Gratitude orientation reduces death anxiety but not positive and negative affect

This study aims at investigating whether a gratitude induction procedure can reduce death anxiety and promote emotional well-being. Ninety Chinese undergraduate students were randomly assigned into one of three experimental conditions: gratitude, hassle, and neutral. In each condition, participants were instructed to spend 15-20 minutes to reflect on past events and to write up to five events of the designated category. Subsequently, they responded to measures of death anxiety and affect. Results showed that those in the gratitude condition reported much lower death anxiety than those in the neutral or the hassle group. However, gratitude had no effect on positive or negative affect. The findings suggest that the effect of gratitude may be specific to death anxiety, which does not occur in the context of the enhancement of overall emotional well-being. Copyright © 2012, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.