How Does Social Comparison of Received Help Relate to Interpersonal Gratitude? The Roles of Self-Worth and Help Effectiveness.

Abstract

Cultivating interpersonal gratitude is crucial for promoting adaptive development in emerging adults. Social comparison theory provides a more comprehensive framework for exploring the mechanisms behind the formation of interpersonal gratitude. However, empirical findings regarding the effect of social comparison of received help on interpersonal gratitude are inconsistent, and the underlying mechanism driving this effect is still unclear. To address this, this study extended social comparison theory to help-receiving contexts, examining how social comparison of received help influences interpersonal gratitude among emerging adults in China, while exploring the mediating role of self-worth and the moderating role of help effectiveness. College students volunteered to participate in either Study 1 (N = 144, M_age = 21.54, 65.3% female) or Study 2 (N = 135, M_age = 20.81, 55.6% female). Study 1 employed a recall writing task, while Study 2 used an ecological momentary assessment technique. The two studies found consistent evidence that students who engage in a more extreme downward social comparison of received help show higher levels of interpersonal gratitude. Moreover, self-worth was an important pathway to explain this influence, particularly when students received low-efficiency help. These findings highlight the importance of reducing the self-threatening effects of low-efficiency help through social comparison in fostering interpersonal gratitude.