ACCEPTANCE This dissertation, THE IMPACT OF GRATITUDE INTERVENTIONS ON SOCIAL- EMOTIONAL HEALTH OF MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS, was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s Dissertation Committee. It is accepted by the committee members in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the School of Education, Concordia University Irvine. COPYRIGHT PERMISSION AGREEMENT Concordia University Library 1530 Concordia West Irvine, CA 92612 www.cui.edu/library I, Mariah Mayer, warrant that I have the authority to act on any copyright related matters for the work, THE IMPACT OF GRATITUDE INTERVENTIONS ON SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL HEALTH OF MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS, December 12, 2020 to be included in the Concordia University Library repository, and as such have the right to grant permission to digitize, republish and use the said work in all media now known or hereafter devised. I grant to the Concordia University Library the nonexclusive worldwide rights to digitize, publish, exhibit, preserve, and use the work in any way that furthers the educational, research and public service purposes of the Concordia University. This Agreement shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of California. This Agreement expresses the complete understanding of the parties with respect to the subject matter and supersedes all prior representations and understandings. ACCESS RESTRICTIONS My electronic thesis or dissertation can be made accessible via the Concordia University Library repository with the following status (select one): X Option 1: Provide open access to my electronic thesis or dissertation on the internet □ Option 2: Place an embargo on access to my electronic thesis or dissertation for a given period from date of submission (select one): □ 6 months □ 1 year □ 3 years Permission Granted By: Mariah Mayer Candidate’s Name Signature of Candidate July 20, 2020 Address Date [email protected] Phone Number or E-mail address City/State/Zip VITA Mariah Mayer ADDRESS [email protected] EDUCATION EdD 2020 Concordia University Irvine Educational Leadership MA 1999 National University, Costa Mesa Education BA 1997 Westmont College, Santa Barbara Liberal Studies with Teaching Credential PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 2010-2020 English, Social Studies, Math and Science Teacher (Grade 6,7) Bernice Ayer Middle School, San Clemente Capistrano Unified School District 2004-2010 Teacher (Grade 4,5) Barcelona Elementary, Mission Viejo Capistrano Unified School District THE IMPACT OF GRATITUDE INTERVENTIONS ON SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL HEALTH OF MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS by Mariah Mayer A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership OCtober 7, 2020 SChool of Education Concordia University Irvine ABSTRACT A growing body of research reveals that gratitude has the power to benefit one’s social-emotional health, subjective well-being, lead to responsible decision-making, social awareness, relationships, longevity, sleep, job satisfaction, student engagement, school support, satisfaction with school, physical health, teacher-student relationship, enhance critical thinking, promote student engagement and assist in developing a healthy school culture. This study delves into the effects of gratitude interventions on social and emotional health for middle school students. Out of the total classes (N = 29), nearly half of the classes (N = 17) participated in a 15-week intervention, while the nonintervention group (N = 12) did not. Over the 15 weeks, the intervention classes practiced gratitude through maintaining a journal, along with weekly quotes, stories, and videos. All classes (N = 29) took a pretest survey (week 1) followed by a posttest (week 15). The survey consisted of Dr. Michael Furlong and his colleagues’ (2013) Social-Emotional Health Survey (SEHS) and the Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-6) developed by Dr. Michael McCullough (2002). The quantitative data analysis revealed significant results for the intervention in the following areas: self- efficacy (p = .03), persistence (p = .01), gratitude (p < .01), GQ-6 (p < .01), and specific GQ-6 questions (p < .05). Additional findings related to a significance in grade level: self-efficacy (p < .01), school support (p = .04), peer support (p < .01), emotional regulation (p = .02), zest: energetic (p = .01) and lively (p = .03), and specific GQ-6 questions (p < .05). For the qualitative data student and parent responses were gathered from open-ended questions (during the intervention and at the end of the survey), student journals, and weekly feedback on student goal sheets student writing samples. Lastly, qualitative results were found for 11 of the 12 blocks of positive psychology: self-awareness, self-efficacy, persistence, family coherence, peer support, school support, gratitude, optimism, emotional regulation, self-control, and empathy. This study contributes to the groundbreaking research of gratitude by exploring how it impacts middle school students’ social-emotional health. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................... i LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ viii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1 ....................................................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem .......................................................................................... 4 Purpose of the Study .................................................................................................. 7 Research Questions (and Hypothesis) ....................................................................... 8 TheoretiCal Framework ............................................................................................. 8 Broaden and Build Theory ........................................................................................ 8 The Upward Spiral Model of Lifestyle Change ........................................................ 11 SignifiCance of the Study ........................................................................................... 12 Definition of Terms ................................................................................................... 13 Limitations ................................................................................................................. 15 Delimitations ............................................................................................................. 15 Summary .................................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ........................................................................ 17 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 17 Gratitude .................................................................................................................... 18 What is Gratitude? ..................................................................................................... 18 The Stages of Gratitude ............................................................................................. 20 ii Gratitude Interventions .............................................................................................. 21 Barriers to Gratitude .................................................................................................. 27 The Dark Side of Gratitude ....................................................................................... 28 Social-Emotional Health ........................................................................................... 29 The History of Social-Emotional Health ................................................................... 29 What is Social-Emotional Health? ............................................................................ 30 Social-Emotional Health and Covitality .................................................................... 30 Social-Emotional Health and Multitiered Systems of Support Interventions ........... 32 Social-Emotional Health and Social-Emotional Learning ........................................ 33 History of Social-Emotional Learning ...................................................................... 34 California and SEL .................................................................................................... 37 The ImpaCts of Gratitude on Social-Emotional Health ............................................. 38 Gratitude and the Five Social-emotional Learning Domains .................................... 38 Self-awareness and SubjeCtive Well-being Benefits of Gratitude ............................. 38 Self-management and Responsible DeCision-making Benefits of Gratitude ............ 39 Social-awareness Benefits of Gratitude ..................................................................... 41 Relationship-skills Benefits of Gratitude .................................................................. 42 More Benefits of Gratitude ........................................................................................ 43 Longevity Benefits of Gratitude ...............................................................................