Effects of Interpersonal and Non-Interpersonal Gratitude Interventions on Elementary School Students’ Adaptation to School Rumination, Optimism, Pessimism, and Stress Responses

• Published in: Kyōiku Shinrigaku Kenkyū Vol. 70; no. 1; pp. 87 - 99
• Main Authors: Ichishita, Nozomi, Noda, Tetsuro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: The Japanese Association of Educational Psychology 30.03.2022
• Subjects: elementary school students; gratitude; optimism; pessimism; rumination; stress responses
• ISSN: 0021-5015; 2186-3075
• DOI: 10.5926/jjep.70.87

  The viewpoint of the present study is that gratitude is a combination of interpersonal gratitude, that is, gratitude to people, and non-interpersonal gratitude, that is, gratitude to objects. The participants were 183 fifth and sixth graders, of whom 87 were assigned to an interpersonal gratitude group and 96 to a non-interpersonal gratitude group. During a 3-week period, the children wrote notes of gratitude and read them aloud. At pre-, post, and a 3-month follow-up, they completed self-report instruments with questions about their rumination, optimism, pessimism, and stress responses. The results revealed a significant increase in the gratitude and optimism scores of the students in the interpersonal gratitude group. A significant increase in gratitude scores and a significant decrease in stress response scores was shown by the students in the non-interpersonal gratitude group. Based on these results, issues for future research are discussed.