measured with the GQ-6 Gratitude Questionnaire by McCullough, Emmon and Tsang in Polish adaptation of Kossakowska and Kwiatek, and quality of life, measured with the Sense of Quality of Life Questionnaire. The research questions was “Is gratitude related to the psychophysical, psychosocial, subjective, metaphysical and global dimensions of the quality of life in the personalist and existential concept?”. The study involved 148 students, aged 17–59 ( M = 30.21; SD = 10.09). The results show the presence of low and moderate positive relationships between gratitude and quality of life in all dimensions. Moreover, the research discovered some gender differences in the correlations between gratitude and some dimensions of quality of life. Gratitude correlates with better quality of life in all spheres of human functioning – biological, social, subjective and metaphysical.
... Empirical pieces of evidence suggest that gratitude is not just associated with positive emotions of joy and contentment (McCullough et al.,2001) but also with lasting physical and psychological benefits such as better cardiovascular health, better immunity, better (Emmons & McCullough. 2003, Hill, Allemand & Roberts, 2013. Moreover, Gratitude enables people to stay motivated in professional and academic contexts (Froh, Emmons, et al., 2010) and facilitate potent interpersonal relationships and social support perceived by the individual (Algoe, Haidt & Gable, 2008;Wood, Maltby, Gillet, Linley & Joseph, 2008). ...
Adjusting to the complex period, adolescents face major biological, psychological, and social changes (Christie & Viner, 2005; Erikson, 1968). As half of the mental health problems develop by adolescence (Erskine et al., 2015) hence, focus on the psychological well-being of adolescents is the need of the hour. Abundant studies have delved into studying the relationships between gratitude and subjective well-being, while studies relating to any facet of psychological well-being are scarce. The present research explores the relationship between gratitude and psychological well-being among adolescents. The sample of the present study is comprised of 300 adolescents (N=300) with the age range of 16-19 years from the various colleges and universities of the state of Haryana. The Gratitude Questionnaire-Six Item Form (GQ-6) (McCullough, 2002) and Ryff's scale of Psychological Well-being (1989) were used to assess the gratitude and psychological well-being of the sample. The descriptive statistics and Pearson's product moment correlation was applied to study the relationship between the variables and simple linear regression was further applied to look for the effect size. The findings establish the significant positive correlation between gratitude and psychological well-being among the adolescents and gratitude turned up as a significant predictor of the psychological well-being among adolescents. The findings suggest the cultivation and nurturance of gratitude among individuals right from the early stages of life.
... Gratitude is not only about reciprocity but functions, in general, to promote interpersonal relationship formation and maintenance and common welfare in a social community, hence improving individuals' mental and physical health (Hill et al., 2013). A previous study found that the gratitude level of new sorority members who received anonymous gifts from old members reliably predicted both new and old members' ratings of their interactions and relationship 1 month later (Algoe et al., 2008). ...
Previous research suggests that receiving a charity donation could induce gratitude but threaten self-esteem. We investigated if peer charity donations from typical children benefit or harm the mental health of their left-behind children (LBC) classmates. We recruited children at a school (i.e., intervened school) that organized peer charity donations every semester and three typical schools (i.e., non-intervened school) without such intervention in China. Participants completed the gratitude, self-esteem, depression, and social anxiety scales. A statistical toolbox, "Matchit", randomly selected 420 children aged 9-13 (220 females, 200 males, 213 LBC, 207 non-LBC); there was no significant difference in left-behind status, age, gender, or family economic status (all p > .10) between the intervened and non-intervened groups (210 per group). Structural equation model analyses revealed that gratitude was associated with higher self-esteem, lower social anxiety, and lower depression. Moreover, the intervention effect on self-esteem was significantly positive among the LBC recipients and non-LBC donors. The interaction between intervention and left-behind status was significant on gratitude and depression. Specifically, the intervention effect was not significant on gratitude or depression among the LBC but was significantly negative on gratitude and depression among the non-LBC. Peer charity donation may increase self-esteem among children (recipients or donors) via increased social connection or satisfaction of basic needs, yet decreased gratitude among the donors due to the "moral licensing effect".
... Positive interactions with parents during childhood always linked to experience of more supportive social relationships, which foster wellbeing and contribute to better physical and mental health [13]. Besides, warm memory of parental affection in childhood could also provide benefit that help reducing stress and promote positive health behaviors [36,37]. On the other side, negative discipline and excessive control from parents may increase anxiety and depressive symptoms and affect the following health trajectory in adulthood [34,38]. ...
Backgrounds
The impact of relationships in early childhood may be long-lasting and reaching to mid to late life. Limited studies have investigated the associations between parenting style and different aspects of well-being beyond adolescence. The current study aims to examine the association between parenting styles and multiple dimensions of functioning in mid-and later-life adults.
Methods
We used data from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) was applied to examine the association between retrospective parenting styles/behaviors in childhood and health outcome.
Results
Compared with authoritative style, authoritarian style predicted worse self-rated health (coefficient = − 0.13, P < 0.001), cognitive function (− 0.23, P < 0.05) and depressive symptom (0.87, P < 0.001). Paternal affection was associated with more health outcome in mid- and late life than maternal affection. Only paternal affection was a significant predictor of mid- and late life health among male adults, while both paternal and maternal affection were strong predictors among female adults. Authoritative style was associated more positive health outcomes in mid- and late life among adults with literate parents than those with illiterate parents.
Conclusion
This study provides evidence for the link between parenting behaviors in early life stage and physical and psychological functioning in mid- to late adulthood. Authoritative style, and the memory of parental affection, particularly from father and educated parents, could have long-lasting positive influence on children’s physical and mental well-being, which further support the life-course perspective on human development.
... Once task significance, as the work meaningfulness indicator, is noticed by grateful employees, it could activate the intensity nature of trait gratitude to have high arousal and more energy at work (Fehr et al., 2017;Grant, 2008b;McCullough et al., 2002;Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006;Tett et al., 2021). In this sense, paired with task significance, employees with trait gratitude tend to have high levels of psychological health and physical health, which lays the physical resources foundation for psychological availability (Hill et al., 2013;Kahn, 1990;May et al., 2004). ...
The benefits of gratitude are universally recognized in psychology and other disciplines. However, the capacity for trait gratitude to bring advantages to employees and organizations is an under-explored area despite the fact that trait gratitude could offer considerable benefits to organizational performance and success through its potential impact on organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs). Based on trait activation theory, a model was put forward to examine the influence of trait gratitude on OCBs through the impact that trait gratitude has upon psychological availability. Additionally, task significance was explored as a moderator of the relationship between trait gratitude and psychological availability. The model was tested across two studies. Study 1 involved a multi-phase and multi-source survey of 178 leader-member dyads from a chemical company and an electricity firm. Study 2 was a preregistered experiment involving 205 full-time employees from a range of industries including finance, retailing, entertainment, information technology, law, engineering and other industries. In both studies the mediated moderation model of workplace trait gratitude on OCBs was supported. Limitations, implications for research and practice are addressed.
... Individuals with higher levels of gratitude experience better psychological well-being, including lower rates of depression, anxiety, and greater emotional functioning, including more positive affect, less negative affect, and higher life satisfaction (Datu & Mateo, 2015;Emmons & Mishra, 2011;Kong et al., 2015;Wood et al., 2010;Wood, Joseph, et al., 2008a, 2008b. Gratitude has also been associated with lower levels of stress (Wood et al., 2008a(Wood et al., , 2008b, stronger social relationships (Algoe, 2012;Algoe et al., 2020), better self-reported physical health (Hill et al., 2013;O'Connell & Killeen-Byrt, 2018), and better cardiovascular and immune health (Cousin et al., 2020;Emmons & Stern, 2013). Research has also shown that gratitude alleviates the negative psychological consequences of stressors such as chronic illness and COVID-19 (Jiang, 2020;Sirois & Wood, 2017), and studies directly testing the stress-buffering effects of gratitude have shown that gratitude reduces the impact of stress on negative health outcomes (Deichert et al., 2019). ...
Exploring ways to mitigate the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic is important for long-term health. Expressive and gratitude-focused writing are effective methods to help individuals process traumatic or stressful events. Gratitude-focused writing may yield additional benefits because it helps individuals appraise events positively. We hypothesized that an online gratitude writing intervention would yield greater benefits than an expressive writing intervention or control group. Participants were randomized to one of three groups and completed assessments one-week and one-month post-intervention. The gratitude
writing group maintained gratitude levels and decreased stress and negative affect at one-month post-intervention. The expressive writing group decreased in gratitude and showed no changes in stress or negative affect at one-month post-intervention. The control group decreased in gratitude and negative affect and showed no changes in stress at one-month post-intervention. Gratitude writing may be a better resource for dealing with stress and negative affect than traditional expressive writing methods under extremely stressful situations
with uncertain trajectories.
... Based on these conceptualizations, previous researchers have described several ways that gratitude affects an individual's wellbeing. Grateful people report better physical health, and they are more likely to engage in physical activity (Hill et al., 2013). The experience of gratitude leads to better sleep, less fatigue and less cellular inflammation (Mills et al., 2015;Wood et al., 2009). ...
Purpose
The aim of the current study was to examine the previously unexplored relationship between positive reframing as a mediator between gratitude and technostress in Indian students. By examining this relationship, the authors aim to expand the theoretical domain of gratitude research by examining its potential influence on technology-induced stress.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional survey was used to collect and analyze data from 552 Indian college students who participated in graduate and postgraduate programs across various educational institutions in India. Regression and mediation analyses were performed with both IBM SPSS 25 and AMOS.
Findings
This study’s data suggest that positive reframing plays an important mediating role between gratitude and technostress. Gratitude also encourages positive reframing, which reduced technostress among the students. Taken together, our data showed that gratitude induces positive reframing, which in turn reduces techno-stress among Indian students in the current study.
Research limitations/implications
The sample size in this study is relatively small in relation to the student population in India. The current study relied primarily on quantitative data and analysis and further research could use a mixed-method approach to better understand the underlying mechanisms between positive reframing, gratitude and technostress. The results are derived under an extreme coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic situation; therefore, the results cannot be generalized to normal times.
Practical implications
The paper includes implications for teachers, academic leaders, parents and civil society.
Originality/value
Overall, the relationship between positive reframing, gratitude and technostress has not been thoroughly explored. To the best of the authors' understanding, this is the first study to examine the influence of gratitude on technology-induced stress and the role of reframing.
... Több szerző egyetért abban, hogy a hála nem közvetlenül, sokkal inkább közvetett módon, a mentális egészség és a jóllét támogatásán keresztül gyakorol hatását a fizikai egészségre (Hill, Allemand, & Roberts, 2013;Jackowska et al., 2016;Lavelock et al., 2016;Portocarrero, Gonzalez, & Ekema-Agbaw, 2020). Hill és munkatársai (2013) a hála és a fizikai egészség összefüggéseit három lehetséges okkal magyarázták. ...
Background and aims: Becoming a mother that is the forty weeks of pregnancy is a highlighted stage of life for a woman. It is a determinative period for both the mother and her child, who is to be born. Therefore, the preservation of mental health and support for women is especially important in prenatal care.
Methods: This study aims to explore the relationship between dispositional gratitude, mental health, and prenatal development in pregnant women. Our study analyses questionnaire data (mental health test, short gratitude questionnaire) from 513 pregnant women who applied for genetic testing. Of the mothers who completed the questionnaire, 322 had an ultrasound, 295 had a risk assessment for a genetic disorder and 294 had a risk assessment for toxemia.
Results: The study results revealed a positive correlation of medium strength between dispositional gratitude and mental health. Higher levels of dispositional gratitude were most strongly associated with global well-being and the ability to savor. None of the prenatal developmental risks showed a direct correlation with mental health, but there was lower mental health when risks were cumulative.
Conclusion: In particular, pregnant women need professional mental health support alongside healthcare, so improving the well-being of pregnant women is a key priority, alongside maintaining their health. A potential means of doing this could be to increase gratitude, for example through gratitude diary. As an extension of this study, a longitudinal investigation of the use of gratitude interventions with expecting mothers was undertaken.
Keywords: gratitude, mental health, pregnancy, pregnancy toxemia.
... Health-promoting behavior was measured by Healthy Activities Scale (Hill et al., 2013). The same translation procedure described above also applied to this scale. ...
Equality for marriage and reproduction has become a major policy agenda worldwide. Opportunities for sexual minority individuals to pursue planned parenthood through assisted reproductive technologies, adoption or surrogacy emerged only recently. Perhaps due to socio-cultural and structural barriers, sexual minority individuals consistently report lower parenthood desires and intentions than heterosexual individuals. Using a cross-sectional online survey, we examined the relationship between parenthood desire and demographic and psychosocial characteristics in a sample of 1,395 gay and bisexual men in Taiwan. Results showed that sexual orientation, relationship status, psychosocial well-being and cultural factors such as filial piety are significant predictors of parenthood desire. Implications for social work practice are discussed.
... Various researches have shown that trait gratitude is linked with better physical health (Hill, Allemand & Roberts, 2013;O'Connell, O'Shea, & Gallagher, 2016). Trait gratitude has been defined as a "part of a wider life orientation towards noticing an appreciating the positive in the world" (Wood, et al., 2010, p891). ...
Positive Psychology emerged in the 1990s and new paradigm comes into existence for understanding human behaviour from human weaknesses to human strengths. Forgiveness and gratitude are constructs of Positive Psychology. Peterson and Seligman (2004) have classified forgiveness and gratitude as human virtues and strengths. There is something common in forgiveness and gratitude. Forgiveness is a positive psychological response to interpersonal harm and gratitude is a positive psychological response to interpersonal benefits (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). In positive psychology, gratitude as an emotion is not only being grateful, but also having greater appreciation for someone or something. Forgiveness happens when one offers mercy to the one who has wronged us instead of holding on to anger. Forgiveness and gratitude are personality qualities that can significantly improve physical and psychological well-being. Individuals, who learn to forgive, reported improvement in stress tolerance, sleeping habits and overall well-being. Gratitude also increases happiness, empathy feeling and decreases aggression and depression. Forgiveness and gratitude both are very essential to strengthen human relationship that is core behind to subjective well-being. In another words forgiveness and gratitude are positive characteristics of human that are connected to subjective well-being. The present paper is an attempt to incorporate the constructs of forgiveness and gratitude in connection to subjective well-being that have implications for health enhancements.
... Research on the topic of gratitude has increased exponentially over the last two decades, spurred by the various psychosocial benefits that gratitude confers. For example, gratitude is positively related to life satisfaction , adaptive coping (Wood et al., 2007), improved sleep patterns (Wood et al., 2009), better physical health (Hill et al., 2013), positive social relationships and affiliation (Algoe, 2012;Algoe et al., 2008;Bartlett et al., 2012), wellbeing at work (Waters, 2012;Waters & Stokes, 2015) and prosocial behaviors (Ma et al., 2017). More recently, attention in this field has questioned the universality of gratitude experiences and moved towards examining gratitude in relation to the sociocultural context in which it is being studied (see, for example, Merçon-Vargas et al., 2018). ...
Examinations of the influence of culture on how gratitude is experienced are sparse, as are studies that simultaneously explore developmental differences in understandings of gratitude. This paper presents three studies that examine whether perceptions and experiences of gratitude differ across children, adolescents and adults in two individualistic, WEIRD and Commonwealth cultures—Australia and the UK. Studies 1a ( N = 88, ages 17–39) and 1b ( N = 77, ages 17–25) provide initial insights into “features of gratitude” in Australia through two stages of a prototype analysis. These features are compared to a previous prototype study of gratitude in the UK, alongside a further comparison to the US. Study 2 employs vignettes to examine how perceptions of the benefactor, benefit and mixed emotions influence the degree of gratitude experienced across adolescents and adults in Australia ( N = 1937, ages 11–85), with a comparison to the UK ( N = 398, ages 12–65). In Study 3, factors examined in Study 2 are adapted into accessible story workbooks for younger children (Australia N=135, ages 9–11; UK N=62, ages 9–11). Results across these studies demonstrate similarities and differences in understandings and experiences of gratitude across cultures. While adults across Australia and the UK responded similarly to gratitude scenarios, cross-cultural differences are observed between children and adolescents in these two countries. Developmental differences are noted in relation to more sophisticated reasoning around gratitude, such as recognition of ulterior motives. These findings highlight the need for gratitude research and interventions to be cross-culturally, and developmentally, responsive.
... For example, in the current study, the participants reported that it took a significant amount of effort for them to express gratitude which is seen as supposedly the opposite of battling with their illness. Although gratitude is not easy to achieve, it is also considered a paramount task for cancer patients to improve their health and well-being (Hill et al., 2013). Some participants in the current study viewed gratitude as an accomplishment. ...
Gratitude has gained attention among health researchers for its benefits among chronic illness. However, most of the studies were focusing on the positive effects, neglecting the complex dimensions of gratitude that can contribute to both opportunities and challenges for chronic illness patients. This study aims to understand gratitude among cancer patients in Malaysia from a sociocultural perspective. This includes understanding how cancer patients view gratitude and the impacts of gratitude throughout their cancer-battling journey. This qualitative study involved 35 cancer patients. A thematic analysis was done to analyze the collected data. Among the themes discovered were searching for meaning, meaningful experience, gratitude through the enrichment activities, and gratitude as religious cultural expectations. This study suggests that gratitude is an important experience for chronic illness patients. The ability to understand this experience is vital to support and empower the patients throughout their daily lives.
... Not surprisingly, gratitude has been positively associated with well-being (Wood et al., 2010), and experimental and longitudinal studies show that the link from gratitude to well-being is causal (Emmons & McCullough, 2003, 2004Nezlek et al., 2017;Wood et al., 2010). Gratitude has also been associated with better subjective physical health (Hill et al., 2013). ...
Gratitude and optimism are positive psychological dispositions associated with beneficial outcomes. To examine their associations with physiological and psychological experiences in daily life, we examined data from an Ecological Momentary Assessment study (N = 4,825), including blood pressure, heart rate, and reports of stress, health behaviors, and thoughts. Trait gratitude and trait optimism both predicted lower heart rate and blood pressure, better sleep quality, more exercise, less stress, more positive expectations and reflections, and greater feelings of appreciation toward others. However, gratitude and optimism were not completely overlapping constructs: Gratitude was a stronger predictor of felt appreciation toward others and pleasantness when reflecting on the best part of the day, whereas optimism was a stronger predictor of sleep quality, lower stress, and lower unpleasantness when reflecting on the worst part of the day. These associations reveal both similar and differential influences of positive dispositions on psychological and physiological outcomes that provide insight into health consequences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
... Moreover, gratitude can be expected to work as a potential factor that alleviates health problems among older adults: the number of people who suffer from chronic diseases that lead to increased mental health disorders and impaired well-being increases with age [8,9], partially due to retirement and loss of loved ones [10][11][12]. Previous studies have found that older adults with higher levels of gratitude are more likely to show the advantages of physical and mental health [7,13,14]. ...
Background:
Childhood maltreatment can impede gratitude, yet little is known about the older population and its moderators. The aim of this study is to clarify the association between childhood maltreatment and levels of gratitude of the older population, and the moderating effect of social ties on the association.
Methods:
We analyzed the data of 524 community-dwelling older adults aged 65-84 years without functional disabilities in Tokamachi City, Niigata, Japan, collected for the Neuron to Environmental Impact across Generations (NEIGE) study in 2017. Using a questionnaire, the participants rated three types of childhood maltreatment before the age of 18 (physical abuse, emotional neglect, and psychological abuse), level of gratitude, and social ties.
Results:
We found an inverse association between emotional neglect and gratitude. Furthermore, emotional neglect was inversely associated with gratitude only for those with lower levels of social ties.
Conclusions:
Promoting social ties may mitigate the adverse impact of emotional neglect on the level of gratitude.
... Since older workers are found to show higher levels of gratitude because the awareness of mortality directs attention to gratitude (Hill et al., 2013), we included age as a control variable. Since highly educated individuals show higher gratitude (Jans-Beken, 2018) due to improved cognitive abilities and awareness, we controlled for level of education. ...
Since workers are increasingly suffering from burnout, there is a need for insights into how burnout can be decreased to improve
subjective well-being. The broaden-and-build theory proposes that gratitude increases well-being through an upward spiral. Few studies have
examined whether gratitude decreases burnout and what mediating behaviors explain this relationship. Using an international sample of
employees (N = 353), this study examines whether work-specific gratitude negatively relates to exhaustion and disengagement. Additionally,
since gratitude stimulates helping through upstream reciprocity, this study investigates whether interpersonal helping behavior (IHB) mediates
these relationships. Our study showed a negative effect of work-specific gratitude on disengagement and exhaustion and a negative relationship between work-specific gratitude and disengagement, mediated by IHB, suggesting that gratitude stimulates IHB, thereby alleviating
disengagement.
... This can encourage college students to continue the process of working on their undergraduate thesis completion. Hill et al. [32] explained that grateful individuals will tend to report good physical health. Meanwhile, the appreciation factor for all parts and aspects of life has a role in negative emotions and loneliness. ...
... Adjusting to an unfamiliar socioeconomic environment, while also socially distancing from the familiar and more natural past environment, can be a major stress-inducing process compromising upwardly mobile individuals' psychological and, consequently, physical health. In turn, an alternative perspective, so-called "rags to riches" thesis [20], suggests that upward social mobility could lead to better health outcomes by generating a sense of personal control, boosting psychological well-being from overcoming life course constraints, fostering healthy behaviours and lifestyles, and developing a health conducive sense of gratitude among the upwardly mobile individuals [21][22][23][24][25]. ...
The contemporaneous association between higher socioeconomic position and better health is well established. Life course research has also demonstrated a lasting effect of childhood socioeconomic conditions on adult health and well-being. Yet, little is known about the separate health effects of intergenerational mobility—moving into a different socioeconomic position than one’s parents—among early adults in the United States. Most studies on the health implications of mobility rely on cross-sectional datasets, which makes it impossible to differentiate between health selection and social causation effects. In addition, understanding the effects of social mobility on health at a relatively young age has been hampered by the paucity of health measures that reliably predict disease onset. Analysing 4,713 respondents aged 25 to 32 from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health’s Waves I and IV, we use diagonal reference models to separately identify the effects of socioeconomic origin and destination, as well as social mobility on allostatic load among individuals in the United States. Using a combined measure of educational and occupational attainment, and accounting for individuals’ initial health, we demonstrate that in addition to health gradient among the socially immobile, individuals’ socioeconomic origin and destination are equally important for multi-system physiological dysregulation. Short-range upward mobility also has a positive and significant association with health. After mitigating health selection concerns in our observational data, this effect is observed only among those reporting poor health before experiencing social mobility. Our findings move towards the reconciliation of two theoretical perspectives, confirming the positive effect of upward mobility as predicted by the “rags to riches” perspective, while not contradicting potential costs associated with more extensive upward mobility experiences as predicted by the dissociative thesis.
... Most previous studies of gratitude have focused on gratitude as a trait. These studies found that trait gratitude is associated with increased well-being (Emmons & McCullough, 2003), more prosocial behaviors (Bartlett & DeSteno, 2006), an increased sense of meaning (Kleiman et al., 2013), a lower level of suicidal ideation (Li et al., 2012), fewer self-reported physical symptoms (Hill et al., 2013), and better subjective sleep quality (Wood et al., 2009). Relatively, a smaller number of studies have examined the effect of gratitude as an affective state on well-being (for exceptions, see Algoe et al., 2010;Kashdan et al., 2006;Nezlek et al., 2017Nezlek et al., , 2019Sztachańska et al., 2019;Zygar et al., 2018). ...
Objectives
Numerous studies have shown that gratitude can improve mental health of people facing stressful events. However, most studies in this area have been based on laboratory experiments and retrospective surveys, rather than actual situations in which people are experiencing stress. Moreover, few studies have examined whether age moderates the benefits of gratitude. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused enormous psychological distress worldwide. Evidence-based strategies are needed to enhance well-being during this stressful time. This study attempted to fill these gaps by examining the benefits of feeling gratitude every day during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Method
A sample of 231 participants from mainland China aged 18 to 85 years participated in a 14-day daily diary study. After a pretest to collect demographic data, information on gratitude, daily positive and negative affect, perceived stress related to COVID-19, and subjective health were measured using daily questionnaires on 14 consecutive days. One month after the daily diary period, information on affective experiences, life satisfaction, and subjective health was collected as a follow-up survey.
Results
On days when individuals feel more gratitude than usual, they report more positive affect, a lower level of perceived stress related to COVID-19, and better subjective health on the concurrent day (Day N). Individuals also report a lower level of stress related to COVID-19 on the following day (Day N+1), when they feel more gratitude than usual on Day N. Higher levels of gratitude across the 14-day study period was associated with a higher level of positive affect and a lower level of negative affect, but was not associated with life satisfaction or subjective health at the one-month follow-up assessment.
Discussion
These findings demonstrate the benefits of gratitude in a naturalistic situation that induced stress and anxiety.
Nurse well-being and optimism were tested in the midst of COVID-19 patient surges and staffing challenges. Using the American Nurses Foundation Gratitude Toolkit, a health system implemented monthly gratitude practices at 4 hospitals. Validated survey measures indicated that nurses' scores of self-perceived gratitude, flourishing behaviors, and mindfulness were maintained during this challenging time but did not statistically increase. Although statistical significance increases were not demonstrated, the gratitude campaign offered clinical significance through positive feedback and was sustained through the distribution of a toolkit disseminated across the health system.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyze the potential mediating role of employee engagement in the relationship between gratitude and subjective well-being (SWB) of employees working in the information technology (IT) sector in India. The study investigated a moderated mediation model for gratitude and SWB, treating employee engagement as a mediator and gender as a moderator.
Design/methodology/approach
Data was collected from 162 professionals working IT sector in India. Process Macro, AMOS and IBM SPSS 22 were used to analyze the mediation and moderation effects.
Findings
The results depicted that employee engagement fully mediates the positive association between gratitude practice and the SWB of employees as well as the demographic variable; gender also demonstrated a full moderation effect between them.
Originality/value
This research may be one of the few studies from the Indian context that explore whether gratitude practiced by employees working in the IT sector can play a significant role in impacting their SWB. Past research models had not introduced employee engagement’s indirect impact on the examined variables.
Mindfulness and self-compassion practices and programs are evidence-based practices that have positive effects for HCPs as they can be used to build resilience and minimize burnout. Detailed examples and vignettes of the practices are provided. Implementing these practices in the individual, academic, and healthcare system have yielded positive results, but must be balanced with other factors. Knowing when and how to implement or use these programs and practices requires discernment.KeywordsMindfulnessHealthcare professionalsEmpathyMeditation
Mindsets brought to the marketplace by consumers determine the decisions they make and, ultimately, their well‐being. Mindsets based on a comprehensive set of mindfulness skills can provide a broader lens to understanding life's varied situations to make better choices. Considering research on mindfulness and Buddhist psychology, this study introduced an expanded mindful mindset comprising nine mindfulness skills: awareness, compassion for others, self‐compassion, curiosity, energy, gratitude, inner calm, focus, and discernment. A national online survey, along with structural equation modeling, was conducted to examine differences in the narrower and expanded mindful mindsets and the relative contribution of the nine mindfulness skills to address stress and life satisfaction. The study found that a different set of mindfulness skills was required for life satisfaction and stress‐reduction. Energy had the greatest impact on life satisfaction, and self‐compassion had the greatest impact on stress reduction. Finally, the implications of an expanded mindful mindset were discussed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Although each person faces their own share of challenges, it is their individual perception and responses to these difficulties that determine how they are affected by them. In this paper we investigate the association between gratitude and human prosperity including the underlying mechanism that helps people thrive during trying circumstances. We survey the literature, examining how gratitude enables people to prosper amidst adversity and employ a narrative style to present these unique characteristics. This review suggests that gratitude enhances coping abilities, such as meaning-focused coping and positive reframing, which foster positive emotions and augment personal resources like resilience, perseverance, and social bonds. These elements, in turn, may possibly explain the association between gratitude and human prosperity during dire circumstances.
Everyday gratitude may shape affect intensity, particularly during challenging times like a pandemic. A group of 140 community-dwelling Canadian participants ( M age = 40.49 years, range: 18–83; 80% women) provided up to 10 days of daily gratitude and affect ratings during the first pandemic wave. Multilevel models show that everyday gratitude was associated with higher positive affect and lower negative affect, independent of age; age was positively correlated with the number of social gratitude events. Participants reported lower negative affect if a social gratitude event involved more than less diverse social partners. The findings point to the merit of examining time-varying associations in gratitude as a potential resource for everyday affect across the adult lifespan.
Software development demands creativity and adept problem-solving skills. However, long-term stress and fatigue might impede these skills in software developers. From the perspective of positive psychology, this cross-sectional study investigated the effects of gratitude, age, and gender on stress and fatigue in 421 participants, 244 males (58 %) and 177 females (42 %), aged between 21 and 57 years (M = 36.20; SD = 7.56). The tools employed included the multi-component gratitude measure, perceived stress scale and fatigue assessment scale. Multiple linear regressions confirmed the beneficial effects of gratitude, and they indicated higher levels of perceived stress and fatigue in women and younger professionals. These findings have positive implications for organisational psychologists, as they signify the favourable impacts of gratitude in mitigating stress and fatigue in software developers. The authors recommend that organisational practitioners should focus on enhancing the professionals' well-being by strategizing and implementing gratitude training programmes.
Objectives
Veterans are at high risk for health morbidities linked to premature mortality. Recently developed ‘epigenetic clock’ algorithms, which compute intra-individual differences between biological and chronological aging, can help inform prediction of accelerated biological aging and mortality risk. To date, however, scarce research has examined potentially modifiable correlates of GrimAge, a novel epigenetic clock comprised of DNA methylation surrogates of plasma proteins and smoking pack-years associated with various morbidities and time-to-death. The objective of the study was to examine psychosocial correlates of this novel epigenetic clock.
Design
Cross-sectional study.
Setting
United States veteran population.
Participants
Participants were male, European American [EA], and derived from a nationally representative sample of U.S. veterans (N=1,135, mean age=63.3, standard deviation (SD)=13.0)
Measurements
We examined the prevalence of accelerated GrimAge and its association with a broad range of health, lifestyle, and psychosocial variables.
Results
A total 18.3% of veterans had accelerated GrimAge (≥5 years greater GrimAge than chronological age; mean=8.4 years acceleration, SD=2.2). Fewer days of weekly physical exercise (relative variance explained [RVE]=27%), history of lifetime substance use disorder (RVE=21%), greater number of lifetime traumas (RVE=19%), lower gratitude (RVE=13%), reduced sleep quality (RVE=7%), lower openness to experience (RVE=7%), and unmarried/partnered status (RVE=6%) were independently associated with increased odds of accelerated GrimAge. Increasing numbers of these risk factors were associated with greater odds of accelerated GrimAge, with greatest likelihood of acceleration for veterans with ≥3 risk factors (weighted 21.5%).
Conclusions
These results suggest that nearly 1-of-5 EA male U.S. veterans have accelerated GrimAge, and highlight a broad range of health, lifestyle, and psychosocial variables associated with accelerated GrimAge. Given that many of these factors are modifiable, these findings provide promising leads for risk stratification models of accelerated biological aging and precision medicine-based targets for interventions to mitigate risk for premature mortality in this population.
Dispositional gratitude has emerged in the literature to be associated with many health benefits in measures ranging from self-reported health to biomarkers of cardiovascular risk. However, little is known about the link between dispositional gratitude and lipid profiles. Drawing from the Gratitude and Self-improvement Model that grateful individuals are more likely to strive for actual self-improvement such as engaging in healthy lifestyles, we investigated the relation between dispositional gratitude and serum lipid levels. Participants consisted of 1800 adults from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) 2: Biomarker Project ( N = 1054) and MIDUS Refresher: Biomarker Project ( N = 746). Serum lipid profiles were measured through fasting blood samples. After controlling for demographics, use of antihyperlipidemic mediation, and personality traits, we found that higher dispositional gratitude was associated with lower triglyceride levels. Results also revealed that healthy diets and lower BMI partially mediated the gratitude-triglyceride association. However, some variations in the analytic method may influence the associations between gratitude and triglycerides levels. Our findings provide preliminary evidence suggesting dispositional gratitude as a promising psychological factor that is associated with a healthier lipid profile.
"Did you know the most dominant apes and monkeys are usually the kindest? They share the most food, groom others more often, break up fights, are slow to anger, and breathe in a relaxed manner. Those on the bottom of the social hierarchy are the opposite. They are stingy, combative, irritable, anxious, depressed, and they breathe shallowly. It is not easy for a submissive primate to become dominant. They have mindsets, mannerisms, and muscle tension that keep them from escaping their subordinate social strategy and the chronic stress it produces.
All of this generalizes to people. If you want to be free of negative emotion, you need to rehabilitate physical trauma in your breath, eyes, face, voice, heart, gut, spine, and brain. Program Peace will coach you to do precisely this by first retraining your breathing pattern, and then walking you through dozens of innovative and effective self-care exercises. After creating new mindsets and mannerisms, and learning to reinvigorate muscles you never knew you had, you will find yourself more confident, healthier, kinder, and reprogrammed for peace."
Recent research suggests that the association between age and gratitude might be curvilinear—despite gratitude ostensibly being higher in middle-age, it might be lower in older adulthood. It is unclear if this curvilinear pattern of age differences in gratitude is found in other samples and whether its manifestation depends on contextual (i.e., national/cultural) characteristics. The current study examined cultural variation in the curvilinear effect of age on gratitude in a sample of over 4.5 million participants from 88 countries. Participants from countries with lower levels of human development, a shorter-term orientation, and higher levels of indulgence reported higher levels of gratitude. Cultural moderation effects were very small, suggesting that curvilinear effects of age on gratitude may be relatively comparable across cultures.
Recent research suggests that the association between age and gratitude might be curvilinear—despite gratitude ostensibly being higher in middle-age, it might be lower in older adulthood. It is unclear if this curvilinear pattern of age differences in gratitude is found in other samples and whether its manifestation depends on contextual (i.e., national/cultural) characteristics. The current study examined cultural variation in the curvilinear effect of age on gratitude in a sample of over 4.5 million participants from 88 countries. Participants from countries with lower levels of human development, a shorter-term orientation, and higher levels of indulgence reported higher levels of gratitude. Cultural moderation effects were very small, suggesting that curvilinear effects of age on gratitude may be relatively comparable across cultures.
The current study examined the nature of gratitude and future time perspective (FTP) during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the effects of age and virus worry on the associations between gratitude and remaining opportunities and time. Data came from a survey of a representative sample of Swiss adults (N = 1,008; 18–90 years) assessed during the pandemic in 2020. Local structural equation modeling (LSEM) was used to investigate the effects of continuous age and virus worry on mean-levels and correlations. While gratitude was unaffected by age and worry, the remaining opportunities and time factors of FTP decreased across age and levels of worry. The associations between gratitude and the FTP factors were invariant across age and levels of worry. Additionally, using previous cross-sectional data, the study found that associations between gratitude and future time perspective were significantly smaller during the pandemic as compared to an assessment in 2018.
Objective: The unprecedented occurrence of a global pandemic is accompanied by both physical and psychological burdens that may impair quality of life. Research relating to COVID-19 aims to determine the effects of the pandemic on vulnerable populations who are at high risk of developing negative health or psychosocial outcomes. Having an ongoing medical condition during a pandemic may lead to greater psychological distress. Increased psychological distress may be due to preventative public health measures (e.g., lockdown), having an ongoing medical condition, or a combination of these factors.
Methods: This study analyses data from an online cross-sectional national survey of adults in Ireland and investigates the relationship between comorbidity and psychological distress. Those with a medical condition (n=128) were compared to a control group without a medical condition (n=128) and matched according to age, gender, annual income, education, and work status during COVID-19. Participants and data were obtained during the first public lockdown in Ireland (27.03.2020–08.06.2020).
Results: Individuals with existing medical conditions reported significantly higher levels of anxiety (p<.01) and felt less gratitude (p≤.001). Exploratory analysis indicates that anxiety levels were significantly associated with illness perceptions specific to COVID-19. Post-hoc analysis reveal no significant difference between the number of comorbidities and condition type (e.g. respiratory disorders).
Conclusion: This research supports individualised supports for people with ongoing medical conditions through the COVID-19 pandemic, and has implications for the consideration of follow-up care specifically for mental health. Findings may also inform future public health policies and post-vaccine support strategies for vulnerable populations.
Regression methods were used to select and score 12 items from the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) to reproduce the Physical Component Summary and Mental Component Summary scales in the general US population (n = 2,333). The resulting 12-item short-form (SF-12) achieved multiple R squares of 0.911 and 0.918 in predictions of the SF-36 Physical Component Summary and SF-36 Mental Component Summary scores, respectively. Scoring algorithms from the general population used to score 12-item versions of the two components (Physical Component Summary and Mental Component Summary) achieved R squares of 0.905 with the SF-36 Physical Component Summary and 0.938 with the SF-36 Mental Component Summary when cross-validated in the Medical Outcomes Study. Test-retest (2-week) correlations of 0.89 and 0.76 were observed for the 12-item Physical Component Summary and the 12-item Mental Component Summary, respectively, in the general US population (n = 232). Twenty cross-sectional and longitudinal tests of empirical validity previously published for the 36-item short-form scales and summary measures were replicated for the 12-item Physical Component Summary and the 12-item Mental Component Summary, including comparisons between patient groups known to differ or to change in terms of the presence and seriousness of physical and mental conditions, acute symptoms, age and aging, self-reported 1-year changes in health, and recovery from depression. In 14 validity tests involving physical criteria, relative validity estimates for the 12-item Physical Component Summary ranged from 0.43 to 0.93 (median = 0.67) in comparison with the best 36-item short-form scale. Relative validity estimates for the 12-item Mental Component Summary in 6 tests involving mental criteria ranged from 0.60 to 1.07 (median = 0.97) in relation to the best 36-item short-form scale. Average scores for the 2 summary measures, and those for most scales in the 8-scale profile based on the 12-item short-form, closely mirrored those for the 36-item short-form, although standard errors were nearly always larger for the 12-item short-form.
Zusammenfassung. Die zunehmende Etablierung des Fünf-Faktoren-Modells der Persönlichkeit hat zur Folge, dass die so genannten “Big Five“ vermehrt auch in Anwendungskontexten erhoben werden sollen. Da jedoch gerade in diesen Bereichen die Untersuchungszeit oft stark begrenzt ist, sind die herkömmlichen Verfahren zur Erfassung der fünf Faktoren oft zu umfangreich. In der vorliegenden Studie wurde deshalb ein Fragebogen, das BFI-K, entwickelt, das mit 21 Items bzw. einer durchschnittlichen Bearbeitungsdauer unter 2 Minuten als extrem ökonomisch angesehen werden kann. Die Ergebnisse belegen zufriedenstellende psychometrische Kennwerte für das BFI-K. Neben ausreichenden Reliabilitäten konnten sowohl die faktorielle Validität des Verfahrens als auch hohe Übereinstimmungen mit Bekanntenurteilen und mit anderen etablierten Verfahren zu Erfassung des Fünf-Faktoren-Modells bestätigt werden.
This study tests whether gratitude predicts psychological well-being above both the domains and facets of the five factor model. Participants (N = 201) completed the NEO PI-R measure of the 30 facets of the Big Five, the GQ-6 measure of trait gratitude, and the scales of psychological well-being. Gratitude had small correlations with autonomy (r = .17), and medium to large correlations with environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relationships, purpose in life, and self-acceptance (rs ranged from .28 to .61). After controlling for the 30 facets of the Big Five, gratitude explained a substantial amount of a unique variance in most aspects of psychological well-being (requivalent = .14 to .25). Gratitude is concluded to be uniquely important to psychological well-being, beyond the effect of the Big Five facets.
Previous research has established conscientiousness as a predictor of longevity (H. S. Friedman et al., 1993; L. R. Martin & H. S. Friedman, 2000). To better understand this relationship, the authors conducted a meta-analysis of conscientiousness-related traits and the leading behavioral contributors to mortality in the United States (tobacco use, diet and activity patterns, excessive alcohol use, violence, risky sexual behavior, risky driving, suicide, and drug use). Data sources were located by combining conscientiousness-related terms and relevant health-related behavior terms in database searches as well as by retrieving dissertations and requesting unpublished data from electronic mailing lists. The resulting database contained 194 studies that were quantitatively synthesized. Results showed that conscientiousness-related traits were negatively related to all risky health-related behaviors and positively related to all beneficial health-related behaviors. This study demonstrates the importance of conscientiousness' contribution to the health process through its relationship to health-related behaviors.
Conscientious individuals experience better physical health, in part because of their greater propensity to behave in ways that maintain wellness. In the current study we examined whether and how adherence mediates the relation between conscientiousness and physical health. Moreover, we examined whether these effects differed for adhering to doctor's orders (doctor adherence) versus adhering to medication regimens (medication adherence), as the latter is likely more relevant for older adults' health.
A nationwide sample of adults (N = 2,136, Mage = 51 years) completed personality and adherence measures, in addition to a self-report measure of perceived general health, in an online survey. Correlational analyses were performed to examine the basic relations between the constructs of interest. A bootstrapping approach was employed for examining whether the indirect effect through adherence was conditional on age.
Doctor adherence partially mediated the relation between conscientiousness and perceived health across adulthood. However, the indirect effect of medication adherence was conditional on age, insofar that medication adherence mediated the link between conscientiousness and perceived health only for older adults in the sample (i.e., those around age 51 and over).
These results suggest that although conscientious individuals report higher levels of both doctor and medication adherence, the role of adherence in explaining the link between conscientiousness and health may differ across adulthood.
This paper presents a new model of gratitude incorporating not only the gratitude that arises following help from others but also a habitual focusing on and appreciating the positive aspects of life", incorporating not only the gratitude that arises following help from others, but also a habitual focusing on and appreciating the positive aspects of life. Research into individual differences in gratitude and well-being is reviewed, including gratitude and psychopathology, personality, relationships, health, subjective and eudemonic well-being, and humanistically orientated functioning. Gratitude is strongly related to well-being, however defined, and this link may be unique and causal. Interventions to clinically increase gratitude are critically reviewed, and concluded to be promising, although the positive psychology literature may have neglected current limitations, and a distinct research strategy is suggested. Finally, mechanisms whereby gratitude may relate to well-being are discussed, including schematic biases, coping, positive affect, and broaden-and-build principles. Gratitude is relevant to clinical psychology due to (a) strong explanatory power in understanding well-being, and (b) the potential of improving well-being through fostering gratitude with simple exercises.
The personality trait of conscientiousness is an important predictor of health and longevity. The present research examined how conscientiousness, in combination with educational attainment and health-related behaviours, predicted self-reported physical health across adulthood. These relations were investigated in two studies, one using a large, representative sample of Illinois residents (N = 617) and the other using a community sample with a multi-method assessment of conscientiousness (N = 274). Across both studies, structural path analyses provided evidence for a model wherein conscientiousness predicted health, in part, through its relationship to both educational attainment and health-related behaviours. The findings suggest conscientiousness predicts health through a diverse set of mechanisms including, but not limited to, educational attainment and health-related behaviours.
Prior research links optimism to physical health, but the strength of the association has not been systematically evaluated.
The purpose of this study is to conduct a meta-analytic review to determine the strength of the association between optimism and physical health.
The findings from 83 studies, with 108 effect sizes (ESs), were included in the analyses, using random-effects models.
Overall, the mean ES characterizing the relationship between optimism and physical health outcomes was 0.17, p < .001. ESs were larger for studies using subjective (versus objective) measures of physical health. Subsidiary analyses were also conducted grouping studies into those that focused solely on mortality, survival, cardiovascular outcomes, physiological markers (including immune function), immune function only, cancer outcomes, outcomes related to pregnancy, physical symptoms, or pain. In each case, optimism was a significant predictor of health outcomes or markers, all p < .001.
Optimism is a significant predictor of positive physical health outcomes.
To test whether individual differences in gratitude are related to sleep after controlling for neuroticism and other traits. To test whether pre-sleep cognitions are the mechanism underlying this relationship.
A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted with a large (186 males, 215 females) community sample (ages=18-68 years, mean=24.89, S.D.=9.02), including 161 people (40%) scoring above 5 on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, indicating clinically impaired sleep. Measures included gratitude, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), self-statement test of pre-sleep cognitions, the Mini-IPIP scales of Big Five personality traits, and the Social Desirability Scale.
Gratitude predicted greater subjective sleep quality and sleep duration, and less sleep latency and daytime dysfunction. The relationship between gratitude and each of the sleep variables was mediated by more positive pre-sleep cognitions and less negative pre-sleep cognitions. All of the results were independent of the effect of the Big Five personality traits (including neuroticism) and social desirability.
This is the first study to show that a positive trait is related to good sleep quality above the effect of other personality traits, and to test whether pre-sleep cognitions are the mechanism underlying the relationship between any personality trait and sleep. The study is also the first to show that trait gratitude is related to sleep and to explain why this occurs, suggesting future directions for research, and novel clinical implications.
Regression methods were used to select and score 12 items from the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) to reproduce the Physical Component Summary and Mental Component Summary scales in the general US population (n=2,333). The resulting 12-item short-form (SF-12) achieved multiple R squares of 0.911 and 0.918 in predictions of the SF-36 Physical Component Summary and SF-36 Mental Component Summary scores, respectively. Scoring algorithms from the general population used to score 12-item versions of the two components (Physical Components Summary and Mental Component Summary) achieved R squares of 0.905 with the SF-36 Physical Component Summary and 0.938 with SF-36 Mental Component Summary when cross-validated in the Medical Outcomes Study. Test-retest (2-week)correlations of 0.89 and 0.76 were observed for the 12-item Physical Component Summary and the 12-item Mental Component Summary, respectively, in the general US population (n=232). Twenty cross-sectional and longitudinal tests of empirical validity previously published for the 36-item short-form scales and summary measures were replicated for the 12-item Physical Component Summary and the 12-item Mental Component Summary, including comparisons between patient groups known to differ or to change in terms of the presence and seriousness of physical and mental conditions, acute symptoms, age and aging, self-reported 1-year changes in health, and recovery for depression. In 14 validity tests involving physical criteria, relative validity estimates for the 12-item Physical Component Summary ranged from 0.43 to 0.93 (median=0.67) in comparison with the best 36-item short-form scale. Relative validity estimates for the 12-item Mental Component Summary in 6 tests involving mental criteria ranged from 0.60 to 107 (median=0.97) in relation to the best 36-item short-form scale. Average scores for the 2 summary measures, and those for most scales in the 8-scale profile based on the 12-item short-form, closely mirrored those for the 36-item short-form, although standard errors were nearly always larger for the 12-item short-form.
We examine the growing number of studies of survey respondents' global self-ratings of health as predictors of mortality in longitudinal studies of representative community samples. Twenty-seven studies in U.S. and international journals show impressively consistent findings. Global self-rated health is an independent predictor of mortality in nearly all of the studies, despite the inclusion of numerous specific health status indicators and other relevant covariates known to predict mortality. We summarize and review these studies, consider various interpretations which could account for the association, and suggest several approaches to the next stage of research in this field.
In four studies, the authors examined the correlates of the disposition toward gratitude. Study I revealed that self-ratings and observer ratings of the grateful disposition are associated with positive affect and well-being, prosocial behaviors and traits, and religiousness/spirituality. Study 2 replicated these findings in a large nonstudent sample. Study 3 yielded similar results to Studies I and 2 and provided evidence that gratitude is negatively associated with envy and materialistic attitudes. Study 4 yielded evidence that these associations persist after controlling for Extraversion/positive affectivity. Neuroticism/negative affectivity, and Agreeableness. The development of the Gratitude Questionnaire, a unidimensional measure with good psychometric properties, is also described.
The effect of a grateful outlook on psychological and physical well-being was examined. In Studies 1 and 2, participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental conditions (hassles, gratitude listing, and either neutral life events or social comparison); they then kept weekly (Study 1) or daily (Study 2) records of their moods, coping behaviors, health behaviors, physical symptoms, and overall life appraisals. In a 3rd study, persons with neuromuscular disease were randomly assigned to either the gratitude condition or to a control condition. The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being across several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the 3 studies, relative to the comparison groups. The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most robust finding. Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have emotional and interpersonal benefits.
Numerous changes in physiological functioning accompany the aging process. Gradual declines in fundamental aspects of the neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, and immune systems contribute to increased risks for morbidity and mortality. Importantly, alterations in physiological processes are not invariant with age but are influenced by individual differences in vulnerability and resilience that accrue across the life span. In this review, I focus on what is known about positive emotion as a contributing factor in lowering morbidity and mortality in older adults. I describe plausible pathways that may underlie the association between positive emotion and health and review illustrative studies examining these pathways. The findings point to new research questions that pose important research opportunities.
The purpose of this studywas to see if feeling grateful to God reduces the deleterious effects of stress on health in late life. In addition, an effort was made to test for gender differences in this process. Three main findings emerged from the analysis of data provided by a nationwide sample of older adults. First, the data suggest that olderwomen are more likely to feel grateful to God than older men. Second, the results revealed that the effects of stress (e.g., living in a deteriorated neighborhood) on health are reduced for older people who feel more grateful to God. Finally, the analyses indicated that the potentially important stress-buffering properties of gratitude toward God emerge primarily among older women but not older men.
Following recent guidelines for moral personality research, this study sought to provide insights into how moral personality traits influence well-being in adulthood. Using a large sample of Swiss adults (N = 962), we examined the roles of gratitude and forgivingness on well-being in adulthood (assessed as positive affect, negative affect, optimism, pessimism, and satisfaction with life). Our results point to three primary findings. First, grateful and forgiving adults report greater well-being in adulthood and these effects are not moderated by age, gender, or marital status. Second, both traits uniquely predict well-being when controlling for each other, suggesting the importance of studying multiple moral personality variables. Third, these two traits largely remained significant predictors of well-being when controlling for the Big Five traits. Results are discussed with respect to their place within current directions in moral personality research as well as how they provide a foundation for future work.
ABSTRACT The concept of a moderator variable has a long and checkered history in personality psychology. In this article I review the methodological and conceptual advances in recent moderator variable research. I then report the results of a number of empirical analyses of three newly proposed idiographic moderator variables: scalability, metatraits, and construct similarity, as well as the ipsatized variance index. The results of these analyses indicate that moderator effect sizes in personality can be expected to correspond to a correlation of about. 10:1 then consider two recent prescriptions, (a) aggregating trait-specific moderators into general ones, and (b) evaluating joint (e.g., triple interaction) moderator effects. Following these prescriptions did not increase the size of the moderator effects in these data. I conclude that moderator effects in personality will be small, and will thus be most reliably detected in very large samples with predictors that are strongly related to the criteria. Even small moderator effects can be important and interesting in the context of theory disconfirmation. However, moderator variables generally will not serve to transform weak relations among personality variables into strong ones.
A growing body of literature supports a link between positive emotions and health in older adults. In this article, we review evidence of the effects of positive emotions on downstream biological processes and meaningful clinical endpoints, such as adult morbidity and mortality. We then present relevant predictions from lifespan theories that suggest changes in cognition and motivation may play an important role in explaining how positive emotions are well maintained in old age, despite pervasive declines in cognitive processes. We conclude by discussing how the application of psychological theory can inform greater understanding of the adaptive significance of positive emotions in adulthood and later life.
This content analysis investigated the inclusion of positive psychological constructs in research published in three leading health psychology journals. A list of positive constructs relevant to health psychology was compiled and their inclusion in these journals was examined. It was found that although there has been a sharp increase in recent years, only 3 percent of all articles published (114 of 3789) included the study of overtly positive constructs. The constructs that have been most and least studied in health psychology were identified and are discussed. This analysis provides insight into the foundations of positive health psychology and identifies future directions.
This article provides researchers with a guide to properly construe and conduct analyses of conditional indirect effects, commonly known as moderated mediation effects. We disentangle conflicting definitions of moderated mediation and describe approaches for estimating and testing a variety of hypotheses involving conditional indirect effects. We introduce standard errors for hypothesis testing and construction of confidence intervals in large samples but advocate that researchers use bootstrapping whenever possible. We also describe methods for probing significant conditional indirect effects by employing direct extensions of the simple slopes method and Johnson-Neyman technique for probing significant interactions. Finally, we provide an SPSS macro to facilitate the implementation of the recommended asymptotic and bootstrapping methods. We illustrate the application of these methods with an example drawn from the Michigan Study of Adolescent Life Transitions, showing that the indirect effect of intrinsic student interest on mathematics performance through teacher perceptions of talent is moderated by student math self-concept.
Positive well-being has been associated with a range of favorable health outcomes. The contribution of health-promoting behaviors is unclear.
The purpose of the study was to assess the relationship between life satisfaction and seven health behaviors in young adults and investigate the consistency of associations across regions.
Students (17,246) aged 17-30 years from 21 countries completed questionnaire measures of life satisfaction, smoking, physical exercise, alcohol consumption, sun protection, fruit intake, fat consumption, and fiber intake. Three geopolitical regions were identified: Western Europe and the USA (12 countries), Central and Eastern Europe (five countries), and Pacific Asia (four countries).
Life satisfaction was positively associated with not smoking, physical exercise, using sun protection, eating fruit, and limiting fat intake, but was not related to alcohol consumption or fiber intake, after adjusting for age, gender, and data clustering. Results were consistent across regions for smoking and physical exercise, but differences were apparent for sun protection, fruit intake, and fat avoidance. Relationships between life satisfaction and health behaviors were independent of beliefs in the health benefits of behavior.
The association between life satisfaction and health-promoting behavior is likely to be bidirectional, but may partly account for the relationship between positive states and good health.
The development and manifestation of gratitude in youth is unclear. We examined the effects of a grateful outlook on subjective well-being and other outcomes of positive psychological functioning in 221 early adolescents. Eleven classes were randomly assigned to either a gratitude, hassles, or control condition. Results indicated that counting blessings was associated with enhanced self-reported gratitude, optimism, life satisfaction, and decreased negative affect. Feeling grateful in response to aid mediated the relationship between experimental condition and general gratitude at the 3-week follow-up. The most significant finding was the robust relationship between gratitude and satisfaction with school experience at both the immediate post-test and 3-week follow-up. Counting blessings seems to be an effective intervention for well-being enhancement in early adolescents.
Hypotheses involving mediation are common in the behavioral sciences. Mediation exists when a predictor affects a dependent variable indirectly through at least one intervening variable, or mediator. Methods to assess mediation involving multiple simultaneous mediators have received little attention in the methodological literature despite a clear need. We provide an overview of simple and multiple mediation and explore three approaches that can be used to investigate indirect processes, as well as methods for contrasting two or more mediators within a single model. We present an illustrative example, assessing and contrasting potential mediators of the relationship between the helpfulness of socialization agents and job satisfaction. We also provide SAS and SPSS macros, as well as Mplus and LISREL syntax, to facilitate the use of these methods in applications.
Patients' willingness to take a newly prescribed medication is an important, but little studied, part of the medication process. The authors studied the impact of patient age on the perceived importance and interaction of three factors known to influence young people: severity of their medical condition, extent of possible medication side effects, and level of trust in their physician. A convenience sample of 170 French adults aged 18 to 93 rated their likelihood of taking a medication intended to alleviate physical suffering in 27 scenarios in which three levels (low, moderate, and high) of each of the above three factors were combined in an orthogonal factorial design. Among younger participants, high trust in the physician was not considered a sufficient reason for high acceptance of a new medication; it had to be accompanied by low side effects. Among very elderly participants, high trust led to high acceptance almost irrespective of the severity of possible side effects. Among the middle aged, trust and side effects had largely independent effects. To promote patients' acceptance of newly prescribed medications, physicians need to establish trust, but not abuse its power in elderly patients.
For centuries, folk theory has promoted the idea that positive emotions are good for your health. Accumulating empirical evidence is providing support for this anecdotal wisdom. We use the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 1998; 2001) as a framework to demonstrate that positive emotions contribute to psychological and physical well-being via more effective coping. We argue that the health benefits advanced by positive emotions may be instantiated in certain traits that are characterized by the experience of positive emotion. Towards this end, we examine individual differences in psychological resilience (the ability to bounce back from negative events by using positive emotions to cope) and positive emotional granularity (the tendency to represent experiences of positive emotion with precision and specificity). Individual differences in these traits are examined in two studies, one using psychophysiological evidence, the second using evidence from experience sampling, to demonstrate that positive emotions play a crucial role in enhancing coping resources in the face of negative events. Implications for research on coping and health are discussed.
The examination of predictors of adolescents' intentions to use health care for different types of health issues has received little attention. This study examined adolescents' health beliefs and how they relate to intentions to seek physician care across different types of health problems.
Two hundred ten high school students (54% females; 76.6% participation rate) completed a self-administered survey of four separate age- and gender-specific health case scenarios: an adolescent who has symptoms of pneumonia; smokes five cigarettes daily; plans to initiate sex; and has symptoms of depression. For each health scenario, participants rated the seriousness of the health problem, physician effectiveness, and intentions to seek physician care.
Most adolescents believed all health problems were serious except for planning to initiate sex (P < 0.001). Adolescents believed that physicians were most effective in diagnosis and treatment for pneumonia, followed by cigarette use, depression, and sex, respectively (P's < 0.001). Adolescents' intentions to seek physician care were greatest for physical as compared to risk behavior or mental health problems (P < 0.001). Multiple regression analyses revealed that adolescents had greater intentions to seek physician care for cigarette, sex, and depression when they believed physicians were effective and they perceived these as health problems after controlling for age and gender (all P's < 0.001). Health beliefs explained 12% to 49% of the variance in intentions to seek care (all P's < 0.001).
Adolescents' health beliefs are important when understanding intentions to seek physician care. Health care use may be improved by increasing adolescents' beliefs that physicians are effective in areas other than physical health, including risk behaviors and mental health.
Perspective-taking judgments of medication acceptance were studied for hypothetical mental health treatment scenarios. Three types of information were manipulated in all possible subsets: level of trust in the medication prescriber, severity of the hypothetical mental health condition being experienced, and the potential side effects of the medication. Subjects made judgments from four perspectives: self perspective and that of three other hypothetical people who were each said to place the most importance on one of the three cues. The results showed individual differences in self-reports of the relative importance of the cues which, in turn, predicted differences in judgment patterns. Subjects modified their cue use when making judgments from the perspectives of hypothetical others. The interaction patterns and rank orders of the perspective-taking judgments resembled the individual differences in judgments made from subjects’ own perspectives, but the perspective-taking judgments showed extreme effects of the most important cue. There was also some influence of subjects’ own perspectives on their perspective-taking judgments. When only a subset of the three cues was given, the judgment pattern depended on the importance of the cue that was omitted. The relative weight averaging model accounted for the judgments of only a minority of the subjects. Models which propose that subjects infer the value of missing information were also unsuccessful in explaining the data of the majority. Modifications of those models are proposed.
SF-36. Fragebogen zum gesundheitszustand
- M Bullinger
- I Kirchberger
Bullinger, M., & Kirchberger, I. (1998). SF-36. Fragebogen zum gesundheitszustand.
Göttingen: Hogrefe: Handanweisung.