An attitude of gratitude: A randomized controlled pilot study of gratitude journaling among parents of young children

The present study was a randomized controlled trial that explored the effects of short-term gratitude journaling among parents of young children. The main purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of gratitude journaling on outcomes such as parenting stress, wellbeing, depressed mood, and self-compassion. Participants were parents of children between the ages of 2 and 5 years (N = 87) who were recruited throughout San Diego, California and surrounding counties. Participants were asked to complete a battery of self-report measures (Parenting Stress Index -- Short Form, 4th Edition, PSI-SF-4; Satisfaction with Life Scale, SWLS; Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, PANAS; Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale-Revised, CESD-R; Self-Compassion Scale -- Short Form, SCS-SF) at pre- and post-intervention, as well as one-month and six-month follow-up. A series of mixed-design analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were used to examine changes in parenting stress, wellbeing (i.e., life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect), depressed mood, and self-compassion. As hypothesized, participants in the daily gratitude journaling group showed statistically significant reductions in negative affect, whereas those in the weekly gratitude and control groups did not. Despite the lack of statistically significant results with regard to parenting stress, life satisfaction, positive affect, depressed mood, and self-compassion, the present study demonstrated that a 4-week daily gratitude journaling intervention elicited moderate to large effects with regard to improvements in parenting stress, negative affect, and life satisfaction. Lastly, participants in the daily journaling group showed significant reductions in ruminations about, or attachment to, negative thoughts and feelings (measured by the Overidentification subscale of the Self-Compassion Scale, Short Form). Results suggest that the components of gratitude and related positive psychology interventions may reduce negative affect and overidentification with negative emotions among parents of young children. Gratitude interventions have the potential to provide simple, cost-effective tools that may be used at home to reduce parenting-related stress.