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Effect of Gratitude Educational Intervention on Well-Being Indicators Among North Indian Adolescents

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Abstract

The aim of the present paper was to study the impact of a gratitude building intervention on adolescents’ gratitude and well-being indicators. The sample comprised 177 students aged 11–14 years (M Age = 12.29 years, SD = 0.67, 58 % male) attending two schools in North India. Using quasi-experimental design, participating classrooms from both schools were randomly allocated to intervention group (n = 95) or control group (n = 82). Participants completed an assessment battery comprising measures of well-being, positive and negative affect, life satisfaction, gratitude and cognition of benefit-appraisal at pre-test and post-test. Intervention group attended 30-min-long weekly sessions based on the gratitude curriculum (Froh et al. School Psychology Review, 132–152, 2014) for five consecutive weeks while control group attended neutral sessions for the same duration. Analysis of covariance was used to examine the differences between the intervention and control groups at post-test. Results suggested significant intervention effects on psychological well-being, positive affect, positive feelings, life satisfaction and gratitude. The cascading effect of gratitude was also observed. Overall findings rendered favourable evidence for Froh et al.’s (School Psychology Review, 132–152, 2014) gratitude intervention among North Indian adolescents.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Froh and colleagues for permitting the use of their cutting-edge gratitude curriculum in Indian classrooms. The first author extends special thanks to Dr. Giacomo Bono (California State University) for his generous support and guidance regarding the gratitude intervention.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, India

    Pulkit Khanna & Kamlesh Singh

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  1. Pulkit Khanna
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  2. Kamlesh Singh
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Correspondence to Pulkit Khanna.

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The authors declare that this study received no funding from any source.

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The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest, mutually or with any other party/institution whatsoever.

Ethical Approval

This study complied with all ethical requirements. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. Since participants were below 18 years of age, parental consent was also obtained. Consent from school authorities was also taken prior to the research. Further, participation was voluntary and participants were free to withdraw from the research at any stage.

As already stated above, informed consent was taken from all participants.

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Khanna, P., Singh, K. Effect of Gratitude Educational Intervention on Well-Being Indicators Among North Indian Adolescents. Contemp School Psychol 20, 305–314 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-016-0087-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-016-0087-9

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