Living with Gratitude: Spouse's Gratitude on One's Depression
Date Issued
2012
Date
2012
Author(s)
Chang, Yen-Ping
Abstract
Research has shown that gratitude makes people happier (Wood et al., 2010),
healthier (McCullough et al., 2004), kinder (Bartlett & DeSteno, 2006), better evaluated (Gordon et al., 2011), and even have more stable relationships (Lambert et al., 2010). However, no study has extended the research from individual persons to the impact of their gratitude on the mental well-being of those who surround them. Thus, in the current study, we hypothesized that living with someone grateful would benefit one’s mental adaptation. We found in Study 1 that within marriage, individuals'' dispositional gratitude negatively correlated with their spouses'' depressive emotion. The results of Study 2 cross-validated Study 1 by showing that people''s depression would be relatively palliated if their spouses were assigned to express appreciation but to share daily hassles. More than demonstrating the causal relation between gratitude and "others''" depression, we showed in Study 2 that this beneficial effect of gratitude operated over and above relationship engagement between spouses. Though latter was an amplifier of the former, it was not the underlying mechanism. We discuss the findings in terms of their mechanisms, limitations, and how they connected themselves to future investigation.
Subjects
Gratitude
Depression
Marriage
Type
thesis
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