Gender Differences in Gratitude Among University Students in Sweden

Sammanfattning: Previous findings suggest that gratitude is related to a multitude of benefits, such as improved psychological well-being, decreased psychological distress and more positive social relationships. The interest in gratitude as a research topic for psychological science is relatively new, and as such, there are many aspects of gratitude that need to be studied more. One of these areas is gender differences in trait gratitude. The main purpose of this study was to investigate possible gender differences in trait gratitude and in positive- and negative affect. In addition, a possible relationship between trait gratitude and affect is investigated, as well as cultural differences between Swedish students and international students studying in Sweden. This study was unable to find any differences in trait gratitude, however, a gender difference was found in experienced negative affect and cultural differences were found inboth positive- and negative affect. A positive relationship between trait gratitude and positive affect, as well as a negative relationship between trait gratitude and negative affect, were also found.