Negative automatic thoughts, gratitude, and subjective happiness in Chinese children: A cross-lagged panel analysis

IF 2.1 2区心理学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology Pub Date : 2025-07-01 DOI:10.1016/j.appdev.2025.101832

Hongqing Yao , Jing Fang , Ruibo Xie , Xiaoyue Wang , Die Wang , Weijian Li , Wan Ding

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Abstract

Gratitude is a complex socioemotional construct that emerges during early childhood and undergoes developmental changes over time. This study aims to investigate the bidirectional relationships between negative automatic thoughts (NATs), gratitude, and subjective happiness among Chinese children. Additionally, we explored the mediating role of gratitude in the association between NATs and subjective happiness. A sample of 972 Chinese children (M_age = 9.60 years at baseline) completed assessments of NATs, gratitude, and subjective happiness at three different time points with six-month intervals. The findings revealed that gratitude significantly predicted subsequent levels of NATs and subjective happiness, while NATs also had a direct impact on subsequent levels of gratitude and subjective happiness. Moreover, subjective happiness at time 2 was found to significantly predict levels of gratitude and NATs only at time 3. Importantly, our results demonstrated that gratitude played a crucial mediating role in the relationship between NATs and subjective happiness across time. These novel findings contribute to our comprehensive understanding of how gratitude contributes to holistic development in children, providing valuable scientific evidence for positive development among Chinese children.

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中国儿童消极自动思维、感恩和主观幸福感：一个交叉滞后的面板分析

感恩是一种复杂的社会情感结构，在儿童早期出现，并随着时间的推移经历发展变化。本研究旨在探讨中国儿童消极自动思维、感恩和主观幸福感之间的双向关系。此外，我们还探讨了感恩在NATs与主观幸福感之间的中介作用。972名中国儿童（年龄基线为9.60岁）在三个不同的时间点以6个月为间隔完成了对NATs、感恩和主观幸福感的评估。研究结果显示，感恩显著地预测了随后的高考水平和主观幸福感，而高考也对随后的感恩水平和主观幸福感有直接影响。此外，研究发现，时间2的主观幸福感仅能显著预测时间3的感恩和感恩水平。重要的是，我们的研究结果表明，随着时间的推移，感恩在NATs和主观幸福感之间的关系中起着至关重要的中介作用。这些新发现有助于我们全面理解感恩如何促进儿童的整体发展，为中国儿童的积极发展提供了有价值的科学证据。

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来源期刊

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL-

CiteScore

5.10

自引率

3.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology focuses on two key concepts: human development, which refers to the psychological transformations and modifications that occur during the life cycle and influence an individual behavior within the social milieu; and application of knowledge, which is derived from investigating variables in the developmental process. Its contributions cover research that deals with traditional life span markets (age, social roles, biological status, environmental variables) and broadens the scopes of study to include variables that promote understanding of psychological processes and their onset and development within the life span. Most importantly.