The Relationship Between Gratitude and Happiness in Young Children
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The Relationship Between Gratitude and Happiness in Young Children Simone P. Nguyen1 · Cameron L. Gordon2
© Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract Over the past decades, much progress has been made in understanding the relationship between gratitude and well-being in adults, school-aged children, and adolescents (see Emmons and Mishra, in: Sheldon, Kashdan, Steger (eds) Designing positive psychology: taking stock and moving forward, Oxford University Press, New York, pp 248–262, 2011; Watkins in Gratitude and the good life: toward a psychology of appreciation, Springer, New York, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7253-3). However, relatively little is known about this relationship in young children (see Park and Peterson in J Happiness Stud 7(3):323–341, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-005-3648-6). The aim of the present study was to fill this gap by investigating the relationship between gratitude and happiness in young children. The general propensity for gratitude, domain-specific gratitude, and trait happiness were measured in a group of children (N = 80, Mage = 5.04 years). The results revealed that children’s domain-specific gratitude predicted children’s happiness above and beyond a general propensity for gratitude. These findings establish the presence of a relationship between gratitude and happiness in children by age 5 years, and reveal the type of gratitude, namely domain-specific, that is associated with happiness among young children. Keywords Children · Gratitude · Happiness · Well-being
1 Introduction The importance of dispositional gratitude for positive functioning is well documented in the positive psychology literature (see Wood et al. 2010, for a review). In adults, there is a robust relationship between trait gratitude and subjective well-being (see Emmons and * Simone P. Nguyen [email protected] Cameron L. Gordon [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, The University of North Carolina, Wilmington, 601 South College Road, Wilmington, NC 28403, USA
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Department of Psychology, Middle Tennessee State University, 1301 East Main Street, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA
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Mishra 2011, for a review). In youth, ages 10–19 years, trait gratitude is also positively associated with subjective well-being (see Watkins 2014, for a review). The effectiveness of gratitude interventions (e.g., gratitude lists, grateful contemplations) for enhancing happiness among adults and youth indicates that gratitude uniquely contributes to well-being (see Lamas et al. 2014; Wood et al. 2010). Despite the progress made in understanding the relationship between gratitude and well-being in adults and youth, relatively little is known about this relationship in young children (see Park and Peterson 2006). Thus, the aim of the present study is to fill this gap by investigating the relationship between gratitude and wellbeing, particularly happiness in young children.
2 Conceptualizing Gratitude There are many conceptualizations of gratitude, ea
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