2-136 - Developing Gratitude in Children and Adolescents, 1: Positive and Negative Correlates

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

In this symposium, one of two related symposia on gratitude, our focus is on gratitude developing in youth (the other features papers on parents’ and teachers’ ways of developing gratitude in youth).

Presentation 1 provides theoretical background on the importance of studying gratitude during adolescence, gratitude’s positive links with well-being and negative links with materialism, and data drawn from a 4-year longitudinal study with North American 10- to 14-year-olds that documents the rise of both gratitude and prosocial feelings among youth.

Presentation 2 draws the connection between two prosocial virtues—gratitude and compassion—in a study of English 11- to 13-year-olds. This paper features a 5-week intervention designed to encourage either gratitude or compassion. The findings indicate that, in comparison with a waiting-list control group, feelings of gratitude increased in both groups, indicating (as was found in Presentation 1) that targeting an “other-regarding” (or prosocial) virtue can also help develop gratitude.

Presentation 3, featuring North American 7- to 14-year-olds, reports on research regarding the links among children’s desires, their materialism, and their gratitude. Youth who reported social-oriented desires were more likely to express gratitude and less likely to value materialism. By contrast, those who reported hedonistic desires were more materialistic and less grateful.

Presentation 4 calls into question the reliance on data from “WEIRD” societies (e.g., USA and UK) by presenting data on variations in age-related changes in the expression of different types of gratitude among American, Brazilian, Chinese, and Turkish 7- to 13-year-olds.

Sub Unit

• Moral Development

Chairs

• Jonathan Tudge, UNCG

• Lia B. L. Freitas, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Individual Presentations

• Gratitude in Adolescence: Determinants and Effects on Social Functioning and Well-Being - Presenting Author: Rachel Gottlieb, Hofstra University; Samantha Filomena Bausert, Hofstra University; Jeffrey J Froh, Hofstra University; Giacomo Bono, California State University at Dominguez Hills

• Developing Gratitude by Fostering Compassion: Preliminary Findings from a UK Study - Presenting Author: Liz Z Gulliford, The University of Birmingham, UK

• Children’s Dollars and Desires: Exploring Dual Influences of Gratitude and Materialism - Presenting Author: Ayse Payir, UNC-Greensboro; Lisa Kiang, Wake Forest University; Sara Etz Mendonca, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Elisa Mercon-Vargas, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Yue Liang, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Uzama S Price, UNC-Greensboro; Lia O'Brien, UNCG; Lia B. L. Freitas, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; Jonathan Tudge, UNCG

• Cross-Cultural Variability in the Development of Gratitude - Presenting Author: Sara Etz Mendonca, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Ayse Payir, UNC-Greensboro; Yue Liang, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Fernanda Palhares, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; Irina L Mokrova, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Elisa Mercon-Vargas, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Uzama S Price, UNC-Greensboro; Lia O'Brien, UNCG; Lia B. L. Freitas, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; Jonathan Tudge, UNCG