Roundtable Presentation 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology 2019

The Impact Of Gratitude Journaling On Positive Emotion, Relationships, And Meaning Among Indonesian Adolescents And Young Adults (#359)

Agnes Sumargi 1 , Nurlaila Effendy 1
  1. Widya Mandala Catholic University Surabaya, Surabaya, EAST JAVA, Indonesia

Background: Most studies of gratitude have been conducted in Western cultures. It is, therefore, important to investigate how people from collectivistic cultures, such as Indonesia, respond to gratitude intervention. 

Aim: This study aimed to test if gratitude journaling influenced emotion, relationships, and meaning of Indonesian adolescents and young adults. 

Method: Participants were 142 undergraduate students who enrolled in Positive Psychology course. They were asked to list three things that made them feel grateful every day for six weeks. Pre and post assessment included the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6) and PERMA Profiler. Participants were also asked about their feeling and changes after the intervention.

Results:  Participants were divided into high-gratitude (n = 68) and low-gratitude groups (n = 74) based on their GQ-6 scores. Mixed-design ANOVAs resulted a significant interaction effect between time and group only for relationship, Wilks’ λ = .96, F(1, 140) = 5.78, p < .05. The significant difference was found only for low-gratitude group. Although there were no significant effects for positive emotion and meaning, many participants reported that they felt happier and grateful after the intervention.

Conclusions: Gratitude journaling increased positive relationship in low-gratitude group. Participants started to feel grateful and acknowledge the benefits of gratitude journaling.