Riffat Sadiq and Nazia Noreen
Govt. College Women University, Faisalabad
The present study was designed to probe the association of gratitude with mental
health in adults. It was assumed that gratitude would significantly predict mental health
(anxiety, depression, behavior control and positive affect and general distress) in adults.
The combination of snowball and respondent-driven sampling was employed to collect
data from the residents (n=160) of Faisalabad city. Following inclusive-exclusive criteria
for sample selection and research ethics, data was collected using 6-item Gratitude
Scale (McCullough, Emmons & Tsang, 2002) and 18- items Mental Health Inventory
(Viet& Ware, 1983). Linear regression analysis has depicted gratitude as a significant
predictor of mental health (β=.156, t (158) = 1.979, p = .049), of depression (β =-.158,
t (158) = -2.005, p = .047) of behavioral control (β=.401, t (158) =5.509, p = .000) and
of positive affect (β=.184, t (158) = 6.047, p = .020) in adults. While, gratitude did not
seem to predict anxiety (β=-.087, t (158) = 13.091, p = .276) and general distress (β =
-.028, t (158) = -.349, p = .728).Conclusion of the present findings is that people who
remain grateful for whatever they have been blessed in life, also remain mentally healthy
.