IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v20y2019i1d10.1007_s10902-017-9940-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ruminating on the Positive: Paths from Trait Positive Emotionality to Event-Specific Gratitude

Author

Listed:
  • Kaitlin A. Harding

    (VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle Division)

  • Karly M. Murphy

    (Seattle Pacific University)

  • Amy Mezulis

    (Seattle Pacific University)

Abstract

Positive emotions and gratitude are essential contributors to happiness and well-being, but how trait tendencies toward positive emotionality and gratitude differ in predicting event-specific gratitude are poorly understood. Furthermore, no research has examined whether people who exhibit greater trait tendencies toward positive emotions or gratitude experience greater event-specific gratitude in response to positive events, or whether cognitively amplifying positive emotions in response to positive events mediates these relationships to enhance event-specific gratitude experiences. Our 8-week, prospective study of 145 adults examined whether greater trait positive emotionality and greater trait gratitude would distinctly predict greater event-specific gratitude as mediated by two types of positive rumination (self-focused and emotion-focused) in response to positive events. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that when considered jointly, greater trait positive emotionality predicted greater event-specific gratitude, and greater emotion-focused positive rumination mediated the effects of trait positive emotionality on event-specific gratitude. Findings supported that individuals with greater trait positive emotionality were more likely to positively ruminate about positive emotional experiences and this partially explained their increase in event-specific gratitude. Findings also suggested that trait positive emotionality and trait gratitude are distinct but related constructs that differentially relate to event-specific gratitude. In the pursuit of happiness and well-being, literature on gratitude interventions may benefit from incorporating emotion-focused positive rumination strategies to promote gratitude in response to positive events.

Suggested Citation

  • Kaitlin A. Harding & Karly M. Murphy & Amy Mezulis, 2019. "Ruminating on the Positive: Paths from Trait Positive Emotionality to Event-Specific Gratitude," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 101-117, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:20:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s10902-017-9940-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-017-9940-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-017-9940-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10902-017-9940-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christopher Peterson & Nansook Park & Martin Seligman, 2005. "Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction: the full life versus the empty life," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 25-41, March.
    2. Felicia Huppert & Timothy So, 2013. "Erratum to: Flourishing Across Europe: Application of a New Conceptual Framework for Defining Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(3), pages 1245-1246, February.
    3. Olinsky, Alan & Chen, Shaw & Harlow, Lisa, 2003. "The comparative efficacy of imputation methods for missing data in structural equation modeling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(1), pages 53-79, November.
    4. Felicia Huppert & Timothy So, 2013. "Flourishing Across Europe: Application of a New Conceptual Framework for Defining Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(3), pages 837-861, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alan Chi Keung Cheung & Grace Chih Nuo Chao & Elaine Lau & Angel Nga Man Leung & Harold Chui, 2022. "Cultivating the Psychological Well-Being of Early-Childhood Education Teachers: the Importance of Quality Work Life," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(3), pages 1533-1553, June.
    2. R. A. Burns, 2020. "Age-Related Differences in the Factor Structure of Multiple Wellbeing Indicators in a Large Multinational European Survey," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 37-52, January.
    3. Alexandra Ganglmair-Wooliscroft & Ben Wooliscroft, 2019. "Well-Being and Everyday Ethical Consumption," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 141-163, January.
    4. L. Lambert D’raven & N. Pasha-Zaidi, 2016. "Using the PERMA Model in the United Arab Emirates," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 905-933, February.
    5. Savatore Puglisi & Ionuț Virgil Șerban, 2019. "Beyond Gdp: Which Options To Better Represent Modern Socio-Economic Progress?," Sociology and Social Work Review, International Society for projects in Education and Research, vol. 3(1), pages 17-32, June.
    6. Mizuki Wada & Yoshitake Takebayashi & Michio Murakami, 2022. "Role of Values and Resilience in Well-Being among Individuals Affected by the Fukushima Disaster," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(6), pages 3503-3515, December.
    7. Papageorgiou, Athanasios, 2018. "The Effect of Immigration on the Well-Being of Native Populations: Evidence from the United Kingdom," MPRA Paper 93045, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Rosemary Hiscock & Pierpaolo Mudu & Matthias Braubach & Marco Martuzzi & Laura Perez & Clive Sabel, 2014. "Wellbeing Impacts of City Policies for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-34, November.
    9. Zagórski Krzysztof, 2018. "Etatism versus liberalism: Economic attitudes in Poland after the world crisis," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 26(1), pages 149-170, March.
    10. Raquel Lourenço Carvalhal Monteiro & Valdecy Pereira & Helder Gomes Costa, 2019. "Analysis of the Better Life Index Trough a Cluster Algorithm," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 142(2), pages 477-506, April.
    11. Sabirah Adams & Shazly Savahl, 2017. "Children’s Discourses of Natural Spaces: Considerations for children’s Subjective Well-Being," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 10(2), pages 423-446, June.
    12. Corey L. M. Keyes & Malik Muhammad Sohail & Nneka Jebose Molokwu & Heather Parnell & Cyrilla Amanya & Venkata Gopala Krishna Kaza & Yohannes Benyam Saddo & Vanroth Vann & Senti Tzudier & Rae Jean Proe, 2021. "How Would You Describe a Mentally Healthy Person? A Cross-Cultural Qualitative Study of Caregivers of Orphans and Separated Children," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1719-1743, April.
    13. Chen, Ying & Kubzansky, Laura D. & VanderWeele, Tyler J., 2019. "Parental warmth and flourishing in mid-life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 65-72.
    14. Cho, Esther Yin-Nei & Yu, Fuk-Yuen, 2020. "A review of measurement tools for child wellbeing," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    15. Hien, Nguyen Thi Thu, 2019. "Consequences of urban migration of adult children for the elderly left-behind in rural Vietnam," OSF Preprints zxyf8, Center for Open Science.
    16. Gregor Gonza & Anže Burger, 2017. "Subjective Well-Being During the 2008 Economic Crisis: Identification of Mediating and Moderating Factors," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(6), pages 1763-1797, December.
    17. Shalini Bahl & George R. Milne & Elizabeth G. Miller, 2023. "Expanding consumer mindfulness for collective sustainable well‐being: Overview of the special issue and future research directions," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(2), pages 699-720, April.
    18. Austin Chia & Margaret L. Kern, 2021. "Subjective Wellbeing and the Social Responsibilities of Business: an Exploratory Investigation of Australian Perspectives," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(5), pages 1881-1908, October.
    19. Vincent J. Giolito & Robert C. Liden & Dirk Dierendonck & Gordon W. Cheung, 2021. "Servant Leadership Influencing Store-Level Profit: The Mediating Effect of Employee Flourishing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(3), pages 503-524, September.
    20. Ania A Drzewiecka, 2023. "From Human Doing to Human Being – The Metacognitive Model for Well-Being Resilience in the Workplace," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(11), pages 1023-1048, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:20:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s10902-017-9940-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.