Can gratitude influence academic success? : the effects of an online gratitude intervention on academic outcomes

Abstract

Gratitude refers to the feeling of thankfulness toward other people, events, and a supreme being. Previous studies have demonstrated that gratitude could improve an individual’s well-being in various adult and student populations. However, despite the abundance of literature on the impact of gratitude on well- being, there is a lack of studies that establish the effect of gratitude to different academic outcomes. Furthermore, although existing interventions have been developed to promote gratitude, limited research has been conducted in order to cultivate gratitude using specific technological platforms. Hence, by combining an intervention and a qualitative research in the Philippine context, this research aims to investigate the effects of a newly developed online gratitude intervention on academic motivation, engagement, and achievement among selected Filipino high school students. Before implementing the research designs, the psychometric properties of a Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-5) was evaluated using an item response theory (IRT) analysis. Results of IRT analysis showed that instead of using a 5-item questionnaire, utilizing the 3-item scale is a better approach than the existing GQ-5 as the modified version exhibited superior psychometric properties. In terms of the criterion-related validity of the scale, results of correlational analyses demonstrated that gratitude was positively correlated with academic motivation and engagement. Study 2 explored whether the online gratitude intervention would improve the students’ academic motivation, engagement and academic achievement. On the one hand, participants under the experimental group performed a weekly gratitude exercise for a period of 4 weeks via Facebook, a social media platform. On the other hand, those who were in the control group were tasked to share any significant school activity once a week for a total period of 4 weeks using the same platform. Results showed that the participants under the experimental group had significantly higher scores on autonomous and controlled motivation and cognitive engagement compared to those who were in the control group. There was also a significant decrease in the level of amotivation in the experimental group. Study 3 investigated the reasons why the gratitude intervention had impact on key learning outcomes. By conducting group interviews with selected participants, the findings revealed five themes namely: (1) Increased perception of social support; (2) Increased positive emotion; (3) Gratitude as a driving force; (4) Positive reframing; and (5) Giving back. The results of this mixed method research provide evidence about the effectiveness of an innovative and technologically-supported gratitude intervention in optimizing the indicators of academic success. Results of this research were used to generate theoretical

implications necessary for refining an extant gratitude theory and interventions. Recommendations for future research were pointed out.