Journey 5 · Gratitude
Gratitude and Life Satisfaction: A Small Two-Way Link
In two studies of Chilean adults (725 and 1,841 people), gratitude and life satisfaction each predicted the other over months, though both effects were small.
Researchers surveyed two groups of Chilean working adults (725 and 1,841 at the start) three times over months. In both studies the link ran both ways, though both effects were small: gratitude predicted later life satisfaction, and life satisfaction predicted later gratitude (Unanue et al., 2019). It fits a wider, robust pattern: people higher in trait gratitude tend to report greater well-being (Wood, Froh & Geraghty, 2010).
Put plainly, gratitude and life satisfaction seem to move together in a modest loop rather than a straight line. One honest limit: these were surveys over time, not experiments, so they can't show that one causes the other. People more satisfied with life also went on to report a little more gratitude, and that is part of the loop too.
Journey 5, Gratitude, guided by Zawadi, takes this as a reason to start small, rather than wait until life feels satisfying enough to be thankful for. What is one small good thing you could pause on today?
The research
Strong evidence Replicated findings and meta-analyses.
- Unanue, W., Gomez Mella, M. E., Cortez, D. A., Bravo, D., Araya-Véliz, C., Unanue, J., & Van Den Broeck, A. (2019). The reciprocal relationship between gratitude and life satisfaction: Evidence from two longitudinal field studies. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2480.
- Wood, A. M., Froh, J. J., & Geraghty, A. W. A. (2010). Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(7), 890–905.
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