Background:
Gratitude is important to wellbeing because it amplifies the good in one's life (Watkins, 2014), but how does gratitude function during stressful times? We surveyed how people experience gratitude within the unique challenges offered by the pandemic. Moreover, this was the first study to investigate future gratitude: how grateful people expect to be in the future.
Hypotheses/Research Questions
How grateful are people in the pandemic? How grateful do people expect to be? We predicted that gratitude would be particularly important to people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sample Characteristics and Sample Size
511 participants successfully completed the survey from March through May, 2020. Respondents included community residents and students.
Design
We used an online survey. Respondents were recruited through several web sites. Participants were queried about their current and future emotions, as well as perceived self-change variables.
Results
People reported that they were quite grateful, even in the midst of the pandemic. Over 56% of respondents reported being very grateful ("quite a bit" or "extremely grateful"), which was 17% greater than any other positive emotion. Although respondents reported significant current gratitude, they expected to be even more grateful in the future (69% very grateful in the future). Gratitude appears to be important to wellbeing amidst the crisis. Gratitude strongly predicted happiness (r=.56), and hierarchical MRAs showed that after controlling for seven other positive states, gratitude significantly predicted social perceived self-change variables known to be important to wellbeing (e.g., “I am more likely to help others”).
Scientific Contribution
To our knowledge, this was the first study to investigate future gratitude. This study showed that even in the pandemic, people reported being very grateful, and they expect their gratitude to grow in the future. Our results support the theory that gratitude supports wellbeing in difficult circumstances (Watkins et al., 2008).