The effect of happiness related psychological intervention on happiness, forgiveness and gratitude among adolescents

Pages:402-405
Rini Rajan and Veena Easvaradoss (Department of Psychology, Womens Christian College, Chennai)

The aim of the study was to examine the impact of happiness-related intervention on happiness, forgiveness and gratitude among adolescents. The aim of the study was also to investigate the effect of age and gender on happiness, forgiveness and gratitude. The relationship between happiness, forgiveness and gratitude was also studied. The design used for the study was pre- and post-intervention with control group. The sample consisted of 120 high school students (60 boys and 60 girls) taken from 8th and 11th grade (M = 14.8, S.D = 1.49). Repeated-measures MANOVA was used to measure the effectiveness of the intervention. The findings showed that the intervention group had significant increase in happiness, forgiveness and gratitude scores post-intervention compared to the control group. The findings further revealed that age did not have an effect on the variables. With relation to gender, females were happier and more grateful compared to males. There was no significant gender difference in forgiveness. Multiple correlations showed that happiness has a significant, positive relationship with forgiveness and gratitude. There was a moderate positive correlation between forgiveness and gratitude. The implications of the study will be discussed later at the conference.