Interplay among daily gratitude to God, hassles and uplifts, and positive and negative affect

Abstract

ABSTRACT To examine the interplay among Gratitude to God (GTG) and daily life experiences and affect, we conducted a 14-day diary study in a national US sample of 184 adults. GTG minimally fluctuated across days. People who experienced more daily uplifts had more daily GTG relative to both their own baseline and to others in the study, while those who experienced more daily hassles had less GTG relative to their own baseline. Trait GTG (but not religiousness) buffered these associations. Specifically, trait GTG attenuated the positive association between uplifts and PA as well as the negative association between hassles and NA. However, daily GTG was unrelated to daily affect, effects not moderated by religiousness or trait GTG. GTG may be influenced by daily experiences and may have consequences for well-being, but associations are not straightforward. In some ways, GTG may lead to lower reactivity to both positive and adverse event.