View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by SHAREOK repository UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE RELATIONS BETWEEN WELL-BEING AND GRATITUDE IN COMMUNITY DWELLING OLDER ADULTS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By TOSHA LYNN LARSON Norman, Oklahoma 2012 AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE RELATIONS BETWEEN WELL-BEING AND GRATITUDE IN COMMUNITY DWELLING OLDER ADULTS A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY BY ______________________________ Dr. Jody Newman, Chair ______________________________ Dr. Denise Beesley ______________________________ Dr. Paula McWhirter ______________________________ Dr. Terry Pace ______________________________ Dr. Robert Terry © Copyright by TOSHA LYNN LARSON 2012 All Rights Reserved. Dedication I would like to dedicate this work to my niece, Madi. You can do anything that you set your mind and heart to. Thank you for inspiring me and for being the light that kept me going through this project. Also in remembrance of my brother, Corey Dale Larson Rest in peace brother 7/7/77 – 6/29/12 Acknowledgements I would like to express sincere appreciation to those who have helped me along this incredible journey. While there are too many to name all individually, I would like to emphasize gratitude to a few particular individuals who inspired, motivated, and provided needed support and encouragement through this process. I would like to begin with thanking my brother, Corey. He expressed exuberance for life, a passionate attitude, and loved his family and friends dearly. I aspire to live with the same passion he taught me. He was also very proud of my graduate school work and having a big brother, who was proud of my work, helped motivate me to finish. I would also like to thank my mother, Brenda, who has steadfastly and unconditionally supported and loved me through her words, actions, and own example. She is a woman who is remarkably resilient and has shown me that with enough perseverance and courage, most anything can be accomplished. I would also like to thank my father, Curtis, for also providing much love, encouragement, and support through this process. He is an epitome of what hard work looks like and I thank him for modeling this for me. Both of my parents have shown me how to live life with gratitude, patience, perseverance, and love. I would like to mention friends and doctoral cohort members, Laura Frazier, Caley Gregg, and Jennifer Gillespie, for providing much support through a time of my life in which acceptance and love were the most important things to offer me. I would also like to recognize fellow intern colleague, Candice Franco, for helping with data collection and providing needed reassurance and hope. I would also like to thank my dear friend, Carmen Mills, for her support and donation of resources to this project. iv Further, I thank George Ralyea, research professor at the University of Memphis. He generously devoted his time and talents to assist me with understanding the analysis and results portion of this dissertation. Professionally, I would like to thank all of my dissertation committee members: Dr. Jody Newman, Dr. Denise Beesley, Dr. Paula McWhirter, Dr. Terry Pace, and Dr. Robert Terry. All of my committee members provided valuable input, contributions, encouragement, and were flexible when needed through this process. I sincerely thank them for believing that I could achieve this. My dissertation chair, Dr. Newman, has been of particular support and provided much guidance throughout my doctoral work. She challenged me to look within myself and be more open to learning who I am as a person, and for that, I am grateful. There have been many others who have helped carve my path. I am fortunate for the opportunities I have had, wise words when needed, supportive friends, family, teachers, and colleagues, who not only helped me finish this but also challenged me to be a better person. v Table of Contents List of Tables ......................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ....................................................................................................... viii Abstract ................................................................................................................... ix Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 Experimental Work with Gratitude ............................................................. 4 Physical Health ............................................................................................ 4 Gender Differences ...................................................................................... 5 Broaden-and-Build Theory .......................................................................... 5 The Psychology of Aging ............................................................................ 7 Depression ................................................................................................... 8 Happiness .................................................................................................... 9 Hope .......................................................................................................... 11 Purpose of Study ........................................................................................ 13 Method ................................................................................................................... 14 Participants ................................................................................................ 14 Measures .................................................................................................... 16 Procedure ................................................................................................... 20 Results ................................................................................................................... 22 Journal Content Analysis ............................................................................ 24 Health ................................................................................................ 26 God .................................................................................................... 26 Family ................................................................................................ 27 Friends ............................................................................................... 28 Nature ................................................................................................ 28 Miscellaneous .................................................................................... 28 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 29 Limitations ................................................................................................. 31 Areas of Future Research .......................................................................... 34 References ............................................................................................................. 42 APPENDIX A: IRB Approval Letters ................................................................. 49 APPENDIX B: Informed Consent Form .............................................................. 51 APPENDIX C: Flyer ............................................................................................ 53 APPENDIX D: Demographic Questionnaire ....................................................... 54 APPENDIX E: Gratitude Questionnaire – 6 ........................................................ 56 APPENDIX F: Geriatric Depression Scale .......................................................... 57 APPENDIX G: Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness ...... 58 APPENDIX H: The Satisfaction with Life Scale ................................................. 60 APPENDIX I: Trait Hope Scale .......................................................................... 61 APPENDIX J: Multidimensional Health Questionnaire ...................................... 62 APPENDIX K: Revised Mini-Mental Status Examination .................................. 64 vi List of Tables Table 1: Participant Demographic Characteristics ................................................ 36 Table 2: Descriptive Statistics for the Variables of Interest .................................. 37 Table 3: 2 x 2 Repeated Measures ANOVA ......................................................... 38 Table 4: Correlations for the Study Variables………………………………….. 39 vii List of Figures Figure 1: The Satisfaction of Life Scale Pre and Post-Test Mean Plot ................. 40 Figure 2: Gratitude Journal Content Analysis ....................................................... 41 viii Abstract This study examined the effects of maintaining gratitude journals on the well- being of a population of community dwelling older adults. Well-being was measured by pre- and post-test administrations of self-report questionnaires designed to gauge satisfaction of life, hope, happiness, depressive symptoms, health status, health depression, and internal health control. An experimental group maintained daily gratitude journals, recording what they were thankful for, while a control group maintained journals in which