Materialistic youth seem to be languishing while grateful youth seem to be flourishing.
In this study, 1,000 high school students completed measures of materialism, gratitude, academic functioning, envy, depression, life satisfaction, social integration, and absorption.
Gratitude, controlling for materialism, predicted all outcomes considered: higher grade point average, life satisfaction, social integration, and absorption, as well as lower envy and depression.
In contrast, materialism, controlling for gratitude, uniquely predicts three of the six outcomes: lower grade point average, as well as higher envy and life satisfaction.
References:
Gratitude and the Reduced Costs of Materialism in Adolescents. Jeffrey J. Froh1 , Robert A. Emmons2, Noel A. Card3, Giacomo Bono4 and Jennifer A. Wilson1. Journal of Happiness Studies, 2010.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/21616624m5621673/
Comments from Twitter:
@drjohnm RT @DrVes: In Adolescents, Gratitude Leads to More Success Than Materialism >>It also much better for the heart.
"In contrast, materialism, controlling for gratitude, uniquely predicts three of the six outcomes: lower grade point average, as well as higher envy and life satisfaction."
ReplyDeleteThis sentence makes it sound like the more materialistic kids have higher life satisfaction. How can both groups have high life satisfaction? Did it perhaps mean high envy and LOWER life satisfaction?
Not sure how to interpret this. The original abstract (linked above) says the same.
ReplyDelete