A meta-analytic review of the relationship between dispositional gratitude and well-being

Abstract

What is the impact of dispositional gratitude on well-being? By synthesizing the literature, we evaluate the association between dispositional gratitude and mental well-being as a function of its various categories (i.e., positive, negative), dimensions (i.e., subjective, psychological), and indicators (e.g., life satisfaction, happiness, stress). Our meta-analytic aggregation of 404 effect sizes from 158 independent samples (N = 100,099) provides evidence that dispositional gratitude is moderately to strongly correlated with well-being, and that the strength of these associations varies by the indicator of well-being. We also examine potential moderators (i.e., religiosity, individualistic orientation, age, gender, dispositional gratitude measure, and sample type) of the association between dispositional gratitude and well-being. We find that country-level individualistic orientation, sample mean age, and sample type (i.e., clinical vs. non-clinical) present moderating effects for several of the relationships examined. We conclude the paper by presenting avenues for future research.

Future Time Perspective and Perceived Social Support: The Mediating Role of Gratitude

“…They are coherent with the relationship-building inherent nature of gratitude [ 49 ]. They also reinforce previous evidence that dispositional gratitude promotes positive relations with others [ 50 ] and has a positive influence on perceived social support as both received from and given to others [ 18 , 19 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ]. However, this is the first study that put together the three constructs.…”

Protectors of Wellbeing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Key Roles for Gratitude and Tragic Optimism in a UK-Based Cohort

“…Data from meta-analyses and epidemiology provide insights as to the extent of the positive impacts of gratitude and optimism. As highlighted previously, gratitude correlates with various types of wellbeing (Portocarrero et al, 2020), including emotional (such as quality of life, life satisfaction, and flourishing) and social (such as positive relationships and prosocial behaviour) wellbeing (Jans-Beken et al, 2020). The positive impact of gratitude also likely contributes to longevity, not only through different types of wellbeing, but also by reducing psychopathology (Jans-Beken et al, 2020) and improving cardiovascular health (Cousin et al, 2020), among other potential pathways.…”

“…In addition to tragic optimism, we also focus on the life orientation of gratitude in which one displays an appreciation generally (McCullough et al, 2002 ) is benefical for wellbeing. To highlight this point, a recently published meta-analysis of 158 independent samples on more than 100,000 participants concluded that dispositional gratitude is moderately to strongly correlated with well-being (Portocarrero et al, 2020 ). Importantly, recent work highlighted that higher levels of gratitude early in the pandemic (January – March) predicted lower psychological harm ( B = −0.239) and higher subjective wellbeing ( B = 0.584) among a small sample ( N = 86) a few months later (April–May) (Bono et al, 2020 ).…”

COVID-19 and Mental Well-Being: Guidance on the Application of Behavioral and Positive Well-Being Strategies

“…The role of dispositional and/or trait gratitude in mental well-being is a comparatively recent development in positive psychology [33,34]. There are some possible mechanisms of applying gratitude for generating positive mental well-being leading to prolonged life satisfaction and flourishing in life such as: (a) savoring positive life experiences, particularly in eras of pandemics such as spending time with your kids, having healthy meals or pursuing hobbies while being indoors could be joyful; (b) building positive emotions, which help in creative activities such as writing, playing an instrument, painting, and singing, and finally (c) engaging in social connections via electronic means and video-chats with family and friends, which assist in generating social bonds leading to improved relationships, elevated self-esteem, and overall psychological well-being [35] Living indoors and not going outdoors due to 'lockdowns' in a pandemic provides an individual level opportunity for self-introspection and assessing and reframing current and planned events through a positive lens and engaging in active problem solving [34].…”