DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF SELF REPORT MEASURE OF GRATITUDE SCALE FOR PAKISTANI YOUTH
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Keywords
gratitude, flourishment, youth, self-report measure
Abstract
In today's fiercely competitive society, the expression for genuine gratitude is diminishing. The focus is on what we need rather than on what we have. Despite, gratitude being a crucial aspect of humanity, has received recognition recently. Gratitude is not merely a passing emotion rather it is a practice that can transform lives and can improve overall well-being. Gratitude plays a crucial role in the growth and development of young people as their transition from being dependent on their families in childhood to becoming independent adults who actively participate in society. Gratitude is less practiced by youth making them susceptible to many mental health problems.[1] It has been acknowledged through literature that gratitude has multiple dimensions that are not measured through a single construct in Pakistan. The purpose of the study was to develop a culturally promising, well-founded, valid, reliable and indigenous measure of Gratitude for Pakistani Youth. In the first phase, the item pool of 33 items was generated by extensive literature review, semi structured interviews and focus groups. Content Validity index (CVI) Lynn`s [2] was established on six experts rating. The total CVI calculated was 0.84 and 27 items were retained. Pilot study was conducted on n=40 participants on pre liminary scale to check its face validity. In the next phase Exploratory Factor Analysis (N=370) emerged three factors such as Gratitude towards God, Social Gratitude and Expression of Gratitude with significant internal consistency ɑ=.92, ɑ=.91 and ɑ=.89. To confirm the emerged factors Confirmatory Factor Analysis (N=534) was run on youth sample with age range 15-24 years (M=19.76, SD=2.35) which revealed the consistent factor structure as EFA. Psychometric Properties of the SRMG were also established. Convergent validity (N=534) was established by using Positive Emotions Scale (r=.65, p<.01) whereas Discriminant validity(N=534) was established through DASS-21 (r=-.10, p<.05). [3, 4] The Test–retest reliability(N=45) of the Gratitude Scale was established by re administering the test after two weeks of interval (r=.80, p<.001). Finally, the 27 items Self Report Measure of Gratitude scale measuring three factors was developed. The value added by this study encourages educationists, School and college counselors, and clinicians to design better development programs to inculcate gratitude in youth.
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Zara Haroon
Lahore College for Women University
Amna Khawar
Assistant Professor, Lahore College for Women University
Amina Muazzam
Tenured Professor, Department of Psychology, Lahore College for Women University