Gratitude and happiness: Development of a measure of gratitude, and relationships with subjective well-being
Open accessAbstract
The purpose of these studies was to develop a valid measure of trait gratitude, and to evaluate the relationship of gratitude to subjective well-being (SWB). Four studies were conducted evaluating the reliability and validity of the Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test (GRAT), a measure of dispositional gratitude. This measure was shown to have good internal consistency and temporal stability. The GRAT was shown to relate positively to various measures of SWB. In two experiments, it was shown that grateful thinking improved mood, and results also supported the predictive validity of the GRAT. These studies support the theory that gratitude is an affective trait important to SWB.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Character strengths show inverse relations with depressive symptoms.
“As with anger, character strengths also show inverse relations with depressive symptoms (Brown, 2003; Watkins, Woodward, Stone, & Kolts, 2003).”
From Gratitude and forgiveness: convergence and divergence on self-report and informant ratings. (2010) · cites this paper as Watkins, Woodward, Stone, & Kolts, 2003
Cites
Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales.
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063 · Cited by 32,433 · see citing works
The satisfaction with life scale
Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13 · Cited by 31,768 · see citing works
Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress.
Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.276 · Cited by 12,910 · see citing works
An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion
Weiner, B. (1985) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.92.4.548 · Cited by 7,846 · see citing works
Buss, A. H., & Perry, M. (1992) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.63.3.452 · Cited by 4,693 · see citing works
Personal religious orientation and prejudice.
Āllport, G. W., & Ross, J. M. (1967) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0021212 · Cited by 4,177 · see citing works
The grateful disposition: A conceptual and empirical topography.
McCullough, M. E., Emmons, R. A., & Tsang, J.-A. (2002) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.82.1.112 · Cited by 3,664 · see citing works
Depression: Causes and treatment
Beck, A. T. (1973) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7894(73)80054-1 · Cited by 3,162 · see citing works
Myers, D. G., & Diener, E. (1995) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1995.tb00298.x · Cited by 2,383 · see citing works
McCullough, M. E., Kilpatrick, S. D., Emmons, R. A., & Larson, D. B. (2001) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.127.2.249 · Cited by 1,698 · cited 2× · see citing works
“We reasoned that narcissistic individuals would be less likely to be grateful because research has shown that if people feel they are entitled to benefits, they are less likely to feel grateful (for reviews see McCullough et al., 2001; Watkins, 2001).”
Brugha, T. S., & Cragg, D. (1990) · Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica · doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.1990.tb01360.x · Cited by 883 · see citing works
Personal Religious Orientation and Prejudice.
Āllport, G. W., & Ross, J. M. (1967) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.5.4.432 · Cited by 836 · see citing works
Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.84.2.377 · Cited by 716 · cited 2× · see citing works
“In a more long-term investigation on the impact of gratitude on emotional well-being, Emmons and McCullough (2003) found similar effects.”
A review of research on the happiness measures: A sixty second index of happiness and mental health
Fordyce, M. (1988) · Social Indicators Research · doi:10.1007/bf00302333 · Cited by 682 · see citing works
Gratitude as a Human Strength: Appraising the Evidence
Emmons, R. A., & Crumpler, C. A. (2000) · Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1521/jscp.2000.19.1.56 · Cited by 589 · see citing works
Levels of Analysis and the Organization of Affect
Rosenberg, E. L. (1998) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/1089-2680.2.3.247 · Cited by 565 · see citing works
Webster's New World Dictionary
Guralnik, D. B. (1967) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 473 · see citing works
Isen, A. M. (1999) · doi:10.1002/0470013494.ch25 · Cited by 289 · see citing works
Bar‐Tal, D., Bar‐Zohar, Y., Greenberg, M. S., & Hermon, M. (1977) · Sociometry · doi:10.2307/3033537 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
The Belief in Personal Control Scale: A Measure of God-Mediated and Exaggerated Control
Berrenberg, J. L. (1987) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa5102_4 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Test-retest reliability of the hopelessness scale and its items in a university population
Holden, R. R., & Fekken, G. C. (1988) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/1097-4679(198801)44:1 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Likableness, familiarity, and frequency of 844 person-descriptive words
Dumas, J. E., Johnson, M., & Lynch, A. M. (2002) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/s0191-8869(01)00054-x · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Lewis, C. S. (1958) · University of Michigan Library Repository · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Phares, E. J., & Erskine, N. (1984) · Educational and Psychological Measurement · doi:10.1177/0013164484443007 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Overview to Special Issue: Understanding Emotions Means Crossing Boundaries within Psychology
Rosenberg, E. L., & Fredrickson, B. L. (1998) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/1089-2680.2.3.243 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Assessing affective states: A new methodology for some old problems
Kuykendall, D. H., Keating, J. P., & Wagaman, J. (1988) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/bf01176190 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Sin, N. L., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2009) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.20593 · Cited by 2,955 · see citing works
Positive interventions: An emotion regulation perspective.
Quoidbach, J., Mikolajczak, M., & Gross, J. J. (2015) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0038648 · Cited by 546 · see citing works
Gratitude and subjective well‐being in early adolescence: Examining gender differences
Froh, J. J., Yurkewicz, C., & Kashdan, T. B. (2009) · Journal of Adolescence · doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2008.06.006 · Cited by 494 · see citing works
Psychological Well-Being and Physical Health: Associations, Mechanisms, and Future Directions
Hernandez, R., Bassett, S. M., Boughton, S. W., Schuette, S. A., Shiu, E. W., & Moskowitz, J. T. (2018) · Emotion Review · doi:10.1177/1754073917697824 · Cited by 259 · see citing works
Positive activities as protective factors against mental health conditions
Layous, K., Chancellor, J., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2014) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0034709 · Cited by 253 · see citing works
Cregg, D. R., & Cheavens, J. S. (2021) · Journal of Happiness Studies · doi:10.1007/s10902-020-00236-6 · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Chan, D. W. (2010) · Educational Psychology · doi:10.1080/01443410903493934 · Cited by 207 · see citing works
Trait entitlement: A cognitive-personality source of vulnerability to psychological distress.
Grubbs, J. B., & Exline, J. J. (2016) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/bul0000063 · Cited by 180 · see citing works
Gratitude and forgiveness: convergence and divergence on self-report and informant ratings.
Breen, W. E., Kashdan, T. B., Lenser, M. L., & Fincham, F. D. (2010) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.07.033 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Bohlmeijer, E., & Westerhof, G. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.747999 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
The Effects of Gratitude Interventions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Diniz, G., Korkes, L., Tristão, L. S., Pelegrini, R., Bellodi, P. L., & Bernardo, W. M. (2023) · einstein (São Paulo) · doi:10.31744/einstein_journal/2023rw0371 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Chan, D. W. (2013) · Educational Psychology · doi:10.1080/01443410.2013.785046 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Gratitude at the End of Life: A Promising Lead for Palliative Care
Althaus, B., Borasio, G. D., & Bernard, M. (2018) · Journal of Palliative Medicine · doi:10.1089/jpm.2018.0027 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Kloos, N., Austin, J., van ‘t Klooster, J.-W., Drossaert, C., & Bohlmeijer, E. (2022) · Journal of Happiness Studies · doi:10.1007/s10902-022-00586-3 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Timmons, L., & Ekas, N. V. (2018) · Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2018.01.008 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Tomczyk, J., Nezlek, J. B., & Krejtz, I. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.878819 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Mirnics, Z., Hittner, J. B., Swickert, R., & Kövi, Z. (2022) · Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1177/1359105320946389 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Alsukah, A. I., & Basha, S. E. (2021) · Journal of Educational and Social Research · doi:10.36941/jesr-2021-0097 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- Watkins, P. C., Woodward, K., Stone, T., & Kolts, R. L.
- Affiliations
- Eastern Washington University (US)
- Venue
- Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal
- Publisher
- Scientific Journal Publishers Ltd
- Published
- 2003-01-01
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 431-451
- ISSN
- 0301-2212 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2013754400
- Semantic Scholar
- 8a73d058f94bda44815c8d71c99380acfef8fe74
- Cited by
- 969
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 32 · 2025: 71 · 2024: 57 · 2023: 78 · 2022: 87 · 2021: 75 · 2020: 81 · 2019: 60 · 2018: 61 · 2017: 57 · 2016: 55 · 2015: 59 · 2014: 42 · 2013: 50 · 2012: 24
- FWCI
- 3.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- Social Behavior and Personality An International Journal (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, trait gratitude, subjective well-being, dispositional gratitude, mood, predictive validity, temporal stability
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review