Is Gratitude Always Beneficial to Interpersonal Relationships? The Interplay of Grateful Disposition, Grateful Mood, and Grateful Expression Among Married Couples

A growing body of research has documented positive outcomes of gratitude in personal and interpersonal domains. To uncover the dynamic process of gratitude and relational well-being, we examined the interplay of grateful disposition, grateful mood, and grateful expression in ongoing close relationsh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality & social psychology bulletin 2020-01, Vol.46 (1), p.64-78
Main Authors: Leong, Joyce L. T., Chen, Sylvia Xiaohua, Fung, Helene H. L., Bond, Michael Harris, Siu, Nicolson Y. F., Zhu, Jay Yijie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Affect
Beneficiaries
Couples
Couples therapy
Emotions
Female
Gratitude
Humans
Husbands
Interdependence
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Marital satisfaction
Marriage
Marriage - psychology
Married couples
Middle Aged
Personal Satisfaction
Social exchange theory
Spouses
Spouses - psychology
Well being
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Summary:A growing body of research has documented positive outcomes of gratitude in personal and interpersonal domains. To uncover the dynamic process of gratitude and relational well-being, we examined the interplay of grateful disposition, grateful mood, and grateful expression in ongoing close relationships. Hong Kong Chinese couples (n = 100) participated in a three-wave study across three consecutive weeks. Adopting the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model, we found that at Time 1, grateful disposition not only predicted one’s own grateful mood but also the perceived grateful mood of one’s spouse, both of which predicted marital satisfaction. At Time 2, the couples were randomly assigned to two conditions over 2 weeks: having one spouse keeping a private gratitude journal or overtly expressing gratitude to the other. Couples’ grateful mood increased at Time 3, indicating the effectiveness of both interventions. However, the resulting changes in marital satisfaction differed for the beneficiaries (enactors) and benefactors (targets), such that husbands who perceived their wife’s expressed gratitude as less sincere declined in their marital satisfaction. The results reveal the boundary conditions in evaluating expressions of gratitude and improvement of relationships and provide implications for social exchange and couple therapy.
ISSN:0146-1672
1552-7433
DOI:10.1177/0146167219842868