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               Gratitude and depressive symptoms: The role of positive
                                      reframing and positive emotion
                                                 1                       2                            3
                      Nathaniel M. Lambert , Frank D. Fincham , and Tyler F. Stillman
                      1
                       School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA
                      2
                       Family and Child Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
                      3
                       Department of Psychology, Southern Utah University, Cedar City, UT, USA
                      Eight studies (N
2,973) tested the theory that gratitude is related to fewer depressive symptoms
                      through positive reframing and positive emotion. Study 1 found a direct path between gratitude and
                      depressive symptoms. Studies 25 demonstrated that positive reframing mediated the relationship
                      between gratitude and depressive symptoms. Studies 67 showed that positive emotion mediated the
                      relationship between gratitude and depressive symptoms. Study 8 found that positive reframing and
                      positive emotion simultaneously mediated the relationship between gratitude and depressive
                      symptoms. In sum, these eight studies demonstrate that gratitude is related to fewer depressive
                      symptoms, with positive reframing and positive emotion serving as mechanisms that account for this
                      relationship.
                      Keywords: Gratitude; Depressive symptoms; Positive reframing; Positive emotion; Broaden-and-
                      build theory.
               The World Health Organization has identified           of coherence (Lambert, Graham, Fincham, &
               depression as a serious and growing threat to well-    Stillman, 2009), decreased materialism (Lambert,
               being (Murray & Lopez, 1996). Depression is one        Fincham, Stillman, & Dean, 2009) and positive
               of the few psychological disorders that can be fatal,  relationship    functioning    (Lambert,     Clark,
               as 1015% of individuals with major depressive         Durtschi, Fincham, & Graham, 2010). The objec-
               disorder eventually die by suicide (Maris, Berman,     tive of the current studies was to examine the
               Maltsberger, & Yufit, 1992). In contrast, gratitude    relationship between gratitude and depressive
               has been shown to have important implications for      symptoms, and to identify the mechanisms by
               psychological well-being. In particular, gratitude     which gratitude affects depressive symptoms.
               predicted   lower   depression   (Wood, Maltby,        Specifically, we proposed that positive reframing
               Gillett, Linley, & Joseph, 2008), as well as higher    and positive emotion would mediate this relation-
               levels  of  prosocial   behaviour   (McCullough,       ship. Our reasons for suspecting these indirect
               Kilpatrick, Emmons, & Larson, 2001), sense             paths from gratitude to depressive symptoms stem
                  Correspondence should be addressed to: Nathanial Lambert, Brigham Young University, 2065 JFSB, School of Family Life,
               Provo, UT 84602, USA. E-mail: natemlambert@gmail.com
                              #2011Psychology Press, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business      1
               http://www.psypress.com/cogemotion                                         DOI:10.1080/02699931.2011.595393
               LAMBERT,FINCHAM,STILLMAN
               from Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory of         those in the gratitude condition (compared to a
               positive emotions (Fredrickson, 1998).                 hassles condition or neutral control condition)
                                                                      reported more gratitude, optimism, life satisfac-
               Theories of positive emotion                           tion, and decreased negative affect (Froh, Sefick,
                                                                      &Emmons, 2008).
               Auseful theory in examining the role of a positive        Many gratitude interventions have included a
               emotion such as state gratitude is the broaden-        hassles condition and/or have not found gratitude
               and-build theory of positive emotions. The             to produce an effect above and beyond the control.
               broaden-and-build theory asserts that negative         For instance, Sheldon and Lyubomirsky (2006)
               emotions, like the fear experienced in a threaten-     found that those who wrote about gratitude
               ing situation, narrow a person’s momentary             (compared to a control condition in which
               thoughtaction repertoire to promote quick and         participants wrote about their best possible self)
               decisive action such as ‘‘fight or flight’’. In        did not produce greater positive affect among
               contrast, positive emotions broaden momentary          participants during a four-week intervention. One
               thoughtaction repertoires, which widen the array      purpose of the current studies was to examine the
               of thoughts that come to mind. For instance,           effect of gratitude on depression using neutral or
               joy appears to broaden the thoughtaction reper-       positive (rather than negative) control conditions
               toire by creating the urge to play, be creative, push  to increase experimental rigour.
               the limits, and so on (Fredrickson, 2001). Like-          Other non-intervention research has found
               wise, a positive emotion such as curiosity creates     similarly positive effects of gratitude on mental
               the urge to explore, to take in new experiences and    health, such as life satisfaction (McCullough,
               information, and to expand the self in the process.    Emmons,&Tsang,2002),materialism (Lambert,
               Fredrickson argued that such broadening emo-           Fincham et al., 2009), and sense of coherence
               tions build enduring personal resources such as        (perception of life as meaningful, manageable, and
               social bonds, health, and knowledge. Support for       comprehensible) over time (Lambert, Graham
               the broadening and building role of gratitude has      et al., 2009). Watkins, Cruz, Holben, and Kolts
               been discussed extensively in the literature (e.g.,    (2008) requested that participants write about the
               Fredrickson, 2004; Wood & Tarrier, 2010). We           positive consequences from an unresolved memory
               propose that the positive emotion of gratitude will    (an unpleasant memory that may intrude into the
               broaden and build other positive emotions, pre-        consciousness due to ‘‘unfinished business’’ asso-
               venting or ameliorating depressive symptoms.           ciated with the memory, e.g., thinking of a
                                                                      recently lost wallet) that they felt they could
               Gratitude and mental health                            now be grateful for. Compared to control parti-
                                                                      cipants, those in the gratitude condition reported
               There is some evidence for gratitude building          more memory closure, less intrusiveness of the
               other positive emotions. In their groundbreaking       open memory, and less unpleasant emotional
               study, Emmons and McCullough (2003) em-                impact from the memory. In summary, there is
               ployed daily diary methods to experimentally           strong support for the view that gratitude is
               determine the effect of gratitude on mental health     related to mental health but few studies have
               over time, and found that those assigned to write      focused on a specific syndrome or disorder.
               about the things they were grateful for improved          We selected depressive symptoms as our
               in mood, coping behaviours, and even in physical       primary target of focus for examining the effect
               health symptoms compared to those who wrote            of gratitude on mental health. Depression is
               about daily hassles or a neutral topic. This study     defined in part as an absence of positive thoughts
               triggered widespread interest in the effect of         and plans, as well as an inability to experience
               gratitude on mental health. A similar intervention     positive emotions (National Institutes of Mental
               was conducted among teenagers and found that           Health, 2009). We anticipated that gratitude
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                                                                                                          GRATITUDEANDDEPRESSION
                 could fill the positive-emotion void experienced               Gratitude and depressive symptoms: The
                 by depressed individuals, and tested a theoretical             direct path
                 model to determine how gratitude relates to                    As noted, there is some evidence that gratitude is
                 depressive symptoms. The model includes a direct               associated    with     fewer    depressive    symptoms
                 negative relationship between gratitude and de-                (Krause, 2007; Wood, Maltby, Gillett, et al.,
                 pressive symptoms, and two mediating mechan-                   2008). Seligman, Steen, Park, and Peterson
                 isms; positive reframing and positive emotion.                 (2005) tested the effect of gratitude on depressive
                                                                                symptoms experimentally simply by having parti-
                 PATHSFROMGRATITUDETO                                           cipants write and deliver a letter of gratitude to
                 DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS: A                                         someone to whom they were grateful. Those who
                 CONCEPTUALMODEL                                                participated    in   this  simple act of gratitude
                                                                                expression reported fewer depressive symptoms
                 Consistent with prior research, there should be a              than control participants, lending credibility to
                 direct   link between gratitude and depressive                 the notion that gratitude can reduce depressive
                 symptoms (Path A). The proposed indirect path                  symptoms.
                 for the effect of gratitude on depressive symptoms                Nonetheless, it is surprising how little research
                 through positive reframing is Path B. Specifically,            has been conducted on the link between gratitude
                 we propose that individuals high in trait gratitude            and depressive symptoms, given that such symp-
                 will have a greater tendency to positively reframe             toms can have serious consequences for mental
                 negative or neutral situations, which triggers                 and physical health (e.g., suicide; Maris et al.,
                 within themselves a grateful state. Over time the              1992).
                 accumulation of grateful states should either                     There is some empirical evidence indicating
                 decrease depressive symptoms or prevent them                   that higher levels of gratitude correspond to fewer
                 from increasing. Path C shows that gratitude                   depressive symptoms. Yet the means by which
                 should generate positive emotions such as joy or               gratitude is negatively related to depressive symp-
                 happiness     that    are    inimical    to   depressive       toms have not been elucidated. We propose that
                 symptoms and that these positive emotions                      the effects of gratitude on depressive symptoms
                 will mediate the effect of gratitude on depres-                occur via two indirect paths*positive reframing
                 sive symptoms. Although depression and positive                and positive emotion.
                 emotions may coexist, the presence of positive
                 emotions should prevent or attenuate the magni-                Indirect path through positive reframing
                 tude of depression. Our proposed conceptual                    Gratitude and positive reframing
                 model (see Figure 1) illustrates these paths. We               We propose that individuals higher in trait
                 now describe each of these paths in greater detail.            gratitude will be more inclined to positively
                                                                                reframe negative events or situations, which
                                                                                should elicit a grateful state and thereby reduce
                                                                                depressive symptoms. Positive reframing is to
                                                                                perceive something previously viewed as negative
                                                                                in a positive light. For example, people might
                                                                                come to think about a seemingly negative experi-
                                                                                ence as an opportunity, a chance to learn some-
                                                                                thing new, a chance to gain a new skill, or to
                                                                                deepen a relationship, and so on (Lambert,
                                                                                Graham et al., 2009). Positive reframing may be
                 Figure 1. Theoretical model for the effect of gratitude on     used as one method of achieving a grateful state.
                 depressive symptoms.                                           For example, consider an individual who is laid off
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               LAMBERT,FINCHAM,STILLMAN
               from paid employment, but who reframes the             sive symptoms insomuch as it builds other positive
               unfortunate situation as an unexpected opportu-        emotions or states that are inimical to depres-
               nity to chart a new career path. Perceiving the        sive symptoms, such as satisfaction with life or
               positive aspects of a negative situation, like         positive affect. As noted, some have found a
               unemployment, should lead the individual to            correlation between gratitude and life satisfaction
               perceive the situation in a new light that makes       (McCullough et al., 2002) and participants
               it  more meaningful and even valuable, thus            primed with gratitude reported higher life satis-
               eliciting a grateful state and reducing depressive     faction scores than control participants (Lambert,
               symptoms.                                              Fincham et al., 2009). Furthermore, Emmons and
                  There is some empirical evidence indicating a       McCullough (2003) found that individuals who
               relationship between positive reframing and gra-       kept a gratitude journal for 13 days reported
               titude. For example, gratitude has been associated     higher positive affect than control participants.
               with making positive attributions (Wood, Maltby,       Thus, there appears to be a relationship between
               Gillett et al., 2008; Wood, Maltby, Stewart,           gratitude and positive emotion.
               Linley, & Joseph, 2008). Wood, Joseph, and
               Linley (2007) found that gratitude was positively      Positive emotion and depressive symptoms
               correlated with a coping style called positive         Depression is defined, in part, as an absence of
               reinterpretation and growth, which is conceptually     positive thoughts and plans and an inability to
               similar to positive reframing. We propose that         experience positive emotions (National Institutes
               individuals high in trait gratitude will be inclined   of Mental Health, 2009). Even though positive
               to positively reframe negative or neutral events,      emotions and depression are not simply two ends
               which will then elicit a grateful state, which, in     of one continuum, positive emotions are at odds
               turn leads them to experience fewer depressive         with a fundamental aspect of depression, namely
               symptoms (See Path B in Figure 1).                     low positive emotionality, defined as a disposi-
                                                                      tional tendency not to experience pleasurable
               Positive reframing and depressive symptoms             emotional states (Watson, 2002). A chronic
               Several studies have established the link between      disinclination to experience positive emotions is
               positive reframing and lower depression (e.g.,         a risk factor for developing a mood disorder such
               Kraft, Claiborn, & Dowd, 1985; Manne et al.,           as major depression; individuals who demon-
               2003; Wang, Lambert, & Lambert, 2007).                 strated low positive emotionality initially were
               Also, there is some evidence that gratitude is         more likely than others to experience major
               related to fewer depressive symptoms by encoura-       depression months later (Clark, Watson, &
               ging people to positively reframe negative events.     Mineka, 1994; Watson, 2000). Similarly, melan-
               Lambert, Grahametal. (2009) found that positive        cholic temperament, which is chronic high levels
               reframing mediated the relationship between            of negative emotionality and low levels of positive
               gratitude and sense of coherence, which has            emotionality, contributes to depression and other
               some ties to depressive symptoms. However,             mental disorders (Watson & Clark, 1995).
               positive reframing is likely not the only mechan-         Mood disorders, unlike most other forms of
                                                                      mental illness, have well-defined cycles which
               ism in this relationship. We propose that positive     fluctuate daily (symptoms are worst in the morn-
               emotion should also mediate the gratitude             ing) and seasonally (as evidenced by seasonal
               depressive symptoms association.                       affect disorder). These same patterns are observed
               Indirect path through positive emotion                 for positive emotionality, with positive emotion-
                                                                      ality at its lowest in the morning and during
               Gratitude and positive emotion                         extended stretches of poor weather (Watson,
               Consistent    with    broaden-and-build     theory     2002). It seems likely that the cyclical nature of
               (Fredrickson, 2001), gratitude may reduce depres-      mooddisorders is at least partly attributable to the
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