Gratitude predicts psychological well-being above the Big Five facets

This study tests whether gratitude predicts psychological well-being above both the domains and facets of the five factor model. Participants (N = 201) completed the NEO PI-R measure of the 30 facets of the Big Five, the GQ-6 measure of trait gratitude. and the scales of psychological well-being. Gratitude had small correlations with autonomy (r = .17), and medium to large correlations with environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relationships, purpose in life, and self-acceptance (rs ranged from .28 to .61). After controlling for the 30 facets of the Big Five, gratitude explained a substantial amount of a unique variance in most aspects of psychological well-being (r(equivalent) = .14 to .25). Gratitude is concluded to be uniquely important to psychological well-being, beyond the effect of the Big Five facets. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.