Abstract
The development and manifestation of gratitude in youth is unclear. We examined the effects
of a grateful outlook on subjective well-being and other outcomes of positive psychological
functioning in 221 early adolescents. Eleven classes were randomly assigned to either a gratitude,
hassles, or control condition. Results indicated that counting blessings was associated with
enhanced self-reported gratitude, optimism, life satisfaction, and decreased negative affect.
Feeling grateful in response to aid mediated the relationship between experimental condition and
general gratitude at the 3-week follow-up. The most significant finding was the robust relationship
between gratitude and satisfaction with school experience at both the immediate post-test