Gratitude to God and relational virtues

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2024

Publication Source

Journal of Positive Psychology

Volume Number

19

Issue Number

1

First Page

37

Last Page

48

ISSN

17439760

E-ISSN

17439779

Abstract

Despite the flourishing psychological literature on gratitude that has accumulated over the past several decades, researchers have only recently started to programmatically study Gratitude to God (GTG). Given that gratitude has consistently demonstrated positive relationships with relational virtues, the current study examined the degree to which GTG is associated with forgiveness, relational humility, and altruism, above and beyond domain-general gratitude and religious commitment. Participants (N = 582 undergraduates) rated themselves on measures of religious commitment, domain-general gratitude, GTG, forgiveness, relational humility, and altruism. GTG positively predicted forgiveness over and above domain-general gratitude. GTG positively predicted relational humility over and above domain-general gratitude in participants with high levels of religious commitment. For altruism, neither GTG nor domain-general gratitude was a significant predictor, but religious commitment was a positive predictor. We conclude with a discussion of methodological limitations and suggestions for future research.

Keywords

altruism, forgiveness, Gratitude to God, relational humility, relational virtue

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