Gratitude and health among young adults

Abstract

Gratitude is held in high esteem by virtually in every society. From ancient religious scriptures through modern social science research, gratitude is viewed as a desirable human characteristic with the capacity for making life better for oneself and for others. Gratitude as an action may be in response to something either material (e.g., gift) or non-material (e.g., a spiritual or emotional experience). In this context, the present research was designed to study gratitude among young adults. For this purpose, data was collected from 80 young adults with equal number of males and females and were administered Gratitude Questionnaire-6 (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002) and General Health Questionnaire-12 (Goldberg & Williams, 1988). Group differences were analyzed by t-test; Pearson product moment method of correlation and multiple regression analyses were also performed. Results revealed significant gender differences on gratitude, i.e. females showing high level of gratitude, however, differences were not significant on two dimensions of health. Significant negative correlation was observed between gratitude and dimensions of health i.e. depression/anxiety, social dysfunction. Overall health scores yielded significant but negative correlation with gratitude. Gratitude was significantly predicted by overall mental health for the total sample, explaining the role of gratitude as positive emotion in promoting mental health. Thus, highlighting the benefits of being grateful in maintaining the quality of life among the young adults.