Counting blessings in early adolescents: An experimental study of gratitude and subjective well-being
Abstract
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.
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Activities such as expressing gratitude, counting blessings, and writing about life goals have positive effects on one's well-being.
“Examples are activities such as expressing gratitude (Algoe 2008), counting your blessings (Froh et al. 2008), and writing about life goals (King 2001) that have indeed been found to have positive effects on one ' s well-being.”
From The role of passion in sustainable psychological well-being (2012) · cites this paper as Froh et al. 2008
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- Authors
- Froh, J. J., Sefick, W. J., & Emmons, R. A.
- Affiliations
- Hofstra University (US)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Corresponding author
- Froh, Jeffrey J.
- Venue
- Journal of School Psychology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2008-04
- Volume
- 46
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 213-233
- ISSN
- 0022-4405 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1993805518
- Cited by
- 818
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 57 · 2023: 59 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 56 · 2020: 48 · 2019: 55 · 2018: 49 · 2017: 49 · 2016: 58 · 2015: 68 · 2014: 60 · 2013: 47 · 2012: 37
- FWCI
- 17.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of School Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Optimism, Hope, and Well-being
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Keywords
- gratitude, early adolescents, subjective well-being, optimism, life satisfaction, negative affect, school satisfaction, gratitude interventions, positive psychology, hassles
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Affect, Age Factors, Attitude, Child, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Quality of Life, Surveys and Questionnaires, Social Behavior
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