The impact of single-session gratitude interventions on stress and affect

ABSTRACT

Gratitude interventions have been shown to reduce stress, but minimal research has examined domain- and stressor-specific gratitude interventions. This study assessed the impact of those gratitude interventions on stress and affect. Participants (N = 239) from the U.S. general population were randomized into one of three groups: domain-specific gratitude (gratitude list in seven domains), stressor-specific gratitude (gratitude list about a stressor in seven domains), or control (task completion list for seven days). The domain-specific gratitude group decreased in stress and negative affect and increased in positive affect from pre- to post-intervention and had lower stress and negative affect than the stressor-specific gratitude group post-intervention. The stressor-specific gratitude group increased in stressor-specific gratitude from pre- to post-intervention. The control group decreased in stress from pre- to post-intervention. Our findings suggest that a domain-specific gratitude intervention is beneficial for psychological health, and a stressor-specific gratitude intervention is beneficial for reframing stressors.

KEYWORDS:

• Gratitude
• stress
• intervention
• affect
• positive psychology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [LAS], upon reasonable request and with consultation with our Institutional Review Board.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Davidson Research Initiative at Davidson College.