Measuring gratitude in youth: Assessing the psychometric properties of adult gratitude scales in children and adolescents.

Abstract

Before the developmental trajectory, outcomes, and related interventions of gratitude can be accurately and confidently studied among the youth, researchers must ensure that they have psychometrically sound measures of gratitude that are suitable for this population. Thus, considering that no known scales were specifically designed to measure gratitude in youth, this study aimed to answer an important question: Are the existing gratitude scales used with adults valid for use with youth? The present study is an empirical investigation, based on a large youth sample (N = 1,405) with ages ranging from 10 to 19 years old, of the psychometric properties of scores of the Gratitude Questionnaire-6 (GQ-6; M. E. McCullough, R. A. Emmons, & J.-A. Tsang, 2002), the Gratitude Adjective Checklist (GAC; M. E. McCullough, R. A. Emmons, & J.-A. Tsang, 2002), and the Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test (GRAT)-short form (M. Thomas & P. Watkins, 2003). Single-group and multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the factor structures of these gratitude scales resemble those found with adults and were invariant across age groups. Scores of all three gratitude scales revealed acceptable internal consistency estimates (i.e., >.70) across age groups. Results showed that whereas scores of all three gratitude scales were positively correlated with each other for 14- to 19-year-olds, GRAT-short form scores tended to display relatively low correlations with scores of the other two measures for younger children (10-13 years old). Furthermore, the nomological network analysis showed that scores of all three gratitude scales were positively correlated with positive affect and life satisfaction scores across the age groups. The relationships with negative affect and depression scores, however, seemed dependent on the child's age. Pending results from subsequent research recommendations for researchers interested in studying gratitude in youth are offered.

Testing for Measurement Invariance with Respect to an Ordinal Variable

“…Because their sample size was large (n ≈ 1400), they could not rely solely on likelihood ratio tests (i.e., χ 2 difference tests) for model comparison because the tests were overly sensitive at their sample size. To supplement these tests, Froh et al (2011) examined a set of alternative fit indices, including the nonnormed fit index, the comparative fit index, and the incremental fit index (e.g., Browne and Cudeck 1993). The authors generally found support for the tau-equivalent models through these alternative fit indices; the likelihood ratio test often resulted in significance even when the alternative indices indicated good fit.…”

“…In the analyses described below, we re-analyze the Froh et al (2011) data using the ordinal test statistics proposed in this paper. This results in a series of tests that are less sensitive than the likelihood ratio test to minor parameter discrepancies, while being more sensitive to ordinal violations of measurement invariance.…”

“…This results in a series of tests that are less sensitive than the likelihood ratio test to minor parameter discrepancies, while being more sensitive to ordinal violations of measurement invariance. We focus on two analyses from Froh et al (2011) where the likelihood ratio test resulted in significance (indicating that the restricted model did not fit as well as the less-restricted model) but the alternative fit measures indicated the opposite. These include comparison of a one-factor congeneric model to a one-factor tauequivalent model using the GQ6 and comparison of a one-factor tau-equivalent model to a one-factor parallel model using the GAC.…”

“…One potential problem with this research is that scholars, with no exception, have used adult gratitude inventories to measure youth gratitude, thus raising the question of whether the existing gratitude scales used with adults are valid in research with youth. Addressing this issue, Froh, Fan, Emmons, Bono, Huebner, and Watkins (2011) had a large sample of youth (n = 1401, ranging from late childhood (10 years old) to late adolescent (19 years old)) complete the three most widely used adult gratitude inventories, including Gratitude Questionnaire 6 (GQ-6; McCullough, Emmons, and Tsang 2002), Gratitude Adjective Checklist (GAC; McCullough et al 2002), and Gratitude, Resentment, Appreciation Test-Short Form (GRAT-Short Form; Thomas and Watkins 2003). The authors were inter-ested in whether the youth factor structure for the gratitude scales resembles that of adults, and whether the gratitude scales are invariant across the youth age groups.…”

“…The authors were inter-ested in whether the youth factor structure for the gratitude scales resembles that of adults, and whether the gratitude scales are invariant across the youth age groups. Froh et al (2011) used confirmatory factor models to study the invariance of three youth gratitude scales across students aged 10 to 19 years. Due to sample size constraints, the age variable included six categories: 10-11 years, 12-13 years, 14 years, 15 years, 16 years, and 17-19 years.…”