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Journal of Happiness Studies

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01-04-2011 | Research Paper

Gratitude and the Reduced Costs of Materialism in Adolescents

Authors: Jeffrey J. Froh, Robert A. Emmons, Noel A. Card, Giacomo Bono, Jennifer A. Wilson

Published in: Journal of Happiness Studies | Issue 2/2011

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Abstract

Materialistic youth seem to be languishing while grateful youth seem to be flourishing. High school students (N = 1,035) completed measures of materialism, gratitude, academic functioning, envy, depression, life satisfaction, social integration, and absorption. Using structural equation modeling, we found that gratitude, controlling for materialism, uniquely predicts 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. Furthermore, when examining the relative strengths of gratitude and materialism as predictors, we found that gratitude is generally a stronger predictor of these six outcomes than is materialism.

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Title: Gratitude and the Reduced Costs of Materialism in Adolescents
Authors: Jeffrey J. Froh
Robert A. Emmons
Noel A. Card
Giacomo Bono
Jennifer A. Wilson
Publication date: 01-04-2011
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Journal of Happiness Studies / Issue 2/2011
Print ISSN: 1389-4978
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7780
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-010-9195-9

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