1-036 - Gratitude in youth and adults in the United States, Brazil, and Poland

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Drawing on data from the United States, Brazil, and Poland, the presenters examine (a) age-related variations in, or the cultivation of, the expression of different types of gratitude, and (b) the influence of parents’ values and their educational background on their children’s gratitude, and the influence of gender on adults’ gratitude.

Our first presentation uses an open-ended measure (the Wishes and Gratitude Survey: WAGS, Freitas et al., 2008) designed to assess the expression of types of gratitude, shows replicated and quite consistent changes in the type of gratitude expressed across the 7 to 14 age-span among youth in southern Brazil. With age, youth are more likely to express the type closest to a virtue.

A four-week school-based intervention in the United States, using the WAGS to assess the expression of gratitude types, suggests that cultivation of the type of gratitude closest to a virtue (connective gratitude) is possible. Most of the 11- to 13-year-old participants who had not expressed connective gratitude at pretest did so at three posttests; those expressing it at pretest were unlikely to discontinue its use at posttest.

The third presentation examines links among U.S. parents’ values for their 7- to 14-year-old children, and the latter’s gratitude, optimism, and future orientation. Parental education level is revealed to play an important moderating role.

The final presenter will discuss the relations among gratitude, empathy, and resilience in a sample of Polish adults. Gender was shown to have a major influence on the relations among these variables.

Sub Unit

• Moral Development

Chairs

• Jonathan Tudge, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• Lia Beatriz de Lucca Freitas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

Individual Presentations

• Gratitude as a Virtue: Assessing Age-related Changes via Three Replications in Southern Brazil - Non-Presenting Author: Lia Beatriz de Lucca Freitas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; Non-Presenting Author: Elisa Avilar Merçon-Vargas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; Non-Presenting Author: Fernanda Palhares, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; Presenting Author: Jonathan Tudge, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• The Cultivation of Gratitude in School in the United States - Presenting Author: Sara Etz Mendonça, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Non-Presenting Author: Jess L. Navarro, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Non-Presenting Author: Ruitong Li, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Non-Presenting Author: Jonathan Tudge, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• Child Character Virtues’ Relation to Parents’ Values for their Children - Presenting Author: Lia O'Brien, West Chester University of Pennsylvania; Non-Presenting Author: Ferlin Charles, West Chester University of Pennsylvania; Non-Presenting Author: Lia Beatriz de Lucca Freitas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; Non-Presenting Author: Jonathan Tudge, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• Gratitude, Empathy, and Resilience in Polish Adults: Does Gender Play a Role? - Presenting Author: Agnieszka Lasota, Pedagogical University of Kraków; Non-Presenting Author: Katarzyna Tomaszek, Pedagogical University of Kraków; Non-Presenting Author: Sandra Bosacki, Brock University