"Gratitude is Thanking Someone, and Happiness Is Showing It": A Qualitative Study of Colombian Children's Perspectives on Gratitude

Abstract

As a character strength, gratitude is linked with positive emotions and can potentially provide many benefits to children and adolescents. Yet little is known about how and why children typically experience gratitude, and how to promote its development. We conducted 10 focus groups and written exercises with 38 Colombian fifth-graders (19 girls and 19 boys), from one public school and two private schools, to explore different components of their gratitude experiences, namely, the benefactors, benefits, feelings, and behavioral expressions associated with gratitude, using a theoretical/ deductive thematic analysis. There were many commonalities in the themes of the gratitude elements found in both girls’ and boys’ answers, and in both public and private schools. One element of gratitude not anticipated in the analysis was the degree of effort that children saw benefactors (particularly family members) investing in them. These findings can be used to inform educational interventions, making them more relevant to children in Colombian and other Latin American contexts.