Gratitude and forgiveness as correlates of well-being among adolescents

Pages: 827-833
Shruti Shourie (Department of Psychology, D.A.V. College, Sector-10, Chandigarh)
Harshmeet Kaur (Department of Psychology, Panjab University, Chandigarh)

The field of Positive psychology intends to study positive human strengths and their benefit to enhance optimal functioning. Character strengths have been one of the key elements of Positive psychology. Gratitude and forgiveness are considered as character strengths and have received attention in empirical researches but majority of researches have been carried out among adults. The preventive nature of positive psychology has observed the need to enhance wellbeing early in childhood and adolescent years. The present study explored the relationship between gratitude, forgiveness and wellbeing among adolescents. The sample size taken was 250 (125 boys and 125girls). Statistical analysis included Pearson Product Moment correlation method and t-test. The results revealed that gratitude and forgiveness have been found to be positively correlated with psychological wellbeing. The study also indicated that gratitude and forgiveness showed positive correlation with life-satisfaction, positive affect and negative correlation with negative affect (components of subjective wellbeing). The attempt was made to explore gender differences in the study.